Thick as Mud
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Episode 5
| "Thick as Mud" | |
|---|---|
| Justified episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 5 |
| Directed by | Adam Arkin |
| Story by | Elmore Leonard & Jon Worley |
| Teleplay by | Jon Worley & Benjamin Cavell |
| Featured music | Steve Porcaro |
| Cinematography by | Francis Kenny |
| Editing by | Keith Henderson |
| Original air date | February 14, 2012 |
| Running time | 40 minutes |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"Thick as Mud" is the fifth episode of the third season of the American Neo-Western[1] television series Justified. It is the 31st overall episode of the series and was written by story editor Jon Worley and co-producer Benjamin Cavell from a story by Worley and executive producer Elmore Leonard and directed by Adam Arkin. It originally aired on FX on February 14, 2012.
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, Dewey finds himself in an extremely dangerous position when Lance "removes" his kidneys and must get money in a short span to get them back. Despite being credited, Jacob Pitts does not appear in the episode.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 2.13 million household viewers and gained a 0.8 ratings share among adults aged 18–49. The episode received critical acclaim, who praised the pace, writing, character development, shock value and performances, with the majority highlighting Damon Herriman as Dewey Crowe.
Limehouse (Mykelti Williamson) reveals to one of his crew members that he lied to Dickie, and he actually has the $3 million that Mags left him. Somewhere else, Boyd (Walton Goggins) and Arlo (Raymond J. Barry) bury Devil's corpse in the woods. Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) talks with Winona (Natalie Zea) at her house, where she says she is tired of trying to change Raylan's personality. In his hotel room, Lance (Clayne Crawford) wakes up Dewey (Damon Herriman) in the bathtub, showing he has removed his kidneys. Lance tells a horrified Dewey that he has a few hours to get $20,000 to buy his kidneys back before he sells them to another bidder and before Dewey dies.
Raylan and Rachel (Erica Tazel) reach Lance's room but find that both Lance and Dewey already left. Dewey, desperate for money, robs an appliance store, a strip club and a dry cleaner, but none of them have anywhere close to the $20,000 needed. Raylan and Rachel all inspect Dewey's robberies and are told by the strippers about Dewey's scars. Raylan visits a wounded Ash (Todd Stashwick) in the hospital, forcing him to reveal that Lance is involved in Dewey's position. He then asks a nurse named Layla (Maggie Lawson) about doctors focused on organ removing, and she directs him to a doctor named Boisineau.
Boyd continues expanding his business, although he expresses doubts to Ava (Joelle Carter) about having to kill Devil. He later attacks an associate of Quarles and steal his Oxy supplies. Dewey attempts to rob a grocery store but the owner hits him with a shotgun, forcing Dewey to hide in the storage room. Raylan arrives and calms Dewey, telling him to urinate, as he needs his kidneys to do it. Dewey tries it and is overjoyed to see he can urinate and is taken to the hospital. Rachel tells Raylan that Ash suddenly died in the hospital and he was the only visitor during the day. Suspecting Layla, Raylan visits her at her house where she admits being involved in a transplant center. Lance appears and sedates Raylan with a needle.
Lance takes Raylan to a bathtub, intending to remove his organs. But Layla shoots Lance just as Raylan awakens. Before she can kill Raylan, Raylan shoots her through Lance's corpse. Ambulances arrive and take Layla away, leaving her survival uncertain. Quarles (Neal McDonough) meets with Boyd, offering a partnership. However, Boyd declines the offer, referring to Quarles as a "Carpetbagger". Quarles is offended by the remark and leaves. Limehouse is revealed to have a woman on his payroll who has a connection to one of Quarles' underlings, reporting Quarles' and Boyd's meeting. The episode ends with Raylan returning to Winona's (Natalie Zea) house and finds a note. He is clearly unsettled by the note.
Production
Development
In January 2012, it was reported that the fifth episode of the third season would be titled "Thick as Mud", and was to be directed by Adam Arkin and written by story editor Jon Worley and co-producer Benjamin Cavell from a story by Worley and executive producer Elmore Leonard.[2]
Writing
The writers teased more material that would explore the search for Mags Bennett's money in the episode.[3] Series developer Graham Yost explained that Dewey was supposed to die in the first episode but the network told him to change plans, "the uproar was such that it was loud and clear that Dewey must not die until Dewey absolutely has to die." He eventually was grateful for the choice, as it allowed the writers to develop more stories of him.[4] The episode's plotline involving Dewey was based on Elmore Leonard's 2012 novel Raylan although the writers changed some aspects, such as Dewey keeping his kidneys. Raylan's scene in the bathtub was adapted from the novel.[5][6] Yost teased the episode, deeming it a "Dewey-centric" episode.[7]
Boyd referred to Quarles as a "Carpetbagger", a derogatory term applied by Southerners to opportunistic Northerners who came to the Southern states after the American Civil War, who were perceived to be exploiting the local populace for their own financial, political, and/or social gain. Yost previously referred to the character in a previous interview, further elaborating, "there's a line in there something about a man from the Northeast comes waving $100 bills — it's just that idea of people coming to Harlan to exploit it for its natural resources and then gettin' the money and getting out. First it was timber, then it was coal. In our twisted Justified world, the natural resource down there is Oxy addicts. We just thought that becomes an Elmore-like scam. Elmore's bad guys are always looking for that little gap, that little thing that no one else has tried, that makes some kind of sense."[8]
Yost also explained the meaning behind Winona's letter, "as much as we love Raylan, I think that Winona reminds us that being married to someone like that would have incredible costs. So it's difficult to, at times, like the character who's saying about your hero 'You shouldn't be doing this', because we want him to keep on doing it, because that's the reason we tune in every week. But we wanted to make sure that her point of view was clear and it had nothing to do with her love for him."[4]
When questioned about why Dewey still had his kidneys and what was Lance's and Layla's plan, Yost clarified, "the rationale was that no one who'd actually had their kidneys taken out could go rob people and get more money. Lance figured Dewey was an idiot (not a reach, Dewey being Dewey) who wouldn't know better. He'd go out, get some more cash, and when he came to deliver it, then they'd take 'em out, kill him."[9]
Casting
A few days before the airing of the episode, Maggie Lawson was announced to be guest starring in the show as "a nurse who might have vital information to share with Raylan."[10] Yost and executive producer Fred Golan were big fans of Psych, which stars Lawson. Yost says that when he saw her audition reel, he said, "well, let's get Maggie."[4]
