Wrong Roads

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"Wrong Roads"
Justified episode
Episode no.Season 5
Episode 9
Directed by Michael Dinner
Written byDave Andron & Leonard Chang
Featured music Steve Porcaro
Cinematography by Francis Kenny
Editing byEric L. Beason
Original air dateMarch 11, 2014 (2014-03-11)
Running time52 minutes
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
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Justified (season 5)
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"Wrong Roads" is the ninth episode of the fifth season of the American Neo-Western [1] television series Justified . It is the 61st overall episode of the series and was written by executive producer Dave Andron and story editor Leonard Chang and directed by executive producer Michael Dinner. It originally aired on FX on March 11, 2014.

Contents

The series is based on Elmore Leonard's stories about the character Raylan Givens, particularly "Fire in the Hole", which serves as the basis for the episode. The series follows Raylan Givens, a tough deputy U.S. Marshal enforcing his own brand of justice. The series revolves around the inhabitants and culture in the Appalachian Mountains area of eastern Kentucky, specifically Harlan County where many of the main characters grew up. In the episode, Raylan partners with a maverick DEA agent whose bad behavior feels uncomfortably familiar, while Boyd makes a hard choice to protect Ava.

According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 2.24 million household viewers and gained a 0.8 ratings share among adults aged 18–49. The episode received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the new progress on the storyline, although critics still felt that the episode lacked momentum.

Plot

In Texas, Dewey (Damon Herriman), Danny (A. J. Buckley) and Carl (Justin Welborn) receive the drug shipment from their contacts and depart for Kentucky. While talking with Daryl (Michael Rapaport), Boyd (Walton Goggins) tells him he knows about the set-up in the desert, which he doesn't deny.

Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) receives the case of Johnny's murder along with Hot Rod's henchmen. He goes to Memphis, Tennessee, meeting with DEA Agent Alex Miller (Eric Roberts), asking for his help in finding Hot Rod (Mickey Jones). Raylan and the DEA find one of Hot Rod's warehouses, finding Jay (Wood Harris) and Roscoe (Steve Harris) and arrest them. However, Jay and Roscoe overcome their captor and they are revealed to have Hot Rod held in another warehouse. Hot Rod stabs his captor in the neck with a pencil but is shot in the process. Raylan and Miller reach Hot Rod, who tells them Boyd may be behind Johnny's death, but he dies of his injuries. Prior to his death, it is revealed that Hot Rod was a criminal informant for Miller.

Boyd visits Ava (Joelle Carter) in prison, who tells him that nurse Rowena (Deidrie Henry) will leave the prison and will need his help in exchange for protecting her, which he accepts to do. Rowena visits Boyd at his bar, intending to smuggle drugs into prison and wants his help in getting revenge against a person who killed her partner. Boyd visits the man, Elmont Swain (Muse Watson) at a nursing home. Elmont defends his actions, stating that his wife died due to the drugs smuggled in prison. Despite the assignment, Boyd symphatizes with Elmont and offers to get him out of the home to live his remaining days in peace. He and Jimmy (Jesse Luken) take Elmont on a trip in his truck, where Jimmy strangles Elmont until he is dead. Rowena then gives Ava a new task: she has to kill Judith (Dale Dickey).

Jay and Roscoe intercept a meeting between Boyd, Daryl, Duffy (Jere Burns) and Picker (John Kapelos). However, Raylan and Miller arrive and order them to drop their weapons. Roscoe resists, causing Miller to kill him and arrest Jay. After he is released, Daryl visits Kendal (Jacob Lofland) and Wendy (Alicia Witt) and discovers the money that Raylan gave to Kendal, causing Kendal, who lied and said he stole from the johns at Audrey’s, to storm out. Raylan returns to his office and has a confrontation with Art (Nick Searcy) about their new status. While driving back, Miller spots the tow truck driven by Dewey and Danny, knowing it’s a method to smuggle drugs. After Miller cuts the pair off and orders them to surrender, Danny turns hostile and refuses to follow Miller's orders, showing him his knife. The two are about to have a fight when Dewey suddenly turns up the tow truck and hits both of them and escapes, tired of his cousin’s verbal abuse.

Production

Development

In February 2014, it was reported that the ninth episode of the fifth season would be titled "Wrong Roads", and was to be directed by executive producer Michael Dinner and written by executive producer Dave Andron and story editor Leonard Chang. [2]

Writing

The storyline about Jay and Roscoe was originally different. Series developer Graham Yost said, "so we were gonna separate them, and then the remaining brother was gonna be on a revenge mission and looking for Boyd. The Harris brothers didn't want to do that. They wanted to either play together or not play. So we had to reevaluate quickly, and Andron and Tim [Olyphant], actually, came up with this notion of the two brothers going on this adventure together. And it ended up being a much better episode. We adapted, and it turned into something really fun: It was just the basic setup of one brother's very verbal and the other one says nothing, and then we go for the big twist — Steve would suddenly start to speak, and speak well, and be very loquacious." [3]

Casting

Despite being credited, Jacob Pitts and Erica Tazel do not appear in the episode as their respective characters.

