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[Audioboxer]

Hold me GAF, great finale.

Criminally underrated show.

 

[squidhands]

He survived!

Woohoo!

Anyone else a little disappointed Winona and Raylan didn't make it as a couple? I'm a sucker for romantic endings.

nah, it would honestly seem like a stretch if they were happily married after the time jump. They seem better suited for the relationship that they seemed to have now.

Plus, you gotta think that with their history, Winona is still giving it up to Raylan occasionally.

 

[J.EM1]

That was great! My heart nearly stopped. lol.. it couldn't be the end for Raylan!

 

[Bobby Roberts]

My favorite part was right before that, actually, when Raylan pulled back his jacket, and then Ava slowly got under the dashboard... and then Loretta slowly got under the dashboard

 

[Pilgrimzero]

Going to miss seeing Tim O. on a semi-regular basis. Hope he lands another show soon.

 

[Dan]

Alright guys, who has tried calling the phone number?

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

Wynn coming out on top is hilarious, plus his van's marketing.

jesus christ

 

[IronRinn]

Alright guys, who has tried calling the phone number?

Nothin'.

 

[MarauderShields]

Ava getting a happy ending almost ruined the whole episode for me.

 

[phaze]

You know, now that I think of it, Dewey is the only (semi) main character that bit the bullet in this season. That's some bullshit.

 

[metsallica]

It's also a callback to their confrontation at the end of the pilot episode (which obviously comes from the story). After Raylan shoots Boyd at the dinner table at Ava's, he says he's sorry. Then it flashes back to them running out of a mine together, and Ava asks why he said he was sorry and Raylan responds "Boyd and I dug coal together." And that's the end of the scene.

Full circle; very nice.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

- GIFs from Warming Glow

Wish there was one of Ava driving off. Top five series moments.

 

[Audioboxer]

You know, now that I think of it, Dewey is the only (semi) main character that bit the bullet in this season. That's some bullshit.

You really think that?

I don't understand why there's always an obsession over death. It's quite a change given tons of shows play the death card for the finale/final season and slaughter everyone.

 

[-griffy-]

You know, now that I think of it, Dewey is the only (semi) main character that bit the bullet in this season. That's some bullshit.

The only character that I could see dying without robbing Raylan of showing growth in his final confrontation with Boyd would be Ava, and I can't figure out how her death would feel more right than her surviving and Raylan fulfilling his promise to her. I kind of feel that Raylan lying to Boyd and him having to live with believing she is dead (due to his actions, more or less) cuts deeper than Raylan sending a bullet his way, and is more emotional and fitting than either Ava or Boyd dying, from all three core characters' perspectives. As for someone else like Art, Rachael or Tim dying, that would just feel needlessly shocking for a finale's sake. It just didn't need that.

 

[A Serious Man]

Well, now I'm sad.

I've been watching since the pilot (after The Shield anything with Goggins = Automatic DVR) and I'll really miss it. It never rose to the dramatic heights of those golden age shows but it didn't aim to. It just tried to be really damn entertaining every week and it almost always succeeded. There is a Harlan-sized hole in the TV landscape now and I'm not sure if anything will be able to fill it.

 

[sooperkool]

My favorite part was right before that, actually, when Raylan pulled back his jacket, and then Ava slowly got under the dashboard... and then Loretta slowly got under the dashboard

I loved that, so subtle...

 

[Cornballer]

- Matt Zoller Seitz on last night's finale

The final scene is a classic. Just Boyd and Raylan, talking to each other through bulletproof glass in the prison. Boyd tells Raylan he's "just spreading the word of my calamitous fall and precipitous rebirth in the light of the Lord," and Raylan grins. He tells Boyd that Ava is dead, and shows him documents that "prove" it. The tough guy's eyes fill with tears. Tears are shed for Ava, but we know there is an extra-dramatic aspect to it, as is so often the case during series finales. Boyd’s sadness, and Raylan’s, are the sadness of the writers, actors, and crew. They're grieving for the loss of a shared land of make-believe. This is Timothy Olyphant's and Walton Goggins's last scene together in character. The characters are bonded by their shared past. The artists are bonded by their shared experience as storytellers.

What are we left with? Moments. Images. Raylan donning a former adversary's hat in the elevator as he takes one last look at his workplace; Ava's hesitant singsong delivery as she tells Raylan about all the good things she's done since leaving Harlan; Boyd's sadly tilted head as he peers at Raylan through the jailhouse glass, hard light glinting on his Boo Radley forehead as he smiles, crosses his fingers, and says, "Scout's honor."

The end might be the best cut to black since the end of The Sopranos, though of course the artistic intent could not be more different. We saw what happened, we know what it meant, now it's all over.

"We dug coal together," Boyd says. "That's right," Raylan says. The end.

 

[phaze]

You really think that?

I don't understand why there's always an obsession over death. It's quite a change given tons of shows play the death card for the finale/final season and slaughter everyone.

lol no I'm not being serious, just a bit butt hurt that my fave got sacrificed on the altar of "upping the stakes" for the season.

