Carla Gugino comes to Harlan in the new episode of FX’s Justified
A few years ago there was a show called Karen Sisco on ABC. It was about a U.S. Marshal in Miami played by Carla Gugino and was created by Elmore Leonard (hey, that sounds familiar). Anyway, the show was cancelled after only 10 episodes and now, seven or eight years later, this character (now going by the last name “Godard” due to rights issues) has popped up in Justified. It appears she has a certain history with our hero, Raylan Givens…
“Cut Ties” is a busy episode of Justified. This is only the second episode of the season, which means the writers are still setting up the overall story arcs for the year but that doesn’t mean there’s not a lot going on. We’ve got Raylan and Godard hunting murder suspects, Art seeking vengeance for a dead marshal, Boyd trying to get to do Dickie in prison, Rachel protecting a woman in witness protection and, at the very end of the episode, the introduction to the season’s second big bad, the intimidating Limehouse.
You would think that Godard would be the star of this episode considering Carla Gugino’s guest appearance but that isn’t the case: she and Raylan actually take the backburner and Art takes the lead. Art has always been in conflict with Raylan usually due to the way Raylan handles his cases – by the “old book,” as Art puts it in this episode, instead of by the new book. Well, in “Cut Ties” we get to see Art do some marshalling from the old book, tying the man who killed his friend to a chair and then beating him for information. It would appear that Art didn’t always sit behind a desk.
While most of the episode focused on the dead marshal and everyone trying to find his killer, Boyd was in prison trying to get to Dickie, who had himself put in solitary to get away from Boyd. Raylan visits Boyd early in the episode to tell him he’s going to be released in the morning, presumably because he knows Boyd is up to something. This means Boyd has to quicken the pace of his plan. Eventually Boyd manages to get into solitary with Dickie and asks him who has the rest of Mags Bennet’s money. Dickie gives him one name: Limehouse.
Ah, Limehouse. What a mysterious but exciting name. The episode ends with Limehouse showing his knowledge of Fight Club. Do you remember the scene where Brad Pitt burns Edward Norton’s hand with the lye? Well, this is how Limehouse keeps his men in line. He’s only on screen for five minutes but we already know he means business.
“Cut Ties” was a solid episode of Justified. It probably wasn’t as strong as the premiere but it certainly had a lot of promise. With the mysterious gangster from Detroit and now Limehouse, Raylan (and Boyd) are definitely going to have their hands full this season.
Image credit: FX
Craig McQuinn
Craig McQuinn is a poor student currently living in Australia. He was born in New Zealand and had to kill many wild animals to survive. He enjoys almost all forms of pop culture and his interests include superhero comics, TV shows on ...
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