Justified - 4.04 - The Bird Had Flown or has she...? (spoilers)

Alright, I’m back! In case you were wondering where I was, as I’m sure you all were, I had the flu one week and then bronchitis the other so that was not fun. And as you've probably guessed, I am not the type of person to start recapping a series and then just quit after the first episode.

For those of you who live for my recaps and haven’t been watching the episodes, all two of you, Ellen May has defected to the snake church (it’s new) and threatened Ava on her way out. It’s not looking good for her as Preacher Billy died in a totally avoidable accident last week involving Boyd and one of his favorite type of reptiles. Lindsey, the hot bartender, and Raylan were still dating as of the start of last week but her ex-husband came back and at the end she had run off with him. There’s been little progress made in the search for Waldo Truth but that’s alright, I think that’s on hold this week while Raylan tracks down Lindsey and the money she stole from him that he had been saving for Winona and the baby, when and if the baby arrives.

Rachael, the pragmatic one, asks Raylan if Lindsey’s overnight bag is still there and Raylan says that lack of it does not mean that she isn’t coming back. She then asks where Lindsey and her husband would have gone with the money but the most our handsome star can offer is a “maybe” location.

The show then switches to Lindsey and her ex-husband where he’s gone back to the promoter from last week, a man who is not easily forced into positions he doesn't want. Lindsey asks why he lets people tear up his house during the party he’s having for no apparent reason and gets a less than satisfactory response. The husband asks about a deal the other guy had mentioned apparently the last time they talked. In exchange for Raylan’s money, the guy gets to be a fight promoter but the promoter dawdles about and the husband tells the other guy to drop his “shitty” attitude. Lindsey intercedes before things come to blows by noting that it is a lot of money and it shouldn’t be too hard to find it a home should the guy not be nicer to them. He offers them something in a couple of hours which means that they need to hang around a bit before the husband, whose name I hope they mention soon, can hit something.

And that was a lot to get in before the credits! And speaking of the credits, Ganstagrass, the group that does the opening released a video yesterday where they visited the set of Boyd’s bar to play another one of their songs. Walton seemed into it! If you have a minute, check it out for yourself.

Returning from the break, we’re at Boyd’s bar with Johnny talking to Colton about the apparent “success” of killing Billy. Ellen May walks in and Boyd asks if she wants to talk to him. He informs her that she used to have a home there but since she gave it up, he’s not sure where they stand. He also says he has less responsibility than Billy for Billy’s death because even though Boyd brought the snake that killed him, ultimately, Billy was the one who decided to pick it up. Ava comes over and Ellen May asks to come home. Pulling Boyd off to the side, Ava makes a strong case for not letting Ellen May back into the fold while Boyd, possibly playing devil’s advocate, makes a case for her to stay. They decide to “take it one step at a time” and find out if Ellen May spilt anything in her time away from home. Being a criminal mastermind, he delegates this job.

Back with Raylan and Rachael, my favorite example of R+R, they show up at the promoter’s house looking for Lindsey by way of her husband Randall. Rachael talks to a woman who tells her that the owner of the house is unlikely to be helpful to her as he hates black people and dislikes cops even more. Raylan comes over and asks what’s going on. The woman sizes him up and offers him the information if he’s willing to wrestle for it. He isn’t and she plays it off as a joke taking them back to Joe's, the promoter, room where he’s in the middle of a threesome. He orders the new arrivals out and Raylan obeys orders about the same as usual, choosing instead to sit on the mattress. He is a braver man than I. Raylan threatens Joe with everything he can do under the marshal’s purview or Joe could just tell them where Randall is. Raylan tells him Lindsey’s usual M.O. of seducing and having her husband beat up mark to take all of his money. Joe asks the ladies to leave. They do and then he tells Raylan that anyone who didn’t see Randal deserves to have their asses fleeced. According to Joe, Randall wants to manage cockfights and not the usual ones we see on this show, ones with actual chickens. Rachael offers to help Raylan but only for the next two hours at which point she needs to show up to her actual job.

Meanwhile Lindsey is filtering with a gas station attendant over film. He has no chance with her but he tries mentioning that he does tasteful boudoir shots anyways. Cut to later with the pair of them, Lindsey and Randall, in the car where they’re openly mocking the perfectly nice, if a little strange, clerk. Randall describes how the cockfights could easily make what they took off the marshal look like not very much at all. Lindsey decides his comparing of chickens to Bruce Lee is hot and they start to make out before Randall’s long-standing jealousy flares up.

