One to go !
Apr. 4th, 2012 02:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chaniI can't believe the finale is next week!
I didn't wait to write my review otherwise I would have not written anything.
It has been emphasizing with Quarles who first appeared to be a super villain overcoming the Drixie mafia but turned out to be an instable and not very well-prepared villain, and is now a liability for the crime world, and a pathetic drug addict. He's dangerous, for sure, but he's nothing like the cool gangster or sophisticated sociopath one might have expected once.
Even Michael fucking Ironside's character, who was supposed to be a pro, got easily caught in the street by Art last week!
Sure Duffy – a character whom I now adore – has gotten his Wynn back, is ready to double or triple cross everybody, but at the end of "Coalition" he made a mistake with the bomb, the same one he reproached Boyd for making, that is being too greedy and not killing Quarles immediately (BTW I loved having Boyd and Duffy on screen together at last, and how Boyd echoed what Duffy told Michael Ironside's character in the previous episode, about the ear thing: "what does he say?"). Had Duffy triggered the car bomb before, the Quarles problem would be solved.
A cockroach like Dicky Bennet survives, but he's doomed to fail, as well. Dicky is sly but not very smart, anyway.
Even Boyd, who is usually so smart that he has been on the verge of becoming a sort of iconic Harlan-sized crime mastermind, made several mistakes in the episode, first being sloppy and losing Quarles, and then Dicky. I think the writers are making a point with it, but it's also believable given the members Boyd's gang is based on.
He's understaffed, and most of his guys are quite...a sandwich short of a picnic. Ava is too precious to him to put her in dangerous situations, Arlo is losing it...Johnny would be thesexiest most competent but he's crippled and just a human being who would instinctively catch a pool ball thrown at him, as everybody would. So yes Boyd didn't have many choices if he wanted to be able to move from one point to another than to leave Quarles with two stupid oxy-addcited hookers (the Pattoon/ Cocoon exchange was one of the highlights of the episode, dialogue-wise) and an incomptent guy. It was either that or he would have to baby-sit Quarles himself*. As for leaving Dickie and Errol with a guy in a wheelchair, he was too worried about Ava to think straight. His priority was to go to the woman he loves, and I totally bought it.
Also, it pointed out that now that Boyd has won, he's become a bit too arrogant himself in regards to Quarles. I like the idea of Boyd not being superman or Michael Corleone( at least not yet), and not being careful enough for once. He was smart enough not to fail into Limhouse's trap eventually, but he still made several mistakes that made him more human and less ressourcefull.
So yes, in a way all those plot devices were convenient, helping to put characters in a certain position, and keeping Quarles alive for the big finale, but they were also significant.
In my opinion, the key scene of "Coalition" was the one at Noble Holler, with Raylan and Limehouse.
Firstly, because Limehouse has been the most competent player so far, gathering information, seeing all the angles and maneuvering the other players into killing each others (the Errol twist wasn't so surprising and the camera again seemed to make a point when he was in Johnny's bar and his damaged hand was clearly showed), while not trying to appear like a big player in the crime game, hence his line to Raylan about not looking like a crime lord...unless he's waving his chopper (or is it a cleaver? I never know)in his rivals ' face, but then that's just another show.
To the law men, Limehouse pretends to be an inoffensive citizen trying to stay out of troubles and protect his people, to his own henchmen or to the criminals he tries to appear threatening and badass.
Limehouse obviously thinks of himself as a great actor and storyteller who manages to control everybody's moves and therefore sees himself as the smartest bloke in Harlan, but Raylan sees right through him.
And I love the double way Raylan used the Wizard of Oz metaphor to say that he isn't fooled by the "set and props" in Noble Holler, and also to throw in Limehouse's face that he isn't a big bad but a pussy! That was super meta, but also a great piece of dialogue and very in character for Raylan. Our cowboy is a quick draw but he loves his banter, and his tongue is just as lethal as his gun, and nobody is as cool as Raylan when in passive/agressive mode.
Speaking of cool Raylan, I adored the scene in Loretta's house. That shot of Raylan in the chair, next to a teddy bear, with his legs spread and the gun in his hand...awesome! If the icon exists, point me towards it! Can Loretta keep on growing up without developping the biggest crush ever on Raylan Givens? Seriously?!
Of course she could become a much more competent criminal in the future.
And then there was some dark side of Raylan at play, when he taunted Dickie, toying with him, provoking him. I don't think he ever intended on killing Dickie (he let that chance pass when they were in the woods last season), but he still wanted to shoot him, to hurt him...before fulfilling his promise and taking him back to jail. Raylan was like a big cat playing with his injured prey, and maybe that was all the toys lying around in the room, but at that moment, Raylan Givens and Dickie Bennet seemed to have reverted to their younger selves, when Raylan hurt Dickie for the first time. Children can be so cruel.
