The Trash and the Snake
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Episode 4
| "The Trash and the Snake" | |
|---|---|
| Justified episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 4 |
| Directed by | Adam Arkin |
| Written by | Chris Provenzano & Ingrid Escajeda |
| Featured music | Steve Porcaro |
| Cinematography by | Attila Szalay |
| Editing by | Steven Polivka & Jean Crupper |
| Original air date | February 10, 2015 |
| Running time | 43 minutes |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"The Trash and the Snake" is the fourth episode of the sixth season of the American Neo-Western[1] television series Justified. It is the 69th overall episode of the series and was written by co-executive producer Chris Provenzano and supervising producer Ingrid Escajeda and directed by Adam Arkin. It originally aired on FX on February 10, 2015.
The series is based on Elmore Leonard's stories about the character Raylan Givens, particularly "Fire in the Hole", which serves as the basis for the episode. The series follows Raylan Givens, a tough deputy U.S. Marshal enforcing his own brand of justice. The series revolves around the inhabitants and culture in the Appalachian Mountains area of eastern Kentucky, specifically Harlan County where many of the main characters grew up. In the episode, Ava feels nervous when she fears Katherine may suspect her involvement with the authorities in bringing Boyd down. Meanwhile, Raylan and Tim investigate deaths that may be associated to Walker while Boyd and Duffy make a visit to a vault specialist, which culminates in disastrous results.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 1.65 million household viewers and gained a 0.5 ratings share among adults aged 18–49, making it the series' least watched episode. The episode received positive reviews from critics, who praised the writing, humor, performances and directing.
After having sex, Boyd (Walton Goggins) leaves Ava (Joelle Carter) to meet with Duffy (Jere Burns) downstairs. Ava also leaves and secretly meets with Raylan (Timothy Olyphant), telling her about the meeting they had with Avery (Sam Elliott) and Walker (Garret Dillahunt), with Raylan knowing the latter. When she returns to her room, she finds Katherine (Mary Steenburgen) waiting for her.
While investigating more about the ledger and Avery, Raylan and Tim (Jacob Pitts) are told by Calhoun (Brad Leland) that the older couple, whom Walker previously visited a few days ago, has died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Raylan and Tim suspect Avery's involvement as their names were found in the ledger as people who refused to sell their property. Duffy (Jere Burns) introduces Boyd to specialist Lewis "The Wiz" Mago (Jake Busey), who attempts to break open a similar vault but accidentally vaporizes himself when a cell phone rings, much to their shock.
Ava ends up having to do cocaine and participate in high-ticket shoplifting to convince Katherine she's not an informant. Katherine reveals her belief that Avery ratted out Grady, who supposedly committed suicide in prison, and she reveals she is robbing Avery to avenge her husband and regain her lost lifestyle. At the end of the day, Katherine asks about Albert Fekus' change of heart, worrying Ava and causing her to exit their hotel room to avoid any more conversations with her.
Raylan and Tim visit Dickie Bennett (Jeremy Davies) in prison learning that he unknowingly sold his ancestral land to Loretta McCready (Kaitlyn Dever), putting her on Avery's radar. Walker has already met with Loretta at her house, offering her a large sum of money but she is not interested. She also offers him the Bennett's poisoned apple pie moonshine and Walker nearly drinks until they are interrupted by Raylan and Tim. As Loretta has turned down his offer, Walker turns hostile but Raylan and Tim threaten him to hold his gun.
Walker ends up calling Avery to meet with them at Loretta's house. Raylan lets them know he's keeping an eye on them and won't let them strong-arm Loretta, though Avery questions Raylan's own forceful tactics. Knowing that Loretta won't give up on her marijuana business, Raylan asks her to get a couple big bodyguards. He then receives a call from Ava, who got scared from her talk with Katherine, suspecting that she knows she is an informant. As she packs her stuff from the hotel, Boyd enters the room. He says that after learning that Avery is buying up farms to grow soon-to-be-legal cannabis, he has decided to get the land first and ensure his fortune in Harlan.
Production
Development
In January 2015, it was reported that the fourth episode of the sixth season would be titled "The Trash and the Snake", and was to be directed by Adam Arkin and written by co-executive producer Chris Provenzano and supervising producer Ingrid Escajeda.[2]
Writing
Co-writer Ingrid Escajeda created "The Wiz" character. According to series developer Graham Yost, casting Jake Busey as the character was "just this guy who is so cocky and self-important and grandiose." The writers enjoyed the idea of having his character explode, "there's nothing any grander than that."[3] Director Adam Arkin indicated that the actors keep their eyes open during the scene. Actor Jere Burns struggled to keep his eyes open due to the spray of fake blood that covered his character.[3] Actor Jake Busey described the role as "it's every actor's dream to get on a show and have your name spray-painted on a parking spot. We don't get that."[4]
There was a deleted scene, which involved Boyd and Duffy cleaning up the room after the Wiz's death. The Wiz's wife, Bridget (portrayed by Rebekah Brandes), arrives at the scene and sees the aftermath of the events. Duffy then proceeds to buy her silence with money, telling her to stop talking. When she says "Well, that's a start", Duffy shoots her in the head. On deleting the scene, Yost said, "we just felt that with the propulsion of the episode, it just wasn't necessary."[3]
Casting
Despite being credited, Erica Tazel does not appear in the episode as her respective character.
The episode brought back Jeremy Davies as Dickie Bennett. On bringing him back, Yost said, "we knew that we wanted someone else who appears in the episode, our lovely Loretta McCready. She came out of the weed business; the Bennetts were in the weed business. We all felt it was part and parcel of what Markham is in town to do, and so we liked the idea of Loretta putting down stakes and saying she's taking the money that she got from Mags and she's going to get in that business. The primo land would be the Bennett land — we just liked the idea of her snaking that land out from under Dickie and what his reaction would be. The whole thing is just for him to howl in pain, 'Loretta!'"[3]