Next we see the first appearance all season of Sheriff Shelby and the first appearance this episode of Cassie, Billy’s sister, where he tells her that Boyd wishes to see her. She still blames Boyd for her brother’s death not seeing her own responsibility by giving her brother a false sense of security by milking her brother’s snakes ever since their father died. Shelby asks her if there’s anything Boyd’s done or attempted to do to her that he doesn’t know about. Failing to provide that, he sends her escorted back from whence she came and Boyd is revealed to be on speakerphone. Boyd asks Ava if she feels better about taking Ellen May back as Shelby has found that Cassie knows not what they did figuring she would have split it if she did. Boyd asks if Ava remembers a cousin of his, she does, and offers to send Ellen may down there if she doesn’t want to whore any longer. And if she doesn’t like it there, there other cathouses or churches depending on which way she wants to go.

Randall proves he has trouble letting go by driving back to the convince store. Lindsey makes a call to someone unknown and doesn’t get very far in her message before Randall comes back out of the store. She hangs up and when questioned says that she was calling 911.

With the chicken farmer, R+R listen as he explains his habits for keeping the chickens in fighting condition but neither marshal is overly impressed. The man makes the mistake of showing Rachael his blade more times than necessary, and she hits him with her nightstick. Raylan motions for them to leave before Rachael can inflict more damage on the man and based of Lindsey’s phone call, they go to the convince store where the man tells about his experience including the fact she mentioned taking pictures of horses.

Ellen May doesn’t want to go to Alabama and Ava points out it could be her out of the whoring business as she’s wanted out the whole time Ava’s known her. Ava points out that Ellen May gets something Ava never did; the chance to start over. But Ellen May had always seen herself meeting a nice man in Harlan and settling down and maybe having kids. Ava continues her liberation of Ellen May and tells her that Colton is going to give her a lift to the bus station.

Rachael offers to call in sick but Raylan points out the flaw of them both being out at the same time, unless her goal is to give Art a heart attack. Before she goes, the lovely Rachael gives Raylan a pump-action shotgun saying she hopes he knows how to use it. “I’ll do my level best.”

Raylan heads towards Lindsey and Randall pulling up to them as they’re about ready to leave. Lindsey covers her ass with Randall by saying it’s a marshal’s job to track people. Raylan stops Randall short with only his words and Randall states himself unarmed. Raylan says he missed where they went wrong and tells Randall about the phone call which he hadn’t yet figured out. Raylan tries to rile Randall up by reminding him that Lindsey flirts with men and he hospitalizes them. As he makes to attack him, Raylan shoots Randall and as he’s lying there reveals that it’s a bean bag shotgun as his colleague thought that he could use some non-lethal force. Raylan asks Lindsey about the money and Randal jumps on him. He only has the upper hand for a little while and only that because he started the fight but Lindsey is determines to end it pointing the gun at them both. She eventually shoots Randal and keeps shooting him until she runs out of bean bags knocking him out with the butt of the gun and attending to Raylan. He smiles after she tells him where the money is and he takes that as a sign she really did like him.

Raylan is able to stand but Randall is not, so Raylan half drags the other man in one handcuff before cuffing the other one to Randall’s van. Raylan’s intention is to leave Randall there until someone else wanders by. Raylan opens the back of the van to find all the chickens even though Lindsey said that’s where his money was. Hey maybe Shane -- err -- Boyd knows what to do with them! Randall mentions the chickens again so Raylan once more shoots him.

Ellen May comes up to Ava in the middle of the crowded bar claiming that she knows the reason for her being sent away. For once, the poor girl’s got it. Ava doesn’t acknowledge this point, simply sending the girl to Alabama with Colton. She turns to see Boyd with a look that says he’s not sure that sending Ellen May away was the right option.

Raylan talks to Rachael on the phone while driving and says that the fact he hasn’t gotten the money may in fact be symbolic of the fact he wasn’t supposed to have the money in the first place and the same about the girl. He walks into his apartment drops his jacket, places his gun on the nightstand, and falls asleep literally as soon as his head hits the pillow.

Colton gets a phone call from Ava who has a message for Ellen May that if she’s ready to come back and work, there’s a place for her at Audrey’s. Ellen May is elated at this news and thinks that because she told Ava she could keep her mouth shut is the reason Ava is allowing her back. Boyd, sitting at the table, tells Ava that Ellen May won’t feel a thing “one minute she here, the next minute she isn’t. Just like that.” At a gas station, Colton tells Ellen May to pump the gas and that he’ll pay before going to the bathroom and taking out his handgun. He looks a little less than thrilled about the prospect of killing her but sticks the gun in his waistband just the same before taking a small amount of something snortable and going back outside where he find the truck but no Ellen May.

Next week according to Graham Yost, will be the first time Raylan and Boyd have shared a scene all season. It brings up an interesting question, would you rather see the acting powerhouses and entirely gorgeous men together or separately? Answer in the comments.

Also in other Justified news, with Live+7 day viewers, Justified reached a series high last week.