'You Wanna Lean In For A Kiss?'

Raylan's very efficiently multi-tasking by drinking while cleaning out Arlo's house!

When Raylan comes upon Arlo's old Army foot locker, he breaks open the look and finds bundled letters, photos, a big-ass knife, a photo of (I assume) Raylan's mother, and Arlo's dog tags!

Outside, Raylan kicks the foot locker open, pours out the rest of his bourbon on it, and lights it on fire, watching it all burn!

Well, ALMOST all!

Boyd gets a progress report from Carl, although I guess maybe you should call it something other than "progress" if the "report" is that one of your guys fell down a hole and died! Carl says that Zachariah's still in the mine and wants Boyd to come meet him and see how it happened! Boyd charges Earl with taking Ava home and orders him not to let her out of his sight! He advises Ava to start looking around for whatever few things she wants to take with her when she and Boyd ditch Harlan for good: "All this is over....We got the money. I'll have you. Everything else, I can replace." Ava asks for her phone back, and after a moment, Boyd decides to return it, but with a caution: "This is our only pipeline to Raylan. We've got to use it wisely, and in concert with each other." Seems like he trusts her, so either that gun business was a red herring, or he's playing a long game!

And then Raylan's meeting with a funeral director about relocating all the graves on his father's property, as one does! The FD reminds Raylan, "What you're moving is not your mother's remains. It is the idea of her remains." In other words, there might be very little of her actual body left, which I would think would be a relief, but I guess maybe he's just making sure Raylan doesn't think he's getting cheated if it just looks like a bunch of dirt? Anyway, Raylan wants to move his mother's remains (or whatever) to the town cemetery. And Arlo? Raylan: "Wherever works for you....Potter's Field?" Why move him at all? Just take the gravestone and throw it in a creek! Signed, someone who doesn't want any kind of marker taking up space on the planet after she's gone!

Along comes Tim, a little taken aback by what's left of Arlo's charred-up foot locker! He's going to be working from Arlo's property, but as he starts to recap the latest in manhunt news, Raylan cuts him off: "I ain't workin' the manhunt." Tim's like, it's not like I don't already know you do whatever the fuck you feel like, but seriously? Raylan says he's working on a lead of his own: "Zachariah Randolph." Tim: "Let me guess: local boy. How come no one down here is ever named Steve, or Justin?" As Raylan already goes off on his way to do whatever the fuck he feels like, Tim asks when he can tell Rachel that Raylan's "back on Job #1." "Getting Boyd Crowder is Job #1."

Ava's just gotten back to her house with Earl when she looks up and sees Ty there waiting for her! "You locked the door," notes Ty. "I suppose it's just the three of us, then." ...Look, I'm not saying this is my top lineup of Justified characters to have a threeway, but I'm on board!

Raylan vs. Zachariah

As advertised, Raylan has gone to see what Zachariah's up to -- conveniently, just as Zachariah is messing with a crate of dynamite in his shed. Unfortunately for Zachariah, Raylan's pretty good at his job, and Zachariah's hastily covering the crate with a tarp does nothing to quell Raylan's curiosity about what's underneath it, and after a little banter -- they worked together years ago; Zachariah knows Raylan's Arlo's son -- Raylan gets straight to asking about the crate. Zachariah says it's none of Raylan's concern, but Raylan doesn't drop it: "What's your rate?...You're a whore -- what do you charge? I'm just curious." He knows Boyd's paying Zachariah, so if he opens the crate, will he find out what for? Zachariah continues pretending to be offended at the idea that anything he's doing would be about money, moving Raylan to declare, "It's always about money. Jesus Christ, the one thing every shit-apple redneck is guaranteed to take with both hands and a left foot is money." When Zachariah continues not to answer, Raylan punches him in the gut and pulls the tarp off...but the satisfaction he must feel in being right about Zachariah doing something he shouldn't is probably erased -- temporarily, at least -- when he comes out of the shed and Zachariah punches Raylan in the gut. Some half-hearted punches go back and forth -- both are kind of winded, so neither's that into it -- and when Zachariah, from the ground, grunts, "You had enough?," Raylan holds out a hand to help him up. Hee. "I guess it's the end of the line, isn't it," sighs Zachariah. Raylan says he's not going to take Zachariah in, so I guess now we all know it's cool to have enough dynamite to blow the shit out of some solid underground rock? Cool. "Thank you," says Zachariah. "Don't," says Raylan. "You're in deep shit either way."