Eric Roberts's casting occurred thanks to his connection to executive producer Michael Dinner. Yost said, "so we'd been looking from early in the season for what would be a good thing to try to get him to do, and just the idea of him being the Ghost of Raylan Future to a degree was something that appealed to us. The fact that he was willing to do it really appealed to us." [3]

Reception

Viewers

In its original American broadcast, "Wrong Roads" was seen by an estimated 2.24 million household viewers and gained a 0.8 ratings share among adults aged 18–49, according to Nielsen Media Research. This means that 0.8 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode. [4] This was a 4% decrease in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 2.32 million viewers with a 0.9 in the 18-49 demographics. [5]

Critical reviews

"Wrong Roads" received generally positive reviews from critics. Seth Amitin of IGN gave the episode a "good" 7.9 out of 10 and wrote in his verdict, "As we close in on the end of what's been a rough season for Justified, the elements of the story are coming together. Daryl and the Crowes are getting involved in something that's way above their ability and will likely find themselves in deep trouble in the next couple of weeks. Raylan talks of change. Boyd is at the end of his rope. Ava needs to do something quickly. As the heroin shipment arrives in Harlan in the next episode, we'll see exactly how the pieces will fall into place and hopefully we'll be interested enough to keep watching." [6]

Alasdair Wilkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode an "A−" grade and wrote, "'Wrong Roads' isn't a perfect episode of Justified, though it does represent a substantial step up from its three immediate predecessors. It suffers from many of the same problems that the show has struggled with since 'Shot All To Hell', or perhaps since the beginning of this season. There's still not really a clear sense of where this season is headed, and the division of screen time between three separate stories makes for some glacial pacing." [7] Kevin Fitzpatrick of Screen Crush wrote, "It's hard to tell exactly where it all leads in only 4 episodes, though 'Wrong Roads' clearly provides the most cohesive story breaks we've had all season, with plenty of excitement promised in the coming weeks." [8]

Alan Sepinwall of HitFix wrote, "It's not that I especially care about the heroin shipment, but that so much of the season has been about this one problem that I just want it resolved already so we can move onto something more interesting. Wendy and Kendal can't wait to get away from this mess, and I do not exactly blame them." [9] James Quealley of The Star-Ledger wrote, "'Wrong Turns' was a good, not great, episode of Justified and one that was sorely needed. I remain of the opinion that a down season of this series is still better than most anything else I watch, but when you've had as good of a run as Justified has, the audience has a hard time accepting anything less." [10]

Matt Zoller Seitz of Vulture gave the episode a 3 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Figures. On the same night I went on Twitter and moaned about Justified's lack of oomph, the show delivered one of its better season-five episodes, 'Wrong Roads'. There still seems to be a lot of motion for motion's sake, but a sense of urgency has settled in. Are we finally getting somewhere?" [11] Holly Anderson of Grantland wrote, "The last 15 minutes of this hour could've easily been spun out into an entire episode, and the last five are particularly jam-packed with information." [12]

Dan Forcella of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4.1 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Overall, this was a depressing hour and that's saying a lot for Justified. Raylan had a victory, but it came with even more disappointment and anger from Art. It was all about mayhem and death. Even Kendal and Wendy didn't get a moment of happiness. Their goal of getting out was shut down by Daryl and Kendal lost his money stash." [13] Jack McKinney of Paste gave the episode a 9.3 out of 10 and wrote, "They're probably right. I won't look forward to the middle section of this season when I watch it over again later this year, but the anticipation of this episode will smooth over a lot of edges." [14]

Related Research Articles

<i>Justified</i> (TV series) American neo-Western crime drama television series

Justified is an American neo-Western crime drama television series that premiered on March 16, 2010, on the FX network. Developed by Graham Yost, it is based on Elmore Leonard's stories about the character Raylan Givens, particularly "Fire in the Hole". Timothy Olyphant portrays Raylan Givens, a tough deputy U.S. Marshal enforcing his own brand of justice. The series revolves around the inhabitants and culture in the Appalachian mountains area of eastern Kentucky, specifically Harlan County where many of the main characters grew up. It also features Lexington, Kentucky, where the local U.S. Marshals office is situated. The series, comprising 78 episodes, was aired over six seasons and concluded on April 14, 2015.

