Justified Episode 4.07: “Money Trap”

We open six days earlier, with Raylan delivering Jody Adair, the felon from the first episode, to his bounty hunter “friend with benefits” Sharon. (This means that the entire season so far has only been six days in show time, which is kind of amazing, when you think about it!) For plot purposes, Raylan loudly mentions to Sharon where he lives, so Jody can overhear.

As Sharon and her colleague drive away with Jody, their vehicle’s tire pops. The colleague goes to change the tire, while Sharon goes to answer a call of nature. A well-meaning bystander drives up behind the disabled van; I don’t know his name at this point, so I’ll just call him Paul Kinsey from Mad Men for now! Jody busts open the door of the van and strangles Sharon’s colleague with his handcuffs as Kinsey looks on in shock. I’m wondering why he doesn’t just drive away, and then we established that he’s actually in cahoots with Jody and was the person to disable the van. He doesn’t want to tell Jody that Sharon went off into the woods, but when Jody waves a gun at him he gives up her location easily. Jody goes off into the woods and shoots Sharon in the neck, though not before she gets a shot off at Jody as well.

At the Marshals’ office, Raylan walks in with a folder that’s the FBI’s summary of the twenty boxes of files on Drew Thompson. “This is bullshit,” Raylan scoffs to Art about the contents of that folder, but Art corrects him. It seems this is no ordinary BS but, “rare vintage FBI” BS (Can I just mention again how much I love Art?)

At Audrey’s place, Johnny is cuddling with his girlfriend Terry; Johnny is trying to sound romantic, but Terry sees right through him so Johnny just flat-out says that he knows it wasn’t the guy she gave up who hit her. He asks who it really was, and from Terry’s non-answers deduces that it was Colton. The Crowders are all more intelligent than the average criminals on this show, it seems. When Terry mentions that Colton was tweaking and asking about Ellen May, Johnny has a lightbulb moment.

In his car, Raylan’s enjoying a soft-serve ice cream when he gets a phone call from the local cops about Sharon Evans, his bounty-hunter friend. The cops have found the bodies and Raylan figures he knows exactly who killed them.

Jody is nursing his gunshot wound at the apartment of his friend Kenneth-the-wannabe-filmmaker. Jody wants to get to the money he has stashed at his ex-wife Katrina’s place, but to get it, he needs Kenneth’s help. Kenneth agrees for a 20 percent cut of the money, in the hopes that he can finally make the movies he wants to make. Apparently, Kenneth is no more successful in his filmmaking career than Kinsey was as an advertising copywriter! (However, Michael Gladis is really good at playing pretentious bores I want to smack!)

Kenneth gets a call from the police asking how he knows Sharon Evans, meaning the cops will soon be onto his connection to Jody, so he drives Jody to his ex’s house, where Jody takes it as a personal insult that his ex has installed an alarm system. Jody and Kenneth go around back, where they see Katrina’s sorority sister inside the house; Jody says she’ll give them the alarm code, but just then, they spot Raylan talking to the girl. He tells her that Jody is armed, dangerous, and an asshole, and the girl agrees on all three points. The newer, less danger-driven Raylan has called for backup from the local cops, which means Jody’s plan to kill Raylan and take his money anyway has to be tabled.

Boyd and Ava are dressing for success (or rich swinger parties), and Boyd is desperate to find his fancy pocket watch, which has fallen on the floor. He’s also concerned that he won’t know what fork to use, and Ava soothes him by saying that this isn’t the kind of party where they’ll have to worry about table manners, although Boyd might need to be ready to give a few handjobs. Heh!

Jackie NevadaRaylan and the local cops escort the housesitter to Raylan’s car; in passing, Raylan notices the license plate of Kenneth’s car, KYFLIXXX. (I guess we know what kind of films Kenneth makes!!) The girl finally introduces herself as Jackie Nevada, and I recognize her as a character out of Elmore Leonard’s Raylan, which came out last year. Jackie was one of my favorite characters in the novel, so I’m happy she’s going to be on the show, even if it’s only for one episode. Raylan is astonished to find out that Jackie’s stepfather wanted to call her Sierra and is himself named Reno. Hee! Raylan wonders out loud if Jackie is conning him and admits that with his recent track record, he probably wouldn’t figure it out if she were.

Ex-Sheriff Napier’s home is packed with guests; I severely underestimated the number of rich swingers in Harlan County! Boyd gets into a verbal scuffle with one of the rich guys who makes a taunting comment about Ava and former Sheriff Napier tells Boyd that he’s as welcome as a case of the clap. The evening has started out swimmingly.

Luckily for Boyd and Ava, their hostess Debra Jane is a bit more gracious. She takes Ava on a tour of the premises while Boyd tries to narrow down which rich guy might be Drew Thompson. Debra Jane tells Ava that the swinging and the spouse swapping is just a tiny part of what they do at these parties but also that everything is 100 percent consensual.