Winner: Even when we get to the end of the episode, I still don't understand why Raylan doesn't at least bring Zachariah in for questioning to confirm his suspicions about Boyd, but still: Raylan.

Still Trying To Smell A Rat

Alert Type: Rat Hunt Alert.

Issue: Katherine and Wynn are still looking for proof that Avery was the rat who narced on Grady, and has found some: two days after Grady was put in lockup, a certain Gordon Keith was arrested for shoplifting vodka, which he didn't drink; right after Keith ALSO went into lockup, Grady ended up dead.

Complicating Factors: When Wynn comments on Katherine's giant engagement ring, she's like, yeah, maybe we don't need to worry that much about Boyd busting into the vault, because if I marry Avery I'll just get all his money anyway? And Wynn's like, cool, but that leaves me where?

Resolution: Katherine invites Art up to her suite and gives him all the information Wynn's collected on Keith. "You just want to see justice done," says Art dubiously. "The man who shot you," says Katherine. "He changed your life forever, right?" When Art nods, she asks, "What happened to him?" "Well, he got his balls shot off," says Art. "Then he got gut-shot. 'Least, that's what the report said -- sadly, I wasn't there." (That report was accurate.) "Well, the guy who ratted on Grady turned my life to shit," says Katherine, "and I want something like that to happen to him. That is what I want."

Spoiler: Art has a lot of time to work on this, so if Avery really is the culprit, I don't like his chances at...life.

Ty vs. Boyd

Ty having secured Ava's gun and all her knives before she got home and ordered her to tie Earl up tight, she doesn't really have a choice as to whether or not to stitch up his bullet wound, so as she does so, they have a pleasant chat about whether Boyd's going to go for "it." Ava tells him she'll have to wait for Boyd, and Ty mischievously points out that the three of them could go forward with whatever he's proposed whether Boyd wants to get in on it or not. Well, they'll get an answer either way pretty soon because here comes Boyd! As soon as he gets in the door, he can sense that something's up, and is soon proved right when Ty sidles out of the kitchen with a gun on Ava, using her as a human shield even as he promises that he just wants to talk. Boyd tensely says, "The only way you're getting this gun out of my hand is with a bullet," adding that if Ty's just there to talk, maybe HE should put HIS gun down -- which he does, or rather, he gives it to Ava. Mistake in the short term, as Boyd punches the shit out of him and holds his gun on Ty's face. But Ty did well to soften up Ava before Boyd got home, because she speaks up for Ty now: "I'm fine, Boyd, he's telling the truth: Markham cut him loose!...He knows the combination to the vault!"

Winner: Draw.

It's A Drawl-Off!

Who called the meeting? Raylan.

What's it about? All Avery's criminal activities and stuff -- but, specifically, the Ty Walker manhunt. I guess since getting punched in the gut by Randolph, he has a new perspective on things.

How'd it go? It starts poorly.

But then (after flashing his star and telling Avery to kiss his ass), Raylan starts talking sense: he says he'll help Avery get all the land he wants if they'll just agree that they have a common enemy in Boyd and that Ty's the only thing currently keeping them from working together effectively (I'm paraphrasing). If Ty gets captured and starts talking, Raylan points out, Avery's probably fucked. "I just can't imagine you're part of the solution," Avery snorts. "Who else you got?" asks Raylan. He says he's getting ready to leave Harlan, and is sick of the past. "True, the past is a shadow," Avery agrees, "always there behind you." "In Harlan?" says Raylan. "Shit, it ain't behind you, it's vertical. Dig down another layer, turn up some horror." Anyway: Raylan ends things on a high by letting Avery know he's got the solution to their problems: "Let's talk how we get the man in the middle. What's the one thing no shit-apple redneck in the world can resist?"

