I was half-asleep when they ran this week’s previously on. Sorry. Please accept last week’s recap as an adequate substitute.
Enter Boyd pulling up to Ava’s darkened house to find Raylan waiting in wait for him. And as we return to the pilot with Boyd, Ava, and Raylan standing in Ava’s kitchen, Boyd offers Raylan a drink. Raylan chooses to ask over Dewey Crowe regarding his case. Boyd recalls the last time they spoke, Raylan said he was going to be moving on to Mexico. Boyd then claims the last time he saw Dewey, the latter was headed over to the Pizza Palace. Boyd claims to want the best for Ava and whoever else they might bring into the world. Ava asks to dispose of the bullshit, but Boyd is none too happy to see Raylan go. Raylan, in the middle of a lovers spat, chooses to leave of his own accord lest the events of their first meeting in that darken room repeat themselves.
Over at Calhoun’s, Walker, Choo-Choo, and a henchmen are debating as to how to dispose of their new corpse. Walker needed Choo-Choo to help him kill the hooker with whom Calhoun was last seen. Henchman says he’s tired of having to carry Choo-Choo. Choo-Choo on the other hand takes the murderous gentlemanly route of disposing of his own problem.
Zachariah pulls up to Ava’s house and starts reminiscing with her over times since past. She gives him a big hug and they discuss the circumstances her father took his last breaths down in the mine. Ava asks for the real story as to how he died. Zachariah tells her instead that he father didn’t know how to warn her off of Bowman. Ava lets both of them off the hook, by saying there was nothing neither man could do to make her see Bowman’s demon before she saw it for herself. Boyd steps out onto the porch to update Ava as to the status of her new housemate, Earl (Other Henchman from a couple of episodes back, Carl’s brother.)
Katherine walks out of the bathroom to find Markham has a big ring waiting for her and the question there with usually associated. She proposes that neither of them were very good at their numerous marriages and he suggests that it was because none of his past marriages were to her before informing her that she played a large part in his returning to the region. He asks her to come clean about Grady. She admits to cheating on Grady. Markham asks about her snitching on him. Katherine is insulted by the insinuation and asks why he would still want to marry her if that’s what he thought.
The FBI have found Calhoun and the evidence that he was killed by a single punch that ws strong as a truck. Or a train. Raylan and Tim bullshit that Calhoun was Raylan’s realtor when questioned. Naturally, the pair go to visit Markham and asks him as to his involvement in Calhoun’s death and Choo-Choo’s location. Raylan tells Markham his flaw was hiring people versed in murder, not crime. The marshals leave and Markham requests to be updated by his men.
Choo-Choo’s visiting the hooker last seen with Calhoun. The girl unknowningly plays into the beauty and the beast trope of being one of the few people to understand or try to understand Choo-Choo.
Boyd, his uncle-in-law and some of his remaining crew go to excavate the mine. Zachariah tells Carl off for having a loaded gun down in the mine shaft. Boyd confiscates it and gives him a knife to defend himself should any creatures mean him harm.
Art has driven to the office to ask Rachel a question over the Hale case in regards to the official CI. Rachel tells him that case was built on wire taps, not a CI. Art thinks there might have been one behind the scenes. Rachel confides her worry over Ava as the CI on Boyd to Art. After hearing about Ava’s escape “plan” and Raylan’s retrieval, Art only has “what a dumbass” as words to comfort his successor. He then advises her to confirm what her gut is telling her.
Ava calls Raylan to inform him of her new babysitter Earl and the Zachariah situation, namely that one exists.
Katherine meanwhile asks Wynn to look into Markham to make sure that he was not the snitch. Wynn remarks either way, they’re gonna have to kill him.
Walker tells Markham how he met Choo-Choo in a war zone and the horrors he saw his buddy survive. Markham trades him another war parable. Walker receives a phone call from Choo-Choo. Choo-Choo asks if there’s another way as opposed to killing the girl. Either way, he has her tied up in the back of the truck, but he does not reveal that bit of information as Walker asks where he is.
Ava strikes up a conversation with Earl. He tells her that she’s beautiful and confesses he’s not much use in the mine. Ava asks them which shaft they’re down. He tells her. And to think, I thought this was going to be the return of the frying pan, ah well, maybe later.
Boyd falls through a set of weak boards in the mine shaft. Zachariah tells him not to move or breathe deep and Boyd, for the first time as an adult of this show looks scared. Zachariah times the movement it takes to pull him out of the hole he was in and proposes taking a break. Boyd reminds them they’re on the clock, but Carl convinces him to take the rest of the day off.
Walker goes to yell at Choo-Choo for not killing the hooker, when Tim and Raylan show themselves. Tim’s play is to try and convince Choo-Choo that Walker is trying to kill him. Choo-Choo does not fall for it and takes at least two shoulder hits at the hands of the marshals as well as having one of his back tires shot out.
Zachariah and a third guy (would it be wrong to start referring to them as disposable males?) shoot the shit and discover that someone has cut the boards where Boyd fell though. Upon making this discovery, Zachariah hurls the guy down the gaping hole, waits a second and then starts yelling on the walkie for Carl.
Rachel assesses the situation with the two escaped suspects and attempts to feel Raylan out over the Ava situation.
Choo-Choo opts for death by train. Unfortunately for his plans, the train stops just short of hitting his car. On the other hand, he’s dead by the time the conductor gets to him from his injuries.
Boyd comes home to find Ava and Earl having a chat. She asks how things went and he went with a hmmm. Boyd gets a phone call from Limehouse before he gets the chance to elaborate further. Limehouse is offering Boyd free information as a good faith gesture. Limehouse refers to it as an “unknown unknown” because he does not even know what he does not know. Limehouse asks if Boyd knows what Ava got up to the previous night and Boyd’s face falls as things click into place.
Next time: Boyd takes Ava on a hunting trip.
My thoughts: Very well put together episode. (Kinda wish FX hasn’t released the press release about Boyd finding out about Ava’s betrayal a few weeks ago, but what are you gonna do?)
Body Count: 7- Dewey, Raylan’s English teacher + husband, Jake Busey, Calhoun, Nameless Mine Minion, and Choo-Choo.
