This week on Justified… Raylan and Boyd finally had a scene together. Granted, they only exchange one line each, but it’s still nice to see them on camera at the same time.

It all begins when Boyd finally makes it back to Kentucky from his two-episode foray down Mexico way. Hallelujah, right? So yes, he and Daryl return to Harlan with Jimmy, while Karl, Danny, and Dewey remain behind to truck up the actual drugs. That goes swimmingly until they split up and Karl, knowing the lay of the land, finds his way home okay, but Danny and Dewey get hopelessly lost. Then negotiations must take place. So, Boyd enlists Wynn Duffy and Mr. Picker and the three of them sit down with Danny discuss the Crowe’s payment policy.

FX
He *looks* like the kind of guy I’d like to do business with.

There’s also a side plot in which Boyd has to murder a sickly old man. It’s weird, but it is the condition to which he has agreed in order distribute drugs inside Ava’s prison. Oh yeah, the other one condition? Ava needs to kill the woman who’s been protecting her on the inside. Why? Meh. Why not? Seems to be the basic rationale for the show right now anyway.

Meanwhile, Raylan gets wind of Johnny’s death and decides that even though he’s on vacation, he should probably investigate. Knowing that Hotrod Dunham is likely involved, he heads to Memphis where he meets up with DEA Agent Miller (Eric Roberts), to poke around up there. Their first stop is to interrogate those goons that I liked so much from the earlier episodes. They have names, but I haven’t learned them. Anyway, those fellas are mighty displeased to hear the news about Johnny, so they decide to pay Boyd Crowder a visit. Raylan and Miller manage to track down Hotrod, but not until he’s been shot and is dying. So then they decide to pay Boyd a visit too.

FX
I like these guys.

All parties show up as Boyd, Picker, Wynn, and Daryl are discussing things. The goons get there first, and Boyd, unhappy with the way negotiations are going, offers them Daryl’s place in the crime family if they’ll be so kind as to kill him right then and there. Before they do, though, the lawmen show up, kill one of the goons and arrest the other. Damn. So yeah, that decision’s probably going to come back to bite Boyd in the ass.

Parting with Miller, Raylan returns to the home base. He tries to talk things out with Art, who’s not really having any of it, figuring he’s close enough to retirement to just ignore the problem until it eventually becomes someone else’s.

On his way back to Memphis, Miller runs into Danny and Dewey, still lost. Danny hops out of the car to have a showdown with Miller. Finally deciding that he’s had enough of his crummy family, Dewey snaps, grabs the wheel, and drives off, clipping Danny and running over Miller along the way. Danny’s fine, but Miller’s fate is unclear. I wouldn’t hold my breath for him though.

FX
Look at these two. Like peas in a pod.

So yeah, next week we’re looking at Dewey’s bad decision and Boyd’s bad decision conjuring similar consequences from Daryl and Danny. Oh, one more thing happened: Wendy and Kendal have decided they want out. Daryl is unhappy and steals the money that Raylan gave to Kendal in the previous episode. Lots of family friction going on.

Oh man, and so many recurring characters are getting killed off in this season. I wasn’t even surprised when they dropped Hotrod. At this point, I figure anyone whose name doesn’t appear in the opening credits is not long for this world. Raylan, Boyd, Ava, Art, Rachel, Tim, and Wynn are fine for the rest of the season (unless they decide to go the “He was one day from retirement” route for Art, which I hope they don’t), but the entire Crowe family? Picker? Jimmy? Karl? All expendable, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see any of them go at this point.