So yes the criminals are portrayed as flawed and rather incompetent, and our hero, despite his own human flaws, manages to beat them at their games. He's too strong for those players, no matter the tricks they relied upon.
But sometimes the tricks cause death, and I loved how the show managed to go against our expectations: Quarles let the whores and Boyd's boy alive, but killed Trooper Tom, and yet he didn't kill him by surprise, since his hidden sleeve gun was already out, he just had a quicker draw.
Best acting moment from Walton Goggins? When Arlo called him Raylan. I now realised that it was kinda foreshadowed by Arlo's earlier line "I'm so proud of you, son" but so many characters call the others son in that show, that I didn't think much of it at the time...but that "Raylan" Arlo didn't even realised he had said? My heart skipped a beat and so did Boyd's, I guess.
Of course it wasn't as powerful and poignant as a drugged Walter White calling his son "Jesse" but still. BTW I wonder whether the writers thought of Breaking Bad when writing that scene because it's the exact opposite. Arlo is losing his mind because he's off medication, and calling his surrogate son the name of his biological son, while Walter mistook Walter Junior for his meth son!
Anyway, I loved it, since it fits in my "the father with two sons" theory. BTW Mags leaving her millions to Loretta instead of Dickie was not only a consistent follow-up but an echo to the parent/kids theme. She chose the surrogate child over the biological one.
So everything seems to point to Arlo's death...it's either Arlo or Art (Art even said he was afaird of being shot in "Measures"), but Raylan is gonna lose one of his fathers next week, and Arlo will probably cause that death.
I can't imagine that the show will have the guts to kill Art, so it has to be Arlo, right?
* ETA: Apparently many viewers didn't like how careless and stupid Boyd was regarding Quarles and thought it was just a contrived way to move the story forward and wasn't in character for Boyd. I think those viewers just want Boyd to be a sort of super antagonist while the show's goal might not be the same. Also just read Alan Sepinwall's review and one commenter had a very good point: Boyd doesn't know what the audience does (or Wynn Duffy); he has not seen how crazy and dangerous Quarles is (he just saw him as a carpetbagger and as a defeated conqueror, not as the batshit crazy guy who kept a male hooker chained in a room, not as a formerly abused kid, not as an addict) so it makes sense that he would underestimate the danger.
I didn't wait to write my review otherwise I would have not written anything.
I liked the previous episode, "Measures", in which not much happened, because it had many great conversations, and because Wynn Duffy rocked. He is now one of my favourite supporting characters, along with Dewey Crowe.
I loved the conversations Duffy had with everybody he was in front of or on the phone with; I loved seeing Michael Ironside in my current favourite show – and despite his formidable presence he didn't overshadow at all all those wonderful Justified characters we've come to like, on the contrary! –; I loved the car conversation between Art and Raylan and how it pointed out that Art sees Raylan as his son, and I loved seeing Boyd in investigation mode and having some trouble getting straight information from the dog lady(Quarles becoming this time the Husky-looking guy!). That last conversation was very funny, and again provided a fleshed-out minor character in just one short scene.
That is Justified gift and many tv shows shold learn from its writing, yes The Walking Dead I'm looking at you!
It has been emphasizing with Quarles who first appeared to be a super villain overcoming the Drixie mafia but turned out to be an instable and not very well-prepared villain, and is now a liability for the crime world, and a pathetic drug addict. He's dangerous, for sure, but he's nothing like the cool gangster or sophisticated sociopath one might have expected once.
Even Michael fucking Ironside's character, who was supposed to be a pro, got easily caught in the street by Art last week!
Sure Duffy – a character whom I now adore – has gotten his Wynn back, is ready to double or triple cross everybody, but at the end of "Coalition" he made a mistake with the bomb, the same one he reproached Boyd for making, that is being too greedy and not killing Quarles immediately (BTW I loved having Boyd and Duffy on screen together at last, and how Boyd echoed what Duffy told Michael Ironside's character in the previous episode, about the ear thing: "what does he say?"). Had Duffy triggered the car bomb before, the Quarles problem would be solved.
A cockroach like Dicky Bennet survives, but he's doomed to fail, as well. Dicky is sly but not very smart, anyway.
Even Boyd, who is usually so smart that he has been on the verge of becoming a sort of iconic Harlan-sized crime mastermind, made several mistakes in the episode, first being sloppy and losing Quarles, and then Dicky. I think the writers are making a point with it, but it's also believable given the members Boyd's gang is based on.
He's understaffed, and most of his guys are quite...a sandwich short of a picnic. Ava is too precious to him to put her in dangerous situations, Arlo is losing it...Johnny would be the
Also, it pointed out that now that Boyd has won, he's become a bit too arrogant himself in regards to Quarles. I like the idea of Boyd not being superman or Michael Corleone( at least not yet), and not being careful enough for once. He was smart enough not to fail into Limhouse's trap eventually, but he still made several mistakes that made him more human and less ressourcefull.
