Justified “Starvation” 

The stakes could not be higher right now. Alberto doesn’t want Boyd’s head, he wants his skin. Penny is dead and Ava is in so much danger in jail, she agrees to get Boyd to help Raylan even though they’ve broken up. But she’s too late and there’s only so much Raylan can do for her. Wendy doesn’t want to help Darryl get his hands on the drugs, but he doesn’t give her a choice. But perhaps the highest stakes of all involve Kendal. And all because Darryl Crowe Jr. was able to either circumvent or avoid every single scheme the Marshals tried to use to entrap him. 

At the end of the day Darryl Crowe Jr. talks a big game, but he also seems to deliver – at least where family is concerned. He’s looked after them the best he knows how, but he’s also been extremely smart about what cane be connected back to him. He’s so careful to make sure he doesn’t get caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar. He’s so good at convincing his family to do as he says – either through words or by force. When Darryl goes to Wynn’s hotel suite he only has one goal in mind and he knows how to get the information he needs from Mike.

At the same time Raylan and the rest of the Marshals are putting the squeeze on Darryl’s known associates. They track Boyd and Duffy down and proceed to make their lives a little more difficult. They impound Duffy’s camper and tell him the IRS will be looking into his finances. And Raylan tells Boyd about the file they have on him. Of course, Boyd is unimpressed with his threats.

I did not, however, expect Raylan to go see Ava about Boyd. I also did not expect him to threaten her when she told him she wouldn’t help. I don’t expect (or want) Raylan to be sentimental in his dealings with Ava, but I want him to be a human being about it. I know he wants Darryl Crowe Jr. so bad he can taste it. I know he’s actually trying to do things by the book to get an attempted murder charge to stick to Darryl. But I want him to be able to look at himself in the mirror at the end of all this.

After Boyd’s gone to the Marshals to tell them where they can find the dope Darryl is looking for, it looks like the Marshals will at least get him on possession. It’s not what they really want, but it’s something. Only problem? Wendy shows up to collect the drugs, not Darryl. But maybe his charm or whatever it is that makes people do stuff for him is wearing off. Or it could be the sedatives making their way out of Wendy’s system, but Wendy leaves the barn without the drugs. The Marshals still arrest her because they can’t have her going back to Darryl and warning him. But they’ve still got Boyd and they’ve got one more play to make.

At first, Boyd has no interest in wearing a wire. He’s way too smart for that. The problem? Boyd was supposed to keep a low profile and remain out of sight. Duffy told Alberto that he’d taken care of Boyd and as a sort of compromise, the Mexicans had agreed to take Darryl instead. All they needed was Duffy to locate Darryl. But now that Alberto knows Duffy lied, both he and Boyd are in danger. So with no other options, Boyd agrees to get a confession out of Darryl. After all, he doesn’t have that silver tongue for nothing. And this plan seems to be progressing beautifully until Dewey decides to make a surprise appearance during their meeting. And, of course, he admits to killing Wade Messer to show Boyd just how serious he is about shooting him. Poor, dumb Dewey. He just has the worst luck, doesn’t he?

With Darryl now in custody, but no closer to admitting his guilt in shooting Art, Raylan is getting truly desperate. He talks to Vasquez and together they see Judge Reardon. Instead of trying Kendal as a minor, he agrees to sign off on them trying Kendal as an adult. With those consequences Raylan must be pretty sure that Wendy will turn on her kin. It’s a bold move. And one that can backfire and ruin the life of a kid whose only crime was being born a Crowe.

The season finale of Justified airs Tuesday, April 8th at 10/9c on FX.