(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!"

(S01E06) "In the words of St. Francis, 'It is only by forgiving that we ourselves are forgiven.'" - Boyd to Raylan upon hearing that Raylen doesn't want to know about his father's misdeeds. "Ain't he the one with the birds?" - Raylan

I've been waiting with eager anticipation for Walton Goggin's character, the reformed bigot Boyd Crowder, to saunter back into Raylan Givens' field of view since the very first episode.

(S01E05) Ah, family. Probably the one thing Raylan didn't want to have to deal with upon his return to Kentucky. Unfortunately, a stakeout brought him to Harlan, where his father and stepmother live and operate. For the first time since 'Justified' premiered, we got a huge dose of the Givens family drama Raylan was running away from in the first place.

Can't say as I blame him. Family is always family, but if I had someone like Raylan's father Arlo to deal with in my family, I don't know how I'd handle it. Both Timothy Olyphant and Raymond J. Barry, as Arlo, did a masterful job of showing the layers of complexity in their relationship throughout the episode.

The hurt and frustration Raylan went through as a child never quite left him, and while there are traces of guilt and regret in Arlo, there's so much more of him that's never bothered to change and never quite will.

(S01E04) "I knew that deep down, I was capable of this. I yank a guy's teeth out and now I kill a guy. You gotta get away from me." - Roland to Mindy

The real challenge for 'Justified' is finding new ways for Raylan Givens to blow people away. Of course he's going to do it in just about every episode. He's a borderline renegade U.S. Marshal with an eagle shooting eye and a distemper for disrespect. He's a colonial cowboy with a beat-up heart. He's Dick Cheney on Zoloft.

The trick, however, is changing the game just a little bit each time so the surprise doesn't wear away over time. This week's episode not only found a new way for Raylan to put a bullet in another smart-ass criminal's torso, but the ride getting there was just as fun.

(S01E03) The TV watching circles whose gazes are glued to the glow of their TVs like vultures at a duck crossing are starting to joke that Raylan Givens is racking up quite a body count.

Let's do a little TV addition. He's only killed two people in three episodes: the restaurant case in Miami and another poor schlub in this week's gripping tale of greed. Sure he shot Boyd in the chest, but that only turned out to be a serious wound and a sniper killed a hostage holder in the second episode. He's far from becoming the edgy dramatic equivalent of TV's 'Sledge Hammer' and definitely smart enough to know you don't challenge the kill record of a man who talks to his gun.

Besides, complaining about Raylan's penchant for blowing away scumsuckers is an unnecessary diversion from a show that is starting to build some gripping potential.