Justified: Collateral – Review

Last week, I stated that Justified was becoming a big circle of death. Unfortunately, I may have jumped the gun, so to speak. The penultimate episode of Justified, “Collateral” increases the death count and intensity while preparing for the series finale. Honestly, it seems that Justified is killing off all of the extraneous characters in an effort to streamline the show’s plot, and that is perfectly fine with me.

“Collateral” continues the hunt for Ava and her uncle Zachariah through the mountains of Kentucky. However, this hunt is complicated by the fact that Boyd is hunting from one direction, Raylan is hunting from another, and the Marshals are hunting for them all. Plus, Avery Markham is also involved in the hunt in his own way. The only party missing from the hunt is Wynn Duffy, who happens to be trying to achieve an unknown goal with a dog grooming van. At this moment, Duffy’s plan is unclear, but he will probably make the finale even better with some weird appearance.

Part of the hunting party.

The strange thing about this hunt is that Raylan leaves his badge and identification in his car, taking only a gun and his hat. Obviously, this isn’t the smartest decision in that ADA David Vasquez immediately calls in a BOLO (Be On The Lookout) with the FBI, causing another manhunt. For some strange reason, Vasquez is still under the impression that Raylan helped Ava steal the $10 million from Markham, despite evidence to the contrary. Vasquez’s accusations are tiring at times, but they do lead to entertaining interactions between the ADA and the Marshals. One scene in particular involves Vasquez using one phone to call in the BOLO for Raylan while Tim Gutterson is using another phone to give Art Mullen the play-by-play. Mullen, of course, is inventing humorous methods of swearing in response to the story. The entire scene should have been serious, but Gutterson’s dry delivery and Mullen’s swearing added some levity to Vasquez’s temper tantrum.

Of course, no character is better at adding humor to Justified than Constable Bob, played by Patton Oswalt. “Collateral” sees the return of Bob and his AMC Gremlin when they join in the hunt for Raylan and Ava. Mostly, Bob is trying to find his beloved Crown Victoria, which has mysteriously disappeared from his garage. Constable Bob may not be in too much of the episode, but every moment is fantastic simply because of the weird phrases that Patton Oswalt spits out at random times. Oswalt does such a good job that you don’t even blink an eye at the random Star Wars and Indiana Jones references mixed in with discussions of Kentucky criminals and crazy murders. Sadly, Bob’s story is left hanging during this penultimate episode, so he needs to return during the series finale to close the loop.

“Collateral” was an absolutely fantastic episode of Justified, which is impressive considering how many great episodes have aired during this season. You would expect at least one to be a stinker. Thankfully, this penultimate episode raised the bar of quality and set the stage for the finale. Even better, the show included a  bunch of character deaths, most of which affected the story. A couple of characters were introduced just so they could die during this episode, which is humorous. Unfortunately, that creepy character Boon is still alive and wrecking havoc in Harlan County. Hopefully, he will meet a fitting end during the finale when he inevitably challenges Raylan to a duel.

This probably won’t end well.

While it is unfortunate to see Justified end after six successful seasons, I do appreciate that they are ending the show before it starts dragging on. This final season has been an absolute blast to watch, and the finale only figures to be even better. Hopefully, the writers choose to give Justified a better ending than some other shows had.

I’m looking at you, Dexter.