User Reviews

The US Marshals criminal plot (a basic assets seizure that results in a murder investigation because Raylen feels that the victim (a fake suicide staged by his wife and her lover) was killed due to the positioning of the gun in his hand) isn't all that inspired, but I have to say just because of the dialogue, "The Collection" had me laughing out loud several times and therefore was highly entertaining. Basically, Art, Raylen's boss, provided the laughs, questioning why he insists on making not particularly smart decisions (relationship with Ava, in this case), wishing he would use the cell phone in case of assignments and updates, and especially getting out of the cold because Art couldn't keep his eyes off of Raylen's nipples (!). Owen Carnes (Peter Jason) swindled clients, is about to face serious criminal prosecution and jail time, and he's hoping to sell Hitler paintings to a gallery owner , Karl Hanselman (Robert Picardo; Star Trek Voyager). Art and Raylen travel to his home to serve him for forfeiture of all his assets, this because the money used to purchase the items that left him in luxury came from those he was robbing with faux investments. There's a joke by Art regarding how if Madoff hadn't existed Carnes' bad behavior would have been far more noticeable and noteworthy.

Owen's wife, Caryn (Katherine LaNasa; she's full of spirit and works that Southern accent, her acidic remarks about Owen surprising Raylen a bit), bred and worked extensively with horses, teaching snotty spoiled brats from affluent families how to ride before meeting and eventually wedding her current husband. This whole false suicide seemed to be a plan all along, with Caryn's true love, Greg (Brett Cullen), working in the stables for Owen and her, shooting him, much to the surprise of David Mortimer (Tony Hale). David was responsible for finding paintings for Owen, and he was vocally certain that the Hitler paintings were legit, although Karl says they're not. David's in a bit of a pickle, worried for his well being, and, for a temporary time, going along with Caryn and Greg. Surprisingly, Greg makes a decision at the end that I wasn't expecting; this decision on the heels of Caryn requesting him to murder David. While Owen was a scumbag awaiting a trial that had plenty of evidence that could have put him away, Greg didn't have such a crisis of conscience murdering him, but David hadn't done anything wrong. Caryn is the one that displays disturbing revelations about her character, such as the willingness to kill in order to save her own hide, expecting Greg to follow her commands without fail.

Again Natalie Zea shows up in a small supporting part looking mighty "business suit sexy", as Raylen's former squeeze, Winona, wanting him to look up information for a list of names, ambiguous about her reasoning for such a request…this is illegal for a US Marshal to seek information for a civilian outside his law enforcement station. I always liked the subplot regarding Winona and Raylen's relationship, so seeing it touched on in a nice conversation scene (it's clear Raylen is still stuck on her, and I can see why) was a fun bookend that offers a potential for the two to re-ignite as a couple down the road, even as Ava's presence in his life (prior to her eventually re-acquainting with husband drug-lord, Boyd Crowder (Walton Coggins), forming a formidable husband/wife duo) complicates matters. During the early part of the first season, Boyd was going through his "come to Jesus" phase, seemingly sincere in his new path as a Christian spreading the Word of the Lord. That would subside as he gained a firm hold of the drug trafficking throughout the county of the jurisdiction of the US Marshals around Lexington, Kentucky. Touched on just a little is Winona's real estate agent husband, with Raylen warning him not to drag his wife into whatever shady dealings might exist in his life.

The early part of the episode has Ava and Raylen awakening after a seemingly pleasant shag; it is weird to see these two together if you watch the later seasons when they are attached to others. I thought the twist regarding Karl's "Hitler collection" (he's always asking Raylen if he'd like to see it, and Raylen, at one point, memorably says he'd rather put his dick in a blender!) was an impressive way for Raylen to look at his intense dislike for his father, perhaps believing it was time to bury a lot of that anger, with Boyd offering to provide something to him that might just imprison Arlo. I think what has always been consistently a constant in this series is the wit and sense of humor, a lot of clever anecdotes and exchanges between characters that makes the show such a treat to watch.

One of the more revealing, even if not better, of the 'fugitive of the week' episodes, as Raylan meets his art world doppelgänger - a man dedicating his life to destroying his father's life apex. Solid performances by the guest stars, including Robert Picardo (the Doctor from Star Trek Voyager - a personal fave).

The best parts are in the first and last scenes as Raylan and Boyd Crowder interact, if only for a few moments.

You also get to see the development of. Art Mullen as he starts to see that having his old friend from a previous assignment might not be all peaches and cream! His chemistry with Raylan rings true - and as much as we might love Raylan, we can't blame Art when Raylan's negatives start to outweigh his positives in Art's eyes.

In later episodes, you really start to feel for him as his savant Marshall becomes a savant idiot (no, NOT an idiot savant) in Art's eyes. An absolute genius at apprehending fugitives, he is, from a supervisor's perspective also a genius s**t-stirrer and an abject pain in the posterior! You get the idea he is starting to realize this in regard to Raylan and Ava - see the quote involving a small kitchen appliance!

What would be considered a great episode for most shows is really only average (at best) for Justified.