I just finished watching it. I really liked it.
Raylan - good ending. He seems to finally rid himself of his demons. Glad that he got to have the shootout with Boone. Winona called Raylan the most stubborn man ever… it used to be the most angry man ever.
Winona - I’m ok with her and Raylan not being together, but why give us the monologue where she says she’ll love him as he is?
Duffy - great writing! Last episode they showed us he was going to get a dog grooming van, and try to get the money. This week the action was so good I forgot all about him, and he snuck in under the radar!
Boyd - great shootout with Markham. Loved how he was back to preaching!
Ava - I liked how her conversation with Raylan mirrored their first conversation from season 1. Did anyone else wonder if Ava’s kid could have been Raylan’s?
The only dangling thread I wish they had tied up was the spanking that ADA David Vasquez had coming. His presence in the last few episodes made me want to see something untoward happen to him. I guess he wasn’t a big enough prize.
With so many interesting recurring characters, I would have liked an ‘Animal House’ style epilog (though keeping the tone of the series) before the final Raylan/Boyd scene.
More enticement for Raylan the character to make his peace with leaving Harlan. More enticement/tension for viewers as they wonder if that presages a happy ending or is a moment of doom, another reason to mourn if Boone gets him.
But realistically the ending is perfect. Because promises to accept you ‘as he is’ after who he is what split them up the first time ( and probably more than that ) are usually pretty hollow. She was lonely and stressed out with her new baby - of course Raylan looked good from a few states away and big compromises seemed possible. But once she had to actually put up with him day in and day out in the same house…
Pretty much agree. Also good that he had a sarcastic nice exchange with Tim and Rachel. Winona’s situation had me a bit “wait, what?” due to the monologue.
Duffy’s pet-grooming van with Down On All Fours and Doggy Style prominently featured was classic.
After I posted last night, I knew there was something I forgot to add but it didn’t come to me. This morning in the shower it did. I came in here this morning to add something about somehow asshole Vasquez getting some kind of comeuppance. Alas it wasn’t to be, I guess.
I belly laughed when I saw that. I’m sure it was Partly because of how Duffy managed to get away with it all. The slick bastard that he was… basically making sure he was always the man behind the man so to speak. Too bad Mikey had to go crazy with his “code”; they could have had a happy life together, what was it, surfing in Fiji?
I don’t remember if it was from one of the links I posted, or if it was from D_Odds; but one of the above articles mention another modern day western worth watching: Longmire (on NetFlix). It’s about a Wyoming sheriff who’s dealing with the loss of his wife. I’m about 3 or 4 episodes in; and I highly recommend it! It’s more procedural with each episode more or less tying up a single case; but it has some really good characters and it including Lou Diamond Phillips who is actually very good in his role as an owner of a bar and friend to the main character, Longmire.
I thought the last shot of the Marshall’s office with Raylan listening to all of them talking crap to each other as the elevator door closes was perfect. The only one of the criminals that didn’t end up dead or in jail that we didn’t get an update on was Dickie Bennet, and i don’t think there was anything really left to say about him. Besides Loretta and maybe that dickhole Vasquez the only one i would’ve liked to hear from was constable Bob, we actually don’t even know if he made it or not.
I didn’t care for the idea that the big conflict this final season was over whether Boyd, Loretta or Avery Markham was able to buy up the local farms in case Kentucky legalized marijuana production. And I thought Mags Bennett or Robert Quarles (or, best of all, Drew Thompson) made for better villains than did Avery Markham.
I thought the finale was good, but the plot resolution was weak. Specifically about the money.
Everything dickhole Vasquez worried was going to happen did, in fact, happen: Ava got away (seemingly with Raylan’s help) and the money was never found (that she apparently shared with Raylan.) Everyone in-universe, except we the audience, should be more convinced than ever that Raylan and Ava planned the heist together and split the 9 million.
It was jarring that everyone did a 180 and totally believe Raylan after the incident where Raylan, alone with Ava, ends up letting her escape custody, never to be seen again. That should be what convinced everyone of his guilt, beyond a shadow of a doubt.
You’re forgetting they have Loretta as a witness to Boone stalking him, forcing him off the road and then shooting him in the head ( well, grazed him ). Maybe the DA would still throw a fit, but I doubt he could sustain a case. 'course Loretta might not be considered a stand-up witness. But - shot in the head, dead Boone. Figure Raylan and Loretta get a little extra attention for a couple of years as they search high and low for any evidence of found money. But lacking that, they don’t really have anything solid to hang on him. We really didn’t get to see the fallout, because of the four year timeslip.
Now when the movie sequel comes out and has a rich bad guy that hates marshal Givens enough to figure out how he could screw Raylan by creating a fake account with purportedly ill-gotten let-Ava-go funds…well, then they might have something ;).
Loretta wouldn’t snitch on anyone under normal circumstances, but she would especially never rat out Raylan. Her testifying on Raylan’s behalf not only wouldn’t be credible, it likely wouldn’t even happen. (She just wouldn’t say anything, because cops.)
But I’m not sure I agree here. If she respects anyone she respects Raylan, even if she isn’t inclined to listen to his advice about hewing to the straight and narrow. Remember he did basically let her get away with inheriting Mags’ illegally gained fortune. Given the circumstances I see no reason why she would let Raylan burn when she could corroborate that a gun-wielding ephebophile nutcase who happens to have shot a friend/employee of hers as well, really did try to gun him down. Especially since the corpse is just lying there, plain as day.
She may dislike cops, but I don’t see her as that cold.
What she isn’t, given her extra-curricular activities, is a super-reliable witness to someone like Vasquez. Not to mention she is known to be well-disposed towards Raylan. But given the physical evidence, her story would check out.
I don’t really see why Vasquez deserves a comeuppance. One of the recurring elements of the series has always been that because Raylan can be such an aloof asshole, his coworkers often think he’s more corrupt than he actually is. I seem to recall a few Tim/Rachel conversations where they think Raylan did something much worse than he actually did, but they decide not to press the issue. They think he’s still more on the side of good than bad, and he gets results, dammit, so they tolerate him. But he brings that suspicion on himself, Vasquez is only a jerk to us because we have knowledge he doesn’t. His anger may have been too tantrum-y, but his position is pretty reasonable based on the information he has, and it’s pretty much just Raylan’s fault for always thinking he doesn’t have to explain himself to others.
And besides, I seem to remember him being pretty likeable in his previous appearances.
I didn’t like the hat. You wear a fallen enemy’s hat because you respect him, and Boone was NOT worthy of any respect at all.
I loved the way Duffy ordered a van with a compartment big enough to hide two large duffle bags. That should have been a clue, because Duffy wouldn’t have known exactly how large the money pile was… he didn’t see it. He could only know that from prior conversation with Eva. (Did he ask for two passports?)
You mean the incident where he got rammed of the road and shot in the fucking head? Loretta doesn’t need to be credible, the scene is credible without her testimony.
Thinking about the series overall, I don’t remember them ever going to crystal meth production or distribution as the main story, despite the rural stereotypes. (The Robert Quarles storyline did involve Oxycontin abuse, but not crystal meth, as I remember.)
