As I suspected in last week’s write-up, the final three episodes of Justified’s first season are unfolding as a complete narrative in and of themselves, with “Veterans” as Act One, tonight’s hour as Act Two, and next week’s promisingly titled “Bulletville” as the grand finale. I was a little disappointed that some of the table-setting last week didn’t cohere into an especially satisfying standalone episode, but I have no such complaints about “Fathers And Sons,” which gives its thematic agenda away in the title. Not only did the stakes increase, as they should at this point in the season, but the show has sharpened focus on a host of contentious relationships at its core.
The fathers and sons squaring off are, of course, Raylan and Arlo, who are forced into a reluctant alliance, and Boyd and Bo, who are more overtly at odds over spiritual and criminal matters. In both cases, there’s immense disappointment among the fathers over how far the apple has fallen from the tree: Arlo, ticked that his son makes more stringent demands in exchange for his cooperation than his fellow Marshals, lashes out at Raylan by telling him he should be “glad [his] mother didn’t live to see how you turned out.” For his part, Bo can barely bring himself to treat Boyd like a son; if Boyd’s religious calling has him dealing with his father like one of the money-changers at the temple, Bo intends to treat him like any other man getting in the way of his business. The Crowder family blood ties run thinner than we might have assumed.
Let’s start with the Givens family: With Arlo in trouble with Bo for screwing up (or ripping off) his collections racket in prison, the Marshals see an opportunity to infiltrate Bo’s business, which is ramping up to a big-time meth operation. (As Alan Sepinwall noted on his Twitter feed, between this and Breaking Bad, we’re learning quite a lot about the crystal meth business.) Art seeks to make Arlo a partner—a snitch, maybe, but someone who’s plenty motivated already to make amends with Bo or see him sent off to jail again. Raylan sees a crafty opportunist, always looking for an angle and capable of great deception. That fantastic showdown at the Veterans bar is a perfect illustration: Show of hands, how many were certain that Arlo’s Vietnam story was a lie? It’s immediately obvious to Raylan—which Arlo acknowledges by saying, “you know that story was complete bullshit, right?”—but it’s such an expertly woven tale that you can’t blame the troubled soldier from buying into it. So too Art and the other Marshalls, who think they have Arlo cornered, but don’t know how slippery he is. Even under Raylan’s insistence that Arlo wear a wire, he still finds a way to get what he wants. The tantalizing question is why: Is it self-preservation? A business opportunity? A chance to get back at his son?
(Aside: How great was the wire scene between Bo and Arlo? Those two dads have raised some smart, resentful sons, but they’re not intimidated by them… or each other. It’s clever enough for Arlo to tip Bo off to the Feds via notebook messages, but what gave the scene an extra kick is Bo’s steadfast resistance to Arlo, who he’s unwilling to let off the hook so easily. Beautifully played by Raymond J. Berry and M.C. Gainey, who are both given their best showcase in this episode.)