Hunter's punishment for Arlo's death is a transfer to a supermax prison, which he expected – but what he did not expect is for Dunlop to deliver him into Raylan's hands. Art, naturally, flips his lid when he hears about this, and Tim calls Raylan to let him know same, but Raylan assures him he's going to execute the transfer. First, though, Raylan has it in his head that Hunter killed Arlo by contract, so he takes him to see Wynn and informs him that, given the Dixie Mafia's history with Arlo and Thompson, he thought bringing Hunter by might lead them all to some answers. Later, Raylan informs Hunter that Wynn will now surely send someone for him, but the deal still stands if he wants to take it. Hunter shows what he thinks of that idea by jumping out of the moving car and trying to get hit by an oncoming truck, but Raylan saves him before wondering why Hunter would rather die than give up Thompson. With a bolo out on Raylan, Shelby pulls him over, but he merely decides to ride with Raylan rather than taking him in. It's not a road-trip threesome I would have imagined, but I could come up with worse.
Hey, remember Cassie? She shows up asking Ava about Ellen May, as apparently, Ellen May left word with one of her parishioners saying she wants to unburden herself about something. Ava manages to keep a fake smile plastered on until Cassie is gone, but soon, she and Boyd are confronting Colton, while Teri, having heard the whole exchange, goes to Johnny with it. Colton convincingly denies the possibility that Ellen May is contacting anyone about anything, so Boyd concludes that Cassie the con artist is merely playing an angle. He sends Colton to bring her back, and when Colton's in his truck, he has a little freak-out and smokes some more heroin – unaware that Tim is observing him.
Meanwhile, Johnny lets Ava and Boyd know about Colton's failure to kill Ellen May (he knows for sure about it thanks to Colton giving in to his blackmailing scheme), a revelation that sends Boyd and Johnny hurtling in Cassie's direction. Colton is already there, and he chokes her as he demands to know where Ellen May is, but Tim rescues her. He's also pretty much guessed that Colton killed Mark, but before their standoff turns deadly, Boyd shows up and convinces Tim to release Colton into his care. I'm not sure why Tim didn't insist on taking Colton into custody given that his meat hooks are practically still visible on Cassie's neck, but then again, he's probably got a more permanent solution for Colton in mind.
Raylan sends Constable Bob up to keep an eye on Lee Manners' estate, and this leads to a comic-relief shootout between Bob and the drunken Johns and Manners. Raylan arrives to break things up, leaving Shelby alone with Hunter – whereupon we learn that Shelby is, in fact, Drew Thompson, and he got Hunter to kill Arlo. Meanwhile, Bob is obliviously rattling off all kinds of details about Shelby's longtime loyal history with Hunter – and when Raylan gets outside, he finds his tires flat and Shelby gone. I wonder if Shelby's going to make a stop to pick up his ex-widow?
Boyd eventually elicits the truth from a desperate Colton, and when he hears how Colton went to Shelby for help, he realizes that Shelby's been playing a game against him. Worried about what Shelby may know, Boyd sends Ava into hiding, and then goes to see Shelby…only to find Raylan and a bunch of other lawmen waiting for him. When he sees the array of people there, he adds up all the available evidence and too realizes Shelby is Thompson, and the episode ends with Raylan and Tim resolving to go find him. And while I may not believe the reveal makes logical sense in certain ways, I can't fault the execution one bit.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!
We open by pulling focus on Tim's face, a choice I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear I approve of. In this case, however, Tim is looking as stone-faced as he gets, as we're at the scene of his friend Mark's death. With an echoing effect that conveys Tim's emotional state, one of the cops on the scene tells him that "the one in the skivvies" (referring to Mark; I thought Colton had let him get dressed before he killed him, but revisiting it I see he merely had a blanket around his shoulders) dragged himself across the floor to get to his phone, and I'm assuming he means before he took a bullet in the head. I mean, I don't think Mark used his brain for all that much, but I still think it would have been necessary for that. The detective on the scene notes that instead of calling 911, Mark texted Tim, which apparently is why he's there. He asks if Tim can shed any light on the text -- it reads "Bagram" -- but even though Tim identifies the place as an airstrip in Afghanistan out of which they flew, he claims not to be able to explain any deeper meaning. However, even through his poker face, it seems pretty likely he understands something from the text and is just deciding how to handle it on his own, which is evidence that he and Raylan are more kindred of spirits than either of them might admit. The detective goes on that, although the drug dealer was the scum of the earth, he once served in the Marine Corps in Fallujah and knew everything there was to know about weapon retention, which explains his precautions in having had people disrobe. Given how little I wanted him on my team, I hope the cop's read of his motivations is one hundred percent right here. The detective's ultimate point, though, is that the dealer's primary customers were veterans and as such, he wonders if Tim maybe can think of any connection that could help them? Tim, however, allows that Mark was "having some troubles" but declines to offer anything further, and the amount of feeling he's letting spill out makes even Raylan look emotional by comparison.
Dunlop is leading Hunter out of the prison, as he's apparently being transferred to a supermax facility for having killed Arlo, just as his accomplice guard predicted. Once they get outside, Hunter laughs when the prison transfer bus pulls away without them -- but any amusement fades in a hurry when the departure of the vehicle reveals Raylan leaning against his car waiting. I guess wishing Dunlop a happy birthday bought Raylan a lot more favor than he probably realized at the time. Hunter looks like he's been brought in front of a firing squad, but Raylan evenly greets him with a hello. I doubt that's going to stop Hunter from soiling that orange jumpsuit, but luckily the play of the credits prevents us from seeing it.
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