The Walker Dead (Soon)

The next thing we see is a DJ at a local radio station announcing that he's got Avery Markham in the studio to talk about the manhunt, and then Raylan in his car, calling Tim to say he's back on the manhunt after all, and tell him to turn on the radio. At Raylan's direction, Tim finds the radio in Arlo's fucking junk shop of a house, and busts it out just in time to hear Avery offer a cash reward to anyone who helps bring in the fugitive.

Ty Walker = $100,000

Tim: Jesus Christ.
Raylan: You're welcome.

So That's How It Is In Harlan

Ava, Boyd, and Ty have gotten past their whole armed standoff thing and are working out the particulars of how they're going to smuggle Ty out of the area and how they're going to evade capture by all the marshals who are definitely all over the Pizza Portal. Ty suggests calling in an anonymous tip that they've seen Ty somewhere else to scramble the marshals there, but then Boyd gets an idea and takes Ava aside, saying, "One text from you, and those marshals will go wherever you say." It's a trigger they can only pull once, though; after that, she's burnt. But then it all ends up being moot when Earl calls out to say a car's rolling up, and Boyd goes out for a chat with Raylan.

Ty Walker, 1968ish-2014 (?)

After Ava pokes her head out and invites Raylan in to see that everything's "fine," he loudly announces the reward purse, adding, "Every turd with a pair of nuts and a scatter gun gonna be combing the countryside with dollar signs in their eyes." After a long look to Ava, Boyd gives up and tells Raylan, "He's in the back." Raylan hears the back door open and crosses through, gun drawn, in time to see Ty outside running to...someplace? I honestly don't know where he thinks he's going to get on foot if two Harlan natives' plan was to smuggle him out of the area covered in pig shit, but anyway, he doesn't stop when Raylan yells out to him, and when he makes a half-assed, shoulder-wounded attempt to pull his own gun on Raylan, he gets shot twice in the back. When Raylan strides over, Ty is groaning, "Bullshit! You shot me in the back!" "You wanted to get hit in the front, you should've run toward me," Raylan notes. "All for what. Money?" "No!" Ty yelps. "No, not just the money, no." But we don't get to hear what else it was for because he totally dies.

Farewell, Ty. You are a stone fox, but may you come back to us as someone without such an unnecessarily bushy beard.

After Raylan reminds Boyd that he's entitled to that $100,000 reward -- Boyd is dubious, but Raylan swears on his mama's grave that there's no catch -- the two of them go straight to the Pizza Portal, where a very bitter Avery goes into the vault to get it out!

Somewhere beneath them, Zachariah beavers (or, I guess, moles) away at the rock!

Without a word, Avery EVEN MORE BITTERLY drops the cash in front of Boyd, closes the vault door, and goes back upstairs! Table 5 needs their mushroom pie!

Underground, Zachariah lights some dynamite and yelps! Seems like Raylan's timed out his visit to the vault just about perfectly!!!

And then, after Boyd leaves, Raylan's left alone with nothing but a weird noise and some vibrating water in a bottle.

HMMMMMM.

Back at the bar with his hot little hundred grand burning a hole in his very tight pocket, Boyd greets Ava and her escort Earl, and sends Earl home! Ava is psyched that they have twice the cash now that she'd been promised for her CI work: "So we got money now! Let's go!" "I thought you might say that," says Boyd. "First, I got to show you something"!

In the back, Boyd's stacked boxes of the approximate size of all the cash he could see piled up in Avery's vault! By his estimate, that's $10 million! "That's a lot of money," says Ava, "but a bird in the hand...?" Boyd points out that things could have gone wrong in all kinds of different ways today, but when Ava repeats her view that $100,000 is plenty of money and that they should leave Harlan like they had planned to that very morning, Boyd resists: "What are we going to do with a hundred thousand dollars?" "What are we going to do with ten million!" she shoots back. I mean, stay in really nice hotels? Buy nicer jeans? Was that a rhetorical question? Boyd lays it out: he just can't walk away from that much cash! "Ten dollars or ten million -- would you ever be able to walk away?" Ava demands. "Do I have a choice?" Boyd snaps. "Yes!" says Ava. "That's what this is about!" Tennnnnnnnnse!

