Justified “A Murder of Crowes” 

Is it just me or did the body count seem unusually high in this episode? All the Crowes are back on Raylan’s radar, much to Darryl Jr.’s ferocious displeasure. Dewey just cost the federal government $300 thousand because of Raylan’s (mis)treatment of him and Raylan has experience with the Florida branch of the family from his time in Miami. Boyd’s got his own troubles too. His Canadian connection is drying up and the judge on Ava’s case can’t be bought. It’s pretty much another typical day in Harlan County.

The corpses

Simon Lee (Ron Yuan). Shot by Dilly Crowe, killed by Elvis Manuel Machado. The Crowes run the sugar business in Miami and Lee, a Coast guard, is on the payroll. Dilly doesn’t have much luck with handling money. In fact, his luck is so bad his family shouldn’t let him anywhere near it. But he’s family, so he’s part of the family business. When Dilly takes offense to Lee mocking his stutter, Dilly shoots him and Machado finishes the job. When Lee goes missing, the Marshals get involved.

Sammy Tonin (Max Perlich), Doug and the chainsaw guy. Killed by Mr. Picker (John Kapelos). When Boyd’s shipment of drugs doesn’t arrive as planned, he and Duffy go to Detroit. They’ve got the money but a lot of people want it for purposes other than buying drugs. Sammy Tonin is in debt to the tune of almost $1 million dollars to the Canadians. Boyd’s money was supposed to buy them off after Picker killed Sammy but Boyd doesn’t like that plan. Instead it buys Mr. Picker’s life and one last shipment from their Canadian connection. With that relationship now severed, Mr. Picker proves his worth by offering to set Boyd and Duffy up with a Mexican connection.

Dilly Crowe. Ordered by Darryl Jr. and killed by Danny. We knew this was coming, especially since Dilly’s been a liability for too long. Looks like this branch of the Crowe family is headed up to Kentucky to see what Dewey’s been up to. They know he’s recently come into some money.

Elvis Manuel Machado (Amaury Nolasco). Shot and killed by Raylan and Marshal Greg Sutter (David Koechner). Sutter is Raylan’s babysitter (or chauffeur) while Raylan’s in town. He keeps asking Raylan if he wants to visit Winona and the baby, but Raylan keeps finding excuses. After the Marshal’s service makes a deal with Darryl Jr. – a deal which allows Darryl Jr. to legally leave the state – they go to apprehend Machado. He’s trying to get back to Cuba via a very small boat. When he violently objects to being taken into custody, he’s killed.

Lee Paxton (Sam Anderson). Almost beaten to death by Boyd Crowder. Since judge Bishop seems incorruptible, Boyd thinks his next best option is Paxton. They have horrible history, but Boyd figures money talks. The problem? Paxton has money and he hates Boyd. So after he makes Boyd beg and then insults him with a very unappealing counter offer, Boyd gets violent. He decides to pay Paxton’s wife Mara off to keep her mouth shut.

All in all, it was an eventful episode. Raylan continues to avoid his domestic responsibilities while excelling (or at least being competent) at his job. And I get it. Raylan is terrified he’s gonna screw up being a dad. He hasn’t had any good role models and his job (and his personality) constantly put him in danger. I think he’s afraid to let Winona down as well. Lord knows he’s done that enough times already. And Boyd is running out of options. He needs to get the woman he loves out of jail, but he’s not sure how to accomplish that. In order to have money for potential payoffs (as well as for his regular, everyday expenses), Boyd’s got to keep his drug business afloat. Everything’s just getting much more complicated than planned.

Guest Star Goodness

Alicia Witt as Wendy Crowe. She might be the only Crowe who is trying to better her life. She pretends to be Darryl Jr.’s lawyer, when really all she is is a legal secretary. But she’s smart enough to get him early parole and then get out of town. I kind of hope we see her show up in Kentucky. That family needs all the help they can get.

Edi Gathegi as the Haitian. He used to poach alligators, but now his business appears to be above-board. He gets rid of bodies for Darryl (and perhaps others) and suggests the family visit their cousin Dewey. I hope he makes the trip with them.

Dave Foley as one member of their Canadian connection. It was more of a cameo, but it made me laugh because he’s Canadian and these particular Canucks were portrayed as anything but accommodating.

Justified airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on FX.