'Justified' Season 5 Premiere Recap: Rayland Meets Darryl Crowe Jr.

by UInterviewJanuary 8, 2014, 12:00 amNews >

Justified kicked off Season 5 with Raylan heading to Florida to visit the Crowe family and Boyd making his way to Detroit in “A Murder of Crowes.”

The episode began with Dewey Crowe (Damon Herriman) receiving damages in court for the physical beating Rayland (Timothy Olyphant) gave him last season. While Dewey is getting his payday, his cousin Dilly loses his temper and shoots a Coast Guard officer he was in the process of bribing with Elvis (Amaury Nolasco). The shooting attracts Rayland down to Florida, where he is faced with the opportunity to visit his baby daughter and baby mamma Winona (Natalie Zea). He Skypes with them while he is in Florida, but doesn’t tell them that he is nearby and could easily visit. Instead, he and Deputy Marshall Sutter (David Koechner) meet with Darryl Crowe Jr. (Michael Rapaport), another member of the Crowe crime family.

Darryl wants to make a deal: he’ll give up Elvis for the shooting of the Coast Guard officer if they change the conditions of his parole. Elvis, knowing Darryl is going to double cross him, kidnaps Darryl’s sister, Wendy (Alicia Witt), and holds her hostage. Elvis’ plan is quickly thwarted when Wendy is able to maneuver the car to crash and escapes. Elvis is forced to make a last ditch effort to sail away on his boat to Cuba, but is shot by Raylan and Sutter before he can safely escape.

Raylan and Sutter might be done with Darryl Jr. and Florida, but Darryl Jr. is certainly not done with Raylan. After Jean Baptiste (Edi Gathergi), an associate of Darryl’s, overhears Raylan and Sutter discussing Dewey’s recent good fortune in court, he, Darryl and Darryl’s brother Danny (A.J. Buckley) decide to go to Kentucky to see their cousin.

Meanwhile, Boyd (Walton Goggins) makes his way to Detroit with Duffy (Jere Burns) after a drug buy gone wrong. They want to meet with the supplier, “The Canadians,” and make a deal for one last shipment of drugs, date unknown. Boyd has other problems to contend with in Harlan, as he desperately tries to come up with a way to blackmail Judge Bishop into clearing Ava (Joelle Carter) for Delroy Baker’s murder. Boyd offers Judge Bishop’s friend, Lee Paxton (Sam Anderson), $300,000 to sway the judge, but it’s a no-go. What Paxton does offer is a trade: Ava’s freedom in exchange for Boyd taking the fall for the murder. Boyd isn’t so sure, and things quickly turn violent when Paxton comments on Boyd’s level of commitment to Ava. Boyd beats him until his wife Mara (Karolina Wydra) arrives. Mara promises to say that a burglar beat her husband, and Boyd leaves.