After today, Ava needs to meet Raylan to discuss what just happened! She asks whether Boyd isn't afraid she's going to spill her guts and beg Raylan to pull her out of the field? Boyd knows she'll tell Raylan as little as she possibly can, and that she loves Boyd, and that she's a smart woman: "You help Raylan put me away, what's he got to offer you? A clean slate and Witness Protection? A shitty condo in Arizona and a little bit of money? How much money?" She tells him it would only be $50,000. Boyd scoffs, and then goes to his desk and gets that much out. "There's fifty grand. And there's ten million. Take your pick." OKAY I GUESS I SEE WHERE HE'S COMING FROM!

Raylan's coming out of Arlo's just as Ava pulls up in a state! He doesn't know how she could have gotten away, but instead of telling him that, she starts raging about how much money he had for Boyd -- twice what he'd promised her! "You got it all wrong -- that ain't his money, it's cheese in a trap!" Raylan tells her! Ava wants to know whom he's trying to tempt, Ava or Boyd, but Raylan's confused too: "What the hell was that today?!" Ava says she was just trying to cool things down between Raylan and Boyd, but Raylan's not stupid: "What happened in Bulletville?" Ava lies (badly) that Boyd just wanted to go hunting, to which Raylan snarks, "Some vacation -- bleeding and butchering a hog." "You know what, your neck is just as red as mine," she snaps. "You just don't see it 'cause you're always walking forward...wishing you were better than you come from. Just admit something: you could have just as easily have been an outlaw as a lawman." "Well, obviously, Ava," says Raylan wearily. "The past is a statement. The future is a question." "The past and the future are a fight to the death," says Ava. "What happened in Bulletville?" he repeats. "You in trouble?" Ava sighs that she'll "dig into Zachariah," but Raylan says he already did, and knows why Boyd needs him. Ava fills in the details about which mine they're digging up to get to the vault. "Why is it always a fight with us?" asks Raylan, as they stare at each other real hard. "Too much alike, I guess," Ava replies. I do not like all this sexual tension for Winona and Willa's plans to add a nice dad to their family, you guys!

Raylan then calls Rachel to tell her what he's figured out about Zachariah trying to bust into the Pizza Portal vault from beneath...but the bigger news is that Ava's burnt! Rachel tells him to come back the next morning, and Raylan says he'll be there around 11 -- there's something he has to deal with first!

And then Raylan's taking that key from Arlo's dog tags and opening the lock on a shitty cabin somewhere in what seems to be the middle of nowhere! No one's been there in a VERY long time and there is some Blair Witch-calibre creepiness going on! "Nothing," says Raylan. "What were you expecting, Rosebud?" asks...

...Arlo? Okay, I know that Raylan's #DadShit is one of his biggest character notes, but since when does Justified do magical realism or treat ghosts like they're real? I seriously thought Arlo had somehow managed to fake his death and had been holed up in this cabin before I realized this was all Raylan's fantasy! COME ON, SHOW, YOU DON'T JUST GET TO CHANGE FORMATS THIS FUCKING FAR IN! Anyway, Raylan exposits for us that, his whole life, he had nightmares about what might be in Arlo's secret cabin -- "slave girls, animal for killing, secrets, horror" -- but it's nothing. Arlo sneers that it's just like Raylan to have his head in the clouds (it...is?), and Raylan marvels, "You kept us away from your fraidy-hole like it held the secrets of Kubla Khan," and Arlo says it was just a place he used to go: "My place. My own dirt, dark and far away." Raylan notes that Arlo kept that key around his neck all through the war. "Wouldn't you want to go far away from that?" "Every evil thing inside of you, I thought was in here," says Raylan. "And it's a big fat nothing," says Arlo, before poofing away back to his horrible afterlife. GOT IT.

And then it's the next day, and Raylan's telling his grave guy he's changed his mind: he doesn't care about moving anyone's remains after all! "Are you saying you want us to halt the work?" "I'm saying I won't meddle with what's been done." But apparently it's too late to stop the bulldozers, so some dirt is getting dug up and going to...wherever! I'm just spitballing but maybe dump it all in the cabin and then burn THAT down? Also, if ghosts are coming back, can we PLEASE SEE MAGS BENNETT?!