'Justified' - 'Hatless' Recap

(S01E09) "Marshal, I don't mean to be rude but wouldn't it be easier to just go and buy yourself a new hat?" - Bartender

"Probably, but it ain't easy I'm after." - Raylan

It happens in every action series. The hero loses his inanimate sidekick.

Det. Sipowicz lost his gun. Thomas Magnum lost his Ferrari (twice). This week, Raylan lost his beloved hat.

However, the entire episode didn't feature Raylan in an hour-long quest to take back his beloved ten-gallon noggin holster. Instead, it offered a very engaging and tense showdown between Raylan and his ex-wife's new squeeze in one corner and some very cold and ruthless mafioso in the other.

Raylan's ex-wife and her new husband have become one of the more frustrating aspects of the show. The episodes haven't focused a whole lot on either of them, except for a couple of scenes that set up some basic exposition so the viewer's brain doesn't go into a tailspin of confusion. Everything up to this episode didn't feel as organic and worthy of our time. This week, that changed.

Raylan's crusade for his hat starts after a couple of local good ol' boys kick his ass in a fight he started at his favorite watering hole. Naturally, he's more than a little upset that Boyd is out and about because of his relationship with Ava and the only thing that can make the pain go away is an impromptu vacation and a few sips of sweet brown medicine called "bourbon."

It set up an interesting dilemma for our hero but it doesn't overtake the episode and it's probably best that it didn't. The show works best when Raylan has something important to do like keeping his ex-wife's husband from getting his face peeled off by angry mob goons.

Winona's realtor husband Gary has been involved in something very shady, but the show has kept it relatively hidden until this week. Basically, he borrowed money from a very disreputable mob guy for a dream real estate project but the economy tanked and it left him holding the proverbial bag. It takes awhile for the real gravity of the situation to sink in, but once it comes to the big drop, it suck you down and leaves you to hold on for dear life.

The villains are real pit bulls, capped off with an explosive and scary performance by Jere Burns as Wynn Duffy, the mob boss' hired help. Duffy clearly loves striking fear into the hearts of his clients and looking for any excuse to have his ex-boxer bodyguard beat someone into a bloody heap of crying shame like Toby, Gary's former NFL friend who volunteers to be his protection. Burns' cool but cold presence alone ramped up the tension to a new level. It's a shame he won't return as a regular foe for Raylan.

It also presented Raylan with a real character building moment as he helps his ex-wife's broken husband repair the damage his actions have done, not just to Winona but to himself. Raylan still has some feelings for Winona that might not be as strong as when they first met, but his moral center almost always gets the better of him, especially when people he cares about are in the line of fire. The fact that he went so far out of his way not just to protect Winona, but also her suicidal husband really developed his character more than any other episode so far this season.

It's even more impressive when you realize that he did it all without his favorite hat.

Other observations:
- Note to Toby: the first rule of TV fighting is "never throw the first punch."

- Some major kudos should go to the prop department for decorating the apartment of Duffy's ex-boxer bodyguard with an authentic "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots" game and a bong. It looked very "feng-shui."