 

[lastflowers]

I felt for a cool second there that they actually might have killed off raylan. I was fearing mightily, not so much that at the end raylan died, but that i'd have to sit through 20 or so minutes of soap-y awful dialogue on how raylan could never escape Harlan.

 

[UrbanDandy]

Spoiler

Did Limehouse leave the Noble's Holler because of the Marshall's all over the place?

 

[MickeyKnox]

Can't believe it's over, and that it's been more than 5 years since I saw some promo shots and said "well, I don't know anything about this but Olyphant in a cowboy hat means I have to at least give it a shot."

What a great fucking ride it's been.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

- Matt Zoller Seitz on last night's finale

Boyd accidentally dug up Grubes - I don't think he was burying Zachariah. He was looking for the money, wasn't he?

I read the scene as

Searches the house, gets frustrated as fuck
Goes outside to have a cigarette
Sees the shovel with fresh dirt on it.
Sees replaced dirt
Starts to dig it up, thinking that's where the money was hid
Digs up Grubes instead.

Seitz seems to have read it as Boyd burying Zachariah (why would he do that) and finding a random body already in the hole he dug? Like, what the hell would Boyd even be burying, really?

I think Seitz is a great writer, and usually is one of my first reads after any show that I watch, as he manages to pull a TON of subtext and nuance out of most shows/movies - but there's always been something slightly off about him and Justified. As if he's not really getting it as it plays out. Not just because he missed that detail (Hell, I missed that Raylan's new hat was Boon's) but just overall.

 

[Cornballer]

Boyd accidentally dug up Grubes - I don't think he was burying Zachariah. He was looking for the money, wasn't he?

I read the scene as...

Yes, that's how it played out.

 

[-griffy-]

You're completely right Bobby, I don't think there was even anything left of Zachariah to bury aside from some blood splatter on the side of the shack. This is a side effect of the immediate TV recaps we get, where sometimes the writer's just completely misread something and don't catch it since they put out their review/recap so quickly.

 

[gdt]

Goddamn what a great finale. And that ending scene, brought tears to my eyes. What a couple Boyd and Raylan are. Just ended perfectly really.

 

[Dan]

You're completely right Bobby, I don't think there was even anything left of Zachariah to bury aside from some blood splatter on the side of the shack. This is a side effect of the immediate TV recaps we get, where sometimes the writer's just completely misread something and don't catch it since they put out their review/recap so quickly.

I suspect it's also an effect of multitasking by writing notes and brainstorming review/recap ideas as the episode's being viewed. Then yeah, the whole rush to meet a deadline.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

I suspect it's also an effect of multitasking by writing notes and brainstorming review/recap ideas as the episode's being viewed. Then yeah, the whole rush to meet a deadline.

I'm not arguing that it's easy or that he needs to be way more on point or anything. Just that he's always seemed a little off, to me, when it comes to Justified.

If anything, it's because of the extremely high quality of all his other work (especially his video essays) that this is even noticeable, to me.

 

[outunderthestars]

After thinking about it a bit, I'm almost glad that they went for a really quiet ending. I mean, people died, but our principle characters were able to leave Harlan alive.

"We dug coal together/That's right" may be one of the better finale lines of dialogue that I've ever seen.

Totally agreed. Rewatching the pilot episode before the series finale was great advice too.

Best series finale of all time.

 

[IronRinn]

I feel like there are a few things off in Seitz's review.

 

[mm04]

My favorite part was right before that, actually, when Raylan pulled back his jacket, and then Ava slowly got under the dashboard... and then Loretta slowly got under the dashboard

I loved that, so subtle...

I actually laughed out loud when Loretta ducked because to me it was a microcosm of how crazy that neck of the woods is. Gunfight? Alright...let me get to cover really quick. These people have seen so much that they knew it was game on time, so best to duck and cover.

 

[Siegcram]

I feel like there are a few things off in Seitz's review.

Was it established that the state troopers were corrupt?

Aside from the Zacharia snafu, this was the part of the review that seems wrong.

 

[mre]

Was it established that the state troopers were corrupt?

The ones who actually arrested Raylan? If they were corrupt, no way do they (1) report his arrest (otherwise how would Art know to show up) or (2) drive him to their station instead of to Markham or whomever.

 

[WarrenMax007]

Good finale. I liked it very much.
And i don't know if it's just me or it's a common thing, but with almost any show finale i watch, i always feel some uncertainty. Like i always know if i liked it or not, but most of the time expectations are so high, it's impossible to meet them. Obviosly knowing that the show i like is ending adds to that.

 

[The Silver]

That was great! My heart nearly stopped. lol.. it couldn't be the end for Raylan!

That speech Art gave Raylan about being a step too slow one day was constantly replaying in my head during that scene.

 

[IronRinn]

Was it established that the state troopers were corrupt?

