The penultimate episode of this stellar second season of 'Justified' (Wed., 10PM ET on FX) saw Raylan Givens at the end of his nerves. But was he so far frayed he would kill an unarmed man?

Maybe if that man was Dickie Bennet, the same little weasel who'd just killed his Aunt Helen in cold blood. As great as Timothy Olyphant is as Givens, Jeremy Davies ('Lost') has been a revelation as the stupider than stupid, but devious and twisted, Bennett.

So when Raylan handcuffed Dickie and drug him into the middle of the woods, we got one of the most intense and wonderful scenes of the entire series so far. Was this going to be just another chapter in the long feud between their families.

With Dickie begging for his life and begging Raylan not to kill him like this, Raylan snapped. "You walked into my father's home and executed Helen in her g******** bathrobe!" he shouted.

He then proceeded to tell Dickie that it was Helen who saved him from the exact kind of miserable existence Dickie and his kin are living. She stepped in to raise him when Raylan's mother passed, and she gave him the money and the will to get out of Harlan and make himself a better man.

It's a good thing she did, too, or Dickie would have died right there in the dark. Still, it was one of the most beautifully shot, visually stunning and masterfully performed scene in a series filled with great moments.