Raylan and Jackie arrive at Jackie’s place, where Kenneth is watching from his car. Jackie invites Raylan up for a beer or a poker game or a chat. She’s clearly into Raylan, which, given Raylan’s romantic history, means she’s either a criminal or she’s connected to a criminal or she wants him to do her a favor that could end up with him losing his job. Raylan isn’t biting; “I gotta do a thing” he tells her and turns away, unfortunately for Jackie, because Jody has broken into her apartment and is hanging out there.

Jody demands the security code to Katrina’s house; Jackie won’t tell him until he puts a kitchen knife to her throat. Oops! However, as Raylan gets into his car, he notices the KYFLIXXX license plate and goes back to Jackie’s.

Raylan bursts in as Jackie is repeating the entry code to Jody. He aims at Jody, telling him to drop the knife, but Jackie takes matters into her own hands and gets away from Jody, messing up Raylan’s shot. Jody jumps through Jackie’s window onto the roof of Kenneth’s car.

Kenneth and Jody argue in the car; Jody blames Raylan for all the pain he’s undergoing right now and decides that killing Raylan is an equivalent goal to getting his money from the ex.

At Jackie’s, the local cops have returned. They’ve found Kenneth from his car license plate (hey, criminals, maybe it’s a good idea to have less memorable plates when you’re doing criminal things. I’m looking at you too, Jesse Pinkman, aka CAPN COOK) and they plan to drop Jackie off at a hotel after they scope out Kenneth’s place.

Ava has made it upstairs at the Napier’s, where she wanders in dimly lit hallways. It’s sort of Eyes Wide Shut meets Psycho until one of the guys Ava was flirting with earlier pops out of the bathroom. He tries to cajole Ava into bed with him when another, younger man shows up and is much more handsy and insistent about Ava’s participation in the orgy. Ava tells him that she shot the last guy who tried to force her into sex, and at this point, Boyd turns up and hits the handsy guy. Finally, Debra Jane also turns up and frog-marches the would-be rapist downstairs for violating the house rules.

Boyd tells Ava that he’s been invited to Napier’s for a reason; the rich guys want him to strong-arm another rich guy who’s apparently no longer a welcome member of the Rich Guy Club. Boyd says he’ll take Ava home and then come back and hear the business proposition.

At Kenneth’s place, Kenneth gives himself a drug-fueled pep talk in the bathroom while his blonde girlfriend waits outside. I am not sure why this scene was included, other than to show us that Kenneth is a schmuck. But we knew that already! Raylan and the cops turn up at Kenneth’s; it seems Jody has taken the time to make a short film that he wants Kenneth to screen for Raylan. Jody twirls a basketball and tells Raylan that his life will be over soon, because Jody is stalking him. For someone who’s at least a double-murderer, Jody is pretty unthreatening.

In the car on the way to Jackie’s hotel, Jackie tells Raylan that she has a serious crush on him and Raylan tries to recruit her into the Marshals’ service. Does the Marshals’ service not have an HR department? First Tim tries to get Colton to join, now Raylan’s working on Jackie. (Also “Marshal Jackie Nevada” sounds so awesome that I would really like to see her take the badge!)

Raylan tells Jackie that he needs to make a short stop at the bar where he lives. He walks into the bar, which is quite busy, and pulls the fire alarm. No one moves (heh!) until Raylan tells the bartender. Finally, everyone shuffles out, leaving room in the saloon for Jody and Raylan to have their gunfight. Jody pulls his gun and Raylan shoots him dead. Jackie walks inside for the aftermath, looking quite turned on.

Back at the Crowder bar/lair of criminal enterprise, Johnny Crowder is kicking back and having a smoke. Colton arrives, looking like “ten pounds of shit in a five pound bag” according to Johnny, who asks whether Colton is laying low. Johnny asks Colton whether he killed civilians in Iraq and if he sees their faces. Or maybe Ellen May’s face. I sense a confrontation brewing!

At Napier’s lavishly appointed library (who knew being Harlan County Sheriff was so lucrative! No wonder he was pissed off when Boyd backed Shelby!), the rich cabal discusses the EPA superfund with Boyd. They want a fellow rich dude named Frank Browning to open up one of his slurry ponds so that they’ll get the federal cleanup funds. Boyd asks if they want him to twist Browning’s arm, and they clarify that they want Browning dead. Boyd asks what happens if he refuses, and they tell him that the Crowder criminal enterprise exists because they let it, which is something that Boyd’s daddy knew full well. “Crowders do what we say. Kill Frank Browning or we’ll destroy you.” Guys, if there’s one thing I know about Boyd Crowder, it’s that he doesn’t care for ultimatums. Also, he is very intelligent, so I have the feeling that this Browning deal may not go the way the rich guys are anticipating.

