Veterans (Justified)
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Episode 11
| "Veterans" | |
|---|---|
| Justified episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 11 |
| Directed by | Tony Goldwyn |
| Written by | Benjamin Daniel Lobato |
| Featured music | Steve Porcaro |
| Cinematography by | Francis Kenny |
| Editing by | Bill Johnson |
| Original air date | May 25, 2010 |
| Running time | 40 minutes |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"Veterans" is the eleventh episode of the first season of the American Neo-Western[1] television series Justified. It is the 11th overall episode of the series and was written by Benjamin Daniel Lobato and directed by Tony Goldwyn. It originally aired on FX on May 25, 2010.
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. Following the shooting of a mob hitman, Raylan is sent to Lexington, Kentucky to investigate an old childhood friend Boyd Crowder, who is now part of a white supremacist gang. In the episode, Raylan must stop Boyd and his followers from causing chaos in Harlan as his father Arlo turns out to be involved. Despite being credited, Erica Tazel does not appear in the episode.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 1.81 million household viewers and gained a 0.7/2 ratings share among adults aged 18–49. The episode received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the build-up to the last episodes of the season although some criticized its pace.
Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) and Mullen (Nick Searcy) lead a raid on Boyd's (Walton Goggins) camp, arresting him for violating his parole. They question all of his followers but all of them reply with the same quote, "You strike at the shepherd, so that the sheep may scatter."
Without any back-up evidence that Boyd blew up the meth lab, the team must find the two dealers as Boyd and his followers are released. The dealers have met with Bo (M. C. Gainey) and Johnny (David Meunier) to ask for protection, which they accept to provide. Bo and Johnny visit Boyd in his camp, where Bo offers him money to leave his association but Boyd refuses the money. Raylan meets Sheriff Hunter Mosley (Brent Sexton) in prison to ask for anything regarding Bo. Mosley reveals that Arlo (Raymond J. Barry) was put in charge of running the protection business for Bo while he was in jail. Now that he is out, Bo wants his money from Arlo, money that Arlo doesn’t have.
While taking the dealers to protection, Bo has his men kill them and dump their bodies. Raylan and Mullen try to enter the local Veterans of Foreign Wars building which Arlo frequents, but are denied access by the guard unless they have a membership. They call Gutterson (Jacob Pitts), a fellow Marshall who served as an army Ranger in Afghanistan, to help them get in. Inside, they talk with Arlo and offer him protection against Bo, but he refuses. When Raylan calls him a "lowlife", Arlo slaps him. As the officers leave, they are called to the crime scene of the dealers' deaths. Unaware of Bo's role in their deaths, they attribute the crime to Boyd and his followers. Raylan then finds Dewey Crowe (Damon Herriman) hitchhiking, having been expelled from Boyd's camp for the ‘sin’ of “onanism,” Raylan tricks Dewey into revealing camp information by ‘deputizing’ him.
Dewey reveals that one of Boyd's men, Bobby Joe Packer (Brad Carter) was a meth cooker and the Marshals once again raid Boyd's camp to search for him. During this, Boyd reveals to Raylan that Bowman worked with Arlo, surprising Raylan as Ava (Joelle Carter) never mentioned it. The Marshals leave when they fail to find Bobby. Right after they leave, Boyd's men dig up Bobby, who was hiding in a box beneath the ground. Turns out Dewey warned them about Raylan's plan. Raylan then meets with a drunk Ava at a bar, who resists leaving. He is forced to handcuff her and asks Winona (Natalie Zea) to give her shelter, which she reluctantly accepts.
Arlo and Helen (Linda Gehringer) have a fight after she finds that Arlo took her money and is now in debt with Bo. Suddenly, their house is attacked by gunfire and the attackers escape. Helen gives Arlo an ultimatum: either they leave Harlan or he kills Bo. Dewey returns to Boyd's camp but Boyd plans to kill him as he can't risk putting his followers in contact with Raylan. Finally, Boyd forgives him but banishes him from the camp. Boyd is then shown buying a rocket-propelled grenade. At the Marshal's office, Bobby appears and confesses to blowing up the meth lab. Raylan returns to his hotel room, only to find Arlo waiting for him.
Production
Series developer Graham Yost revealed in a January 2015 interview that Dewey Crowe was intended to die in the episode. He further detailed, "Dewey had done some transgression and Boyd was gonna kill him for it. I remember getting the notes back from the network, and the studio, and frankly, [executive producer] Sarah Timberman: 'No! You can't kill Dewey!' So I said, 'OK. OK. We won't.' And Dewey lived to survive another five seasons."[2]
