Raylan takes a bit of downtime as Boyd faces up to an unwanted truth.

FX

DOWNTIME

Note: The following review goes into detail about the episode. SPOILER ALERT!

Things between Ava and Boyd really came to a head this week. After Limehouse’s call to Boyd, we could be certain that Boyd would be checking on where Ava’s intentions lie. He spent the first half of the episode testing her, first by bringing her up to his Father’s cabin (Bulletville!), and then by getting a little bit tough with her. Ava has been close to breaking for the last couple of episodes, so it wasn’t surprising to see her come completely clean with Boyd. I did like how Boyd seemed more concerned about whether she was sleeping with Raylan than any information she might had given him. No matter what happens, this show will always come down to Raylan vs. Boyd in some way.

Walker managed to make it out of this episode alive, but time is running out for him. He’s injured and on the run, and now he finds himself completely alone. Markham coldly cut him off, and Seabass seemingly decided to take the money instead of helping his old war buddy. I say seemingly because I still have a feeling Seabass’s loyalty will get the better of him, and he’ll come to Walker’s aid. I still don’t see Walker making it past the next couple of episodes, though. He performed surgery on himself, scared the hell out of some frat boys and then mercilessly executed a couple of paramedics. He’s desperate now, and by the looks of it, he’s going to go after one last target. I’m not quite sure whether he’s going to try and take out Raylan or Markham yet, but I can see it being his last stand.

With Walker on the loose, I was all kinds of worried when Winona and little baby Willa showed up at Raylan’s doorstep. They would be the perfect leverage for any single one of Raylan’s enemies, but I hope they both made it out of town here. Winona and Raylan’s relationship has been a very complicated one, but they finally look like they could both be in a place to try and make it work—which sets even more alarm bells off for me. The more perfect Raylan’s “getaway plan” starts to look, the more convinced I am that it’ll all end horribly. He has a glimpse of what his life could be like away from Harlan, and I think it might end up coming down to whether he can walk away from the job or not. We saw a slight shift already tonight. Raylan would be the last person to back away from a manhunt in normal circumstances, but he dropped everything for Winona and his child here. A huge part of Raylan’s arc throughout the series was not turning out like his own father. If he survives, he’ll have a good chance of succeeding in that.

THE BREAKDOWN

This felt like more of a transitional episode than most. Raylan was sidelined for the majority of the episode, while the search for Walker continued. The Ava and Boyd material was really good, with Ava coming clean to Boyd. It’s rather clear that Boyd still doesn’t trust her fully, but I’m interested to see how he’s going to use her against Raylan. My favorite part of the episode was Art’s conversation with Markham. It was easy to assume that Markham was the snitch all of those years ago, but Art clearly doesn’t think so. Katherine Hale seems like the likely alternative, and the brutal nature of the case would mean she will be a definite force to be reckoned with over the remainder of the season.

Who do you think the snitch is? Is it Markham, Hale or could there possibly be another person involved? Tweet me your speculation @OldSnake24 or let me know in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow us @YouNerded.

80/100 – Great

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