At Jackie’s hotel, Raylan figures out that Jackie has already taken Jody’s money from her friend Katrina’s house. He tells Jackie that since the money is “ill-gotten gains” he will have no choice but to confiscate it if it’s found. But if the money were to go to Katrina and her kids, then it wouldn’t be found. Aww, Raylan, you old softie!  Jackie ducks into the shower without bothering to shut the door, as Raylan takes a phone call from Art, who ribs Raylan about shooting Jody and about Raylan’s new potential squeeze, Jackie. He also reminds Raylan that he still needs to visit the prison where Arlo is being held.

After his phone call with Art, Raylan stares pensively as Jackie continues her shower. I hope that during the commercial break, Jackie lures Raylan into that shower too, because his hair is looking awfully greasy!

The next morning, Raylan finally sees Arlo in prison. Raylan tells Arlo that he’s going to be honest: his original plan was to make sure Arlo never got a deal, but he’s changed his mind, and if Arlo helps find Drew Thompson, Raylan will make sure Arlo spends the rest of his days in one of those “country-club” prisons. Raylan also tells Arlo that Theo Tonin has Boyd Crowder, who’s paying Arlo’s lawyers’ fees, looking for Drew, and if Theo finds Drew first, then the deal evaporates. “For once in our lives,” Raylan asks his father, “let’s work together.” Arlo, always succinct, tells Raylan “Eat shit!”

Raylan tells Arlo that he’ll go to Sheriff Hunter and offer the same deal, saying that Arlo will die in this prison, someday very soon. Arlo asks if Raylan is threatening him, and Raylan says “I’ll tell you something, I’m going to be glad when I hear the news.”  Given his poisonous relationship with Arlo, no wonder Raylan is nervous about being a dad!

This wasn’t my favorite episode of the season (I thought we spent way too much time with Kenneth and Jody!) but it did have some great lines, and I really hope we’ll see more of Jackie.

Read more coverage of Justified on Criminal Element.


Regina Thorne is an avid reader of just about everything, an aspiring writer, a lover of old movies and current TV shows, and a hopeless romantic.

Read all posts by Regina Thorne for Criminal Element.

 

Comments

  1. Carmen Pinzon

    Thank you for the recap. I’m afraid this season has lost me; I’m just not interested in finding out what’s going on anymore. That said, I love reading the re-caps and finding out what great phrase Art has uttered and what few great moments have come to pass. Maybe by the end of it I’ll be curious enough to get the season’s dvd.

  2. Allison Brennan

    I think this season is stronger than last season … I also loved Jackie’s character!

  3. Mary Saputo

    And my opinion is that I really enjoyed this last episode and have enjoyed the season so far. I too was watching Boyd’s face when the “Super Pac” gave him the ultimatum. The apple fell a LONG way from the tree in Boyd’s house so I’d be real careful, boys, who you’re givin’ an ultimatum to. And you could see Ava get a little scared when that “would be” rapist came out but she gathered her God-almighty Harlan County woman strength about her and backed him up against the wall. Still, I’m sure glad Boyd showed up. These two are quite a pair – made for each other.

  4. Regina Thorne

    [b]@bungluna[/b] – I’m very curious what it is about this season that you’re not enjoying, so if you want to continue the conversation I’d love to chat about it. I’m actually liking this season more than last season – Quarles was a little too over-the-top for my liking somehow! But thanks so much for reading the recaps anyway! Art is the best.

    [b]@Allison_Brennan[/b] – Yeah, I like this season better than last season, particularly because Quarles never seemed as realistic to me as the other characters on the show! And I hope we see Jackie again – she was one of the best parts of the novel Raylan.

    [b]@bitsy08[/b] – Yeah, I love Ava and Boyd together, although part of me wishes he could have gone straight. But then we wouldn’t have the fun of watching Boyd be smarter and meaner than anyone else, would we?

  5. Carmen Pinzon

    My problem seems to be be Raylan. He’s been acting TSTL (too stupid to live). For that matter Boyd has too. It’s like they are mirror images of each other but for some reason, this time around they are just not paying attention and making idiot mistakes.

    What I’ve always enjoyed about this show is the fabulous dialogue. The elegant phrases, the well-turned riposte, that’s what I like most about Justified. I feel like non of the characters this season are giving me good dialogue.

  6. Mary Saputo

    You mean to tell me that you didn’t like:
    If you meet an asshole in the morning, you’ve met an asshole.
    If you meet an asshole all day long, you’re the asshole.

    You didn’t like that? Sheoot! The dialogue this season is good enuf to smack your Grannie!

  7. Carmen Pinzon

    I miss the dialogue between Raylan and Mags, Limehouse and anybody, etc. A good phrase is just not enough.

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