(S01E07) "I'm so very disappointed in you, Raylan." - Boyd Crowder after Raylan attacks him in prison

'Justified' has been running surprisingly low on its juicy, meaty main plot up until the closing minutes of last week's episode. It feels like a whole decade has passed since Raylan blew away some hapless schmuck in a posh Miami restaurant and landed in the middle of the last place on Earth he'd ever want to be.

It all came back this week with the mighty force of a tropical tsunami and it was worth the wait.

Batten down the hatches and get below deck because things are about to go from slack tide to choppy faster than you can say "Chips ahoy!"

Raylan -- simply being Raylan -- spends another night with Ava, the one woman he shouldn't be with but can't stay away from because, well, she's hot and he's (you know) Raylan. Then out of the darkness, a masked shooter unloads a never-ending stream of buckshot ammo into Ava's bed and disappears into the darkness along with a little keepsake or two in his shoulder from Raylan's bullet-spitter. I love it when a show can catapult the audience into a situation within a split second that only ends up tying itself on to something bigger. It can string you along better than the ol' dollar bill on a fishing line trick.
The shows so far have been nice. They weren't perfect, like last week's escapade with an ornery trophy wife and her fake Hitler paintings, which felt a little flat and not very interesting. However, it always gave a hint that something more gripping and harrowing was just over the horizon. Now we're aimed directly for the heart of the sun.

It thrust Raylan not just into his sordid and reckless past, but back into the arms of enemies he thought were long gone. That includes Boyd Crowder, played once again by the creepy goodiness of Walton Goggins, who keeps asking Raylan to repent but always seems to be holding something else behind those dark eyes. He's like a coiled hose that's building pressure, just waiting to be untangled at the right moment.

Raylan's recklessness is also starting to cost him some cred in his department, most notably with his boss, who finally went full-on Capt. Trunk for not only sleeping with his shooting witness but unraveling the unholy ire of internal affairs. It's refreshing to watch a show about a renegade cop with an itchy trigger finger whose superior doesn't need throat lozenges until after the seventh episode. That only made it twice as jarring to watch.

In fact, this episode had a couple of really good scares, even after I thought I had it all figured out. Sure there's bound to be a turncoat, but when the sheriff shot the hit man point blank in the chest to cover his tracks, it made me defy gravity about an inch off my chair. The hostage scene that followed went on a little longer than it should have since the true enemy needed time to explain his evil plan for exposition's sake, but it had a nice moment of tension since Ava may or may not have walked out of that wrecked van alive.

It isn't just the plot, the action or the random exchange of backwoods gun fire that makes 'Justified' so much fun to watch. It really is the characters. Unlike most shows, they drive the plot and bring it to harrowing or humorous destinations and conclusions. Sure, the players normally drive the plot to its logical conclusions, but their color and vibrancy make the ride so fun and gripping. They aren't hard to care about because they are so multifaceted and complex, but that also makes them even harder to figure out.

It's best not to think ahead unless you're the kind of guy or gal who doesn't mind chasing a dollar bill for a block and a half.

Other observations:
- Is it just me or did that hit man seem like a dime store version of James Spader from '2 Days in the Valley'? Maybe it's just me because I think I'm the only person in the universe who owns that movie.

- Remember last week when I noted that Raylan might have to make up his shooting quota? I counted the number of bullets he put or tried to put in that kid in the opening scene and I think he know owes us some change.