So yes, in a way all those plot devices were convenient, helping to put characters in a certain position, and keeping Quarles alive for the big finale, but they were also significant.
In my opinion, the key scene of "Coalition" was the one at Noble Holler, with Raylan and Limehouse.
Firstly, because Limehouse has been the most competent player so far, gathering information, seeing all the angles and maneuvering the other players into killing each others (the Errol twist wasn't so surprising and the camera again seemed to make a point when he was in Johnny's bar and his damaged hand was clearly showed), while not trying to appear like a big player in the crime game, hence his line to Raylan about not looking like a crime lord...unless he's waving his chopper (or is it a cleaver? I never know)in his rivals ' face, but then that's just another show.
To the law men, Limehouse pretends to be an inoffensive citizen trying to stay out of troubles and protect his people, to his own henchmen or to the criminals he tries to appear threatening and badass.
Limehouse obviously thinks of himself as a great actor and storyteller who manages to control everybody's moves and therefore sees himself as the smartest bloke in Harlan, but Raylan sees right through him.
And I love the double way Raylan used the Wizard of Oz metaphor to say that he isn't fooled by the "set and props" in Noble Holler, and also to throw in Limehouse's face that he isn't a big bad but a pussy! That was super meta, but also a great piece of dialogue and very in character for Raylan. Our cowboy is a quick draw but he loves his banter, and his tongue is just as lethal as his gun, and nobody is as cool as Raylan when in passive/agressive mode.
Speaking of cool Raylan, I adored the scene in Loretta's house. That shot of Raylan in the chair, next to a teddy bear, with his legs spread and the gun in his hand...awesome! If the icon exists, point me towards it! Can Loretta keep on growing up without developping the biggest crush ever on Raylan Givens? Seriously?!
Of course she could become a much more competent criminal in the future.
And then there was some dark side of Raylan at play, when he taunted Dickie, toying with him, provoking him. I don't think he ever intended on killing Dickie (he let that chance pass when they were in the woods last season), but he still wanted to shoot him, to hurt him...before fulfilling his promise and taking him back to jail. Raylan was like a big cat playing with his injured prey, and maybe that was all the toys lying around in the room, but at that moment, Raylan Givens and Dickie Bennet seemed to have reverted to their younger selves, when Raylan hurt Dickie for the first time. Children can be so cruel.
So yes the criminals are portrayed as flawed and rather incompetent, and our hero, despite his own human flaws, manages to beat them at their games. He's too strong for those players, no matter the tricks they relied upon.
But sometimes the tricks cause death, and I loved how the show managed to go against our expectations: Quarles let the whores and Boyd's boy alive, but killed Trooper Tom, and yet he didn't kill him by surprise, since his hidden sleeve gun was already out, he just had a quicker draw.
Best acting moment from Walton Goggins? When Arlo called him Raylan. I now realised that it was kinda foreshadowed by Arlo's earlier line "I'm so proud of you, son" but so many characters call the others son in that show, that I didn't think much of it at the time...but that "Raylan" Arlo didn't even realised he had said? My heart skipped a beat and so did Boyd's, I guess.
Of course it wasn't as powerful and poignant as a drugged Walter White calling his son "Jesse" but still. BTW I wonder whether the writers thought of Breaking Bad when writing that scene because it's the exact opposite. Arlo is losing his mind because he's off medication, and calling his surrogate son the name of his biological son, while Walter mistook Walter Junior for his meth son!
Anyway, I loved it, since it fits in my "the father with two sons" theory. BTW Mags leaving her millions to Loretta instead of Dickie was not only a consistent follow-up but an echo to the parent/kids theme. She chose the surrogate child over the biological one.
So everything seems to point to Arlo's death...it's either Arlo or Art (Art even said he was afaird of being shot in "Measures"), but Raylan is gonna lose one of his fathers next week, and Arlo will probably cause that death.
I can't imagine that the show will have the guts to kill Art, so it has to be Arlo, right?
* ETA: Apparently many viewers didn't like how careless and stupid Boyd was regarding Quarles and thought it was just a contrived way to move the story forward and wasn't in character for Boyd. I think those viewers just want Boyd to be a sort of super antagonist while the show's goal might not be the same. Also just read Alan Sepinwall's review and one commenter had a very good point: Boyd doesn't know what the audience does (or Wynn Duffy); he has not seen how crazy and dangerous Quarles is (he just saw him as a carpetbagger and as a defeated conqueror, not as the batshit crazy guy who kept a male hooker chained in a room, not as a formerly abused kid, not as an addict) so it makes sense that he would underestimate the danger.