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We’re three episodes into season four of Justified, and we’ve yet to see a meeting between Boyd and Raylan. Their meetings are usually commonplace and always one of the highlights of their episodes, so why haven’t we gotten them together? Executive Producer Graham Yost has mentioned that this is intentional, because they didn’t want to pull the focus away from the multiple subplots going on by having a sharp back-and-forth between the two. But even though they aren’t together, they’re experiencing the same problems with “Truth and Consequences.”

We’ll start with Raylan, who’s found some unfortunate repercussions from his professional decisions. In looking for more information about the face-planting parachutist, he runs into Drew Thompson’s ex, which leads to a “case of the week” hostage situation. After she’s saved we find out a big twist in the case, which is that Drew told his ex before he left that he was in some deep water with Theo Tonin, who’s no stranger to Justified. But while this is an interesting development, I can’t help but feel the way we got there took a bumpier road than was necessary. Having a fake FBI agent who blew his brains out after helping solve the case is the type of cliché Justified normally avoids, making it stand out here like a snake-bit face. And while I’m still interested in the case, solving it is starting to get repetitive. Each episode has had Raylan going to someone’s house, having a conversation with them, and then a big reveal that leads him to the next house. The conversations have been wonderful and never dull, but hopefully we’ve reached the end of the talking and the start of the detection.

As for his personal life, Raylan has found a crafty opponent in Lindsey’s ex, Randall. He’s physically outmatched by him, but as the end of the episode shows, he might also be intellectually outmatched. Raylan spends the entire episode expecting him to put a hitch in his Gary Cooper walk, but returns home to find his place ransacked and his girl gone. It isn’t clarified whether or not Lindsey is willingly leaving, but I’m guessing Raylan is going to have to be a hero next week. I’m pleased at how this storyline has played out, with what started last week as a soap opera twist leading into more interesting developments this week.

But nothing this season has been as fascinating as Boyd going head to head with the new revival preacher Billy St. Clair. In the violent opening we see Boyd’s plan going horribly wrong, leading Billy to claim divine intervention saved his soul. Boyd was correct in assuming that his sister was the brains behind the operation, but the big development is that Boyd knew before Billy did, leaving Billy snakebit because of his hubris. I don’t think he’s dead, which means we’re going to be seeing those repercussions pretty soon.

So we end the episode with both Boyd and Raylan having their plans turned around on them, and next week they’ll have to face the consequences. Will they finally have a meeting where they bemoan their current predicaments and engage in some more fantastic wordplay? Probably not on the former and probably so on the latter. Regardless, I’m looking forward to whatever Justified brings us next week.

Loose Ends:

Jere Burns is once again fantastic as Wynn Duffy, this time meeting with Johnny, who wants to help Wynn kill Boyd. I don’t see Boyd dying this season, as Yost as hinted that he has big plans for him and Ava in later seasons. But it will be interesting to see what happens between the three.

-Jeremy