Well hello. This is Keith Phipps, filling in for Scott Tobias, who’s stopping for some spicy fried chicken on the way to his new SuperMax home. So, the trailers for this episode suggested it would deal primarily on the overarching story of Raylan’s ever-intensifying (yet pleasantry filled) confrontation with the Crowder clan. That plot advanced considerably, as did the investigation into Raylan’s shooting of Boyd Crowder, and Gary’s mounting problems with some unsavory characters. Yet the focus fell squarely on the story of the week, a hostage drama set within the U.S. Marshal’s office. Does anyone feel cheated?
I don’t. “Blowback” was another rock solid episode and one that got at what makes it work. Yes, hostage situations and the tense negotiations that accompany them are a staple for any cop show, but the episode kept finding ways to play against expectations. For one, it acknowledged that, on TV shows as in life, there are rules to the game. Raylan knows it. The SWAT team that shows up to put the situation to bed knows it. Even Wallace the hostage-taking prisoner knows it, describing Raylan’s strategy to him before he can put it into action and even nailing the timeline of what would go down when. Stuck in a situation headed to a sure-to-be-bloody conclusion—the only question is how bloody—what hope does anyone have of getting what they want?
Mostly, both Raylan and Wallace try to sidestep the process. Raylan attempts to win his trust not through some phony display of empathy but through his usual laconic attitude, an absence of bullshit, and the threat that, hey, maybe he could take him down on a quick draw door or no door. Wallace, who’s played by the steadily employed W. Earl Brown, mostly wants to use the situation to act out. He’s tired of being treated like an animal and he uses his keistered shiv to get… Well, I’m not sure he knew what he wanted to get beyond a moment that demanded those around him treat him with respect. He gets that. And some fried chicken and bourbon—even if it is just Jim Beam—which is more than he had when he pulled the blade out of his ass.
Brown’s a native Kentuckian, by the way. You might remember as one of the victims in the first Scream movie and as Mary’s developmentally disabled brother in There’s Something About Mary. For the show to work, it has to continually find worthwhile antagonists for Raylan, and actors who can hold their own against Olyphant’s gift for coiled understatement. Brown does well, and his character reflects some of Raylan’s problems with authority back at him. They’re not mirror images, but they shoot the shit well, to borrow Raylan’s phrase, and clearly have more in common than a fondness for chicken and bourbon.