Aside from the Zacharia snafu, this was the part of the review that seems wrong.

Yeah, the state trooper was just treating Raylan the way he treated people who ended up cuffed in the back of his car.

I think I misread the part about Boon's hat being doffed by the wind, so just a couple of things wrong instead of a few.

 

[Siegcram]

The ones who actually arrested Raylan? If they were corrupt, no way do they (1) report his arrest (otherwise how would Art know to show up) or (2) drive him to their station instead of to Markham or whomever.

I know, which is why I thought it was weird the Seitz review just threw that in there. Makes no sense.

 

[Dan]

The ones who actually arrested Raylan? If they were corrupt, no way do they (1) report his arrest (otherwise how would Art know to show up) or (2) drive him to their station instead of to Markham or whomever.

Yeah, that's wrong too and makes no sense for the reasons you stated.

 

[zugzug]

boring finalee all to easy.
either these types of shows are a product of the low budgets or just typical hollywood only shoot a scene once make it all appear so easy.

The dynamite Boyd was throwing looked so bad, with a smaller blast radius than a grenade entirely not believable.

This finalee will be entirely forgetable without a defining moment to say wow about. I am disappointed.

 

[pants]

I let our a single tear when everything was okay at the end u-u

I'm glad no one died u-u

 

[-griffy-]

This finalee will be entirely forgetable without a defining moment to say wow about. I am disappointed.

 

[jett]

Bittersweet ending sort of, I liked it.

Good-bye Justified.

 

[Mix Master]

Holy Shit
Flawless Victory

 

[Bobby Roberts]

boring finalee all to easy.

I'm aplexed at your spelling of finale, Mikey.

 

[sir_kevith]

boring finalee all to easy.
either these types of shows are a product of the low budgets or just typical hollywood only shoot a scene once make it all appear so easy.

The dynamite Boyd was throwing looked so bad, with a smaller blast radius than a grenade entirely not believable.

This finalee will be entirely forgetable without a defining moment to say wow about. I am disappointed.

I imagine dynamite or TNT would have a way smaller blast radius than a grenade since it's designed to break rocks and not as a weapon but I'm not an expert.

Anyways, it's the end of an entire series, and your main critique is that the dynamite looked bad?

This "finalee" was great in my opinion and did its job.

 

[J.EM1]

Something about that deputy/officer that arrested Raylan. His voice sounded so familiar. Turns out the actor is Jeffrey Pierce. He was the voice of 'Mother' in Medal of Honor Warfighter and Tommy in The Last of Us.

 

[phaze]

I do agree that the Boyd throwing dynamite scene looked pretty silly and the off screen resolution to it, aka how the hell did Boyd get away from Helis, dogs and hundreds of cops, seemed even more silly. (was there some mine shaft that I and police missed?)

 

[Cornballer]

- YahooTV: ‘Justified’ Finale: Joelle Carter Talks Ava’s Fate (video recap/interview)
- YahooTV: ‘Justified’ Wardrobe and Set Pieces Up for Auction (if you wanted a rubber model of Quarles' arm, here's your chance)

 

[Betty]

Ehhhhhhhh... if I'm honest this was a weak finale to a weak season and honestly, this show never really seemed to know what it wanted to do or what it wanted to build up to, it was aimless.

I'm not saying it's anywhere near Dexter levels of awful, but it was still flat, just like every season aside from the one about the Bennets and when Winona took the money.

Boyd got away with a little too much, Ava remained a little too unscathed in all the chaos, the entire sheriff's department felt useless particularly Tim and Rachel, did they ever have any arcs at all, they felt so worthless.

My biggest complaint throughout is how bulletproof Raylan acted, the only time I ever saw him flustered was when he had to deal with Winona taking the money and that really brought out some much needed tension.

I vastly preferred the villains in Justified and could've easily enjoyed the show more if they focused on them entirely.

It was definitely a better ending that Sons of Anarchy though, galaxies better.

 

[KorrZ]

Something about that deputy/officer that arrested Raylan. His voice sounded so familiar. Turns out the actor is Jeffrey Pierce. He was the voice of 'Mother' in Medal of Honor Warfighter and Tommy in The Last of Us.

Wow I was wondering why his voice sounded so familiar. I've only played TLOU about 5 times so I'm surprised I didn't pick up on that.

 

[Purple Cheeto]

It wasn't something we were thinking of consciously all the time, but when we decided our three main characters would live, we sort of checked it out with Elmore's world in his books. The hero always lives, the woman gets away, but the bad guy doesn't always die, so that made us feel we were on the right track. We discussed it with Gregg Sutter, his researcher of 30 years, and Greg sent me an e-mail saying, "You can't kill Raylan, and you can't kill Ava, and Elmore already tried to kill Boyd and that didn't take. What are you gonna do?" I've since heard from him that he feels Elmore would be happy with how we closed it out.

Saw this in one of the Yost interviews and I thought it was a perfect summation of why the finale went the way it did.