Alive Day

Somehow I missed recapping episode 6 the week it aired, so let me fill the void real quick.

Raylan swings by Boyd and Ava’s home to inquire about the where abouts of Dewey, something Boyd isn’t too keen on answering. He tells Raylan to go bug Avery about it and Raylan leaves without getting anything that can help him. He does bug Boyd with his presence though, he doesn’t like Raylan around Ava alone. He gets Earl to babysit her.

We get to hear a bit about Ava’s father and her past from her Uncle Zachariah in a nice conversation on the front porch before he goes off to the mine with Boyd. Knowing full well that Zach is about as shady as they come (and the bad blood between him and Boyd) she talks to Boyd about if he can really trust him. Boyd is confident he can, but later he nearly falls to his death in the mine. Zach helps him up and convinces Boyd to take the rest of the day off after the near death experience. With Boyd gone, Pig notices that it looks like the planks Boyd fell through were cut, not rotted out. With Zach’s trap exposed, he shoves Pig down the hole head first and yells for Carl to come to help.

Onto the side story. Avery proposes to Hale and asks her if she was the snitch that got him and her late husband arrest years ago. She denies it. She later tells Duffy about it and he asks her the same question. She denies it. The plan to kill Avery still goes ahead (Hale is looking forward to it). Art, board with being sidelined at home pokes around the office to get info on who the informant was in that Hale case. It’s not known for sure, but Hale’s name sure does come up a lot.

The big run for this episode was the fallout from Choo Choo killing Calhoun. It turns out that Avery’s mercs, ” know killing, but they don’t know crime.” These idiots did the bare minimum at hiding the murder. Calhoun’s body was quickly discovered with knuckle marks on his temple and Raylan’s business card on his person. This points them directly to Avery and Choo Choo. Ty and Seabass have tried to hide this info from Avery, so when Raylan shows up at the pizza place, Avery rightfully plays dumb about the news. Ty has a lot of explaining to do when Raylan leaves.

Pissed that they have another body on their hands due to ineptitude, Avery wants Choo Choo finished. Ty pleads his case, but when he gets a phone call from Choo about not killing Chalhoun’s girl, Caprice, he realizes Avery is right. Choo Choo is all liability. My favorite new character this season has made too many mistakes and everyone pays for it. Raylan and Tim followed the mercs to Choo Choo in the woods who has Caprice tied to a tree. To his credit, Choo argues as best as he can to keep her alive. “She shouldn’t have to die for my mistake.” When Raylan and Tim pop into the conversation, things go south real quick. One merc is shot and killed, Choo Choo gets hit multiple times and flees and Ty gets one in the gut and manages to escape too. Few shows do shootouts as well as Justified.

With all these guys in the wind, Avery has some serious issues on his hands and he doesn’t even know about the Hale/Duffy/Boyd plan.

At the very end, Ellistin Limehouse gives Boyd a call. He drops a dime on Ava as a “good faith gesture.” The cat is out of the bag, Boyd is living with a snitch.

The Hunt

This week we got to see Raylan take a break from the case (a very rare occasion). He puts in some quality time in with Winona and his baby girl for the first time in months. Seeing Raylan carrying around a baby instead of a gun is something we never get to see. It brought out a different side to him…for once it looked like he’s actually thinking about his future. It’s something that Winona has been thinking about too and before he goes back to chasing Boyd and what’s left of Avery’s squad of hired guns, confesses that she misses him being in her life. She wants to give their life together another shot. It looked like Raylan thought this was a pretty good idea.

With Raylan’s domestic life on the upswing, Ty Walker is fighting to stay alive and keep from getting caught and after Avery convinced Seabass to leave him in wind, he really is on his own now. Ty makes some military moves, throwing a data trail away from him to keep the feds away and patches himself up in a bathroom as best as he can. But a busted car puts him back on the map and with two more bodies on his wrap sheet. It doesn’t look like Ty has much longer.

Zachariah, still down in the mine, did his best to keep Carl from calling Boyd about the “accident.” It didn’t exactly work, but I think Zach is still in good shape. He should be able to sell the “loose ground” story to Boyd without making him suspicious and come up with a new way to kill him. Time isn’t on his side though and Carl’s days are probably numbered too.

After receiving the tip of Ava’s movements, Boyd gets Ava alone in the woods. Really reminded me of The Sopranos as we (and Ava) were waiting for Boyd to pull the trigger from the moment he told her they were going to the family’s cabin. She’s on pins and needles the whole trip and he wakes her up before the sun comes up to go hunting. That doesn’t end well for many people (on TV and movies anyway).

Finally, it all comes up. Ava confesses and Boyd actually takes it pretty well. While Boyd has done a lot of terrible things, he always manages to keep his wits about him so he doesn’t do anything rash and stupid. Ava does have a good mark on him though, he completely left her in lurch when she was in prison. Their bond and loyalty together took a major hit. Acknowledging that, he had to know if she really betrayed him. Seeing Raylan alone in their house with her made him angrier than finding out she was a CI. When Ava tells him they didn’t sleep together, he;s relieved. He finds solace knowing that she is still his girl, he still has someone to turn to in this world. With that list getting smaller and smaller, that’s really important for Boyd.

Tell Me You Fucking Need Me

The needs of the family! Let’s run the gauntlet with our favorite broken people.

So happy Fiona has made the first good relationship decision in (possibly) her life. Even if she didn’t smell Jimmy’s (Jake!) last lie, she finally put her foot down and chose to formally end her relationship with him. She got all the conformation she could ever need just moments later from Angela. What was once a ghostly noose hanging above her head is now a rotten piece of rope laying in a gutter. Hopefully she can patch things up with Gus.

Fiona’s going to need all the support she an get as Ian is…well, it’s early. More sedated than anything else, it’s going to be a small miracle for him to be level headed in just 72 hours. If he can get some good treatment and come back to a safe home, he may have a chance. Mickey is rightfully scared shitless. He doesn’t know who he just went to visit and it’s sent him down a rough path. Svetlana isn’t helping things….

Which brings us up into V and Kevin’s business. Officially separated, V is still being an ass and her mother tried to talk some sense into her. Hard to tell what could flip her back to the right side. Svetlana crashing the scene and trolling old flames on Facebook certainly isn’t going to help them.

Debbie finally kicks one through the goal posts! A real boyfriend, it’s great to see her happy, it’s been a long time.

Carl’s third time in sixth grade! Kid knows how to make the best of a situation at least. His idea to get Chuckie as his gofer is brilliant. Shades of his dad right there.

Speaking of Frank, he manages to make Sammi completely crack. This has been a long time coming and was a riot to watch. We’ve seen some meltdowns on the show before, but her pulling a gun on him is some epic Gallagher insanity. It worked though. Can’t wait to see how their new dynamic works next week.

Last but not least, Lip. Tuition trouble due to some bumbling family ignorance forces him to keep a closer eye on his own responsibilities. Another sobering step to him breaking away. Another step that no one else in his family has noticed. I’m wondering what’s in store for him at the end of this season. I could see him getting a place with Amanda at the very least.