<i>Justified</i> season 5 Season of television series

The fifth season of the American neo-Western television series Justified premiered on January 7, 2014, on FX, and concluded on April 8, 2014, consisting of 13 episodes. The series was developed by Graham Yost based on Elmore Leonard's novels Pronto and Riding the Rap and his short story "Fire in the Hole". Its main character is Raylan Givens, a deputy U.S. Marshal. Timothy Olyphant portrays Givens, a tough federal lawman, enforcing his own brand of justice in his Kentucky hometown. The series is set in the city of Lexington, Kentucky, and the hill country of eastern Kentucky, specifically in and around Harlan. The fifth season was released on DVD and Blu-ray in region 1 on December 2, 2014.

"Fathers and Sons" is the twelfth episode of the first season of the American Neo-Western television series Justified. It is the 12th overall episode of the series and was written by Dave Andron and directed by Michael Katleman. It originally aired on FX on June 1, 2010.

"The I of the Storm" is the third episode of the second season of the American Neo-Western television series Justified. It is the 16th overall episode of the series and was written by supervising producer Dave Andron and directed by Peter Werner. It originally aired on FX on February 23, 2011.

"The Spoil" is the eighth episode of the second season of the American Neo-Western television series Justified. It is the 21st overall episode of the series and was written by supervising producer Dave Andron from a story by Andron and executive producer Elmore Leonard and directed by Michael Watkins. It originally aired on FX on March 30, 2011.

"Reckoning" is the twelfth episode of the second season of the American Neo-Western television series Justified. It is the 25th overall episode of the series and was written by supervising producer Dave Andron and directed by Adam Arkin. It originally aired on FX on April 27, 2011.

"Foot Chase" is the sixth episode of the fourth season of the American Neo-Western television series Justified. It is the 45th overall episode of the series and was written by co-executive producer Dave Andron and executive story editor Ingrid Escajeda and directed by Peter Werner. It originally aired on FX on February 12, 2013.

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"The Kids Aren't All Right" is the second episode of the fifth season of the American Neo-Western television series Justified. It is the 54th overall episode of the series and was written by executive producer Dave Andron and directed by Bill Johnson. It originally aired on FX on January 14, 2014.

"Over the Mountain" is the fourth episode of the fifth season of the American Neo-Western television series Justified. It is the 56th overall episode of the series and was written by co-executive producer Taylor Elmore and directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton. It originally aired on FX on January 28, 2014.

"Shot All to Hell" is the fifth episode of the fifth season of the American Neo-Western television series Justified. It is the 57th overall episode of the series and was written by supervising producer Chris Provenzano and directed by Adam Arkin. It originally aired on FX on February 4, 2014.

"Kill the Messenger" is the sixth episode of the fifth season of the American Neo-Western television series Justified. It is the 58th overall episode of the series and was written by co-producer Ingrid Escajeda and directed by executive producer Don Kurt. It originally aired on FX on February 11, 2014.

"Raw Deal" is the seventh episode of the fifth season of the American Neo-Western television series Justified. It is the 59th overall episode of the series and was written by co-producer VJ Boyd and directed by Bill Johnson. It originally aired on FX on February 25, 2014.

"Whistle Past the Graveyard" is the eighth episode of the fifth season of the American Neo-Western television series Justified. It is the 60th overall episode of the series and was written by co-executive producer Chris Provenzano and directed by Peter Werner. It originally aired on FX on March 4, 2014.

"Weight" is the tenth episode of the fifth season of the American Neo-Western television series Justified. It is the 62nd overall episode of the series and was written by co-executive producer Taylor Elmore and Keith Schreier and directed by John Dahl. It originally aired on FX on March 18, 2014.

"The Toll" is the eleventh episode of the fifth season of the American Neo-Western television series Justified. It is the 63rd overall episode of the series and was written by co-executive producer Benjamin Cavell and directed by Jon Avnet. It originally aired on FX on March 25, 2014.

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"Restitution" is the thirteenth episode and season finale of the fifth season of the American Neo-Western television series Justified. It is the 65th overall episode of the series and was written by executive producer Fred Golan and executive producer Dave Andron and directed by Adam Arkin. It originally aired on FX on April 8, 2014.

"Cash Game" is the second episode of the sixth season of the American Neo-Western television series Justified. It is the 67th overall episode of the series and was written by executive producer Dave Andron and producer VJ Boyd and directed by Dean Parisot. It originally aired on FX on January 27, 2015.

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References

  1. ↑
    • Hale, Mike (January 19, 2015). "A Wry Comedy of Manners in Kentucky Coal Country". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved January 13, 2023. another gun-happy neo-western, 'Justified' has been true to its Elmore Leonard roots
    • Jensen, Jeff (April 14, 2015). "'Justified' series finale: EW review". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved January 13, 2023. The crackling neo-western pulp of Justified always wore its heft and depth as casually as Raylan Givens wore his Stetson.
    • Hibberd, James (May 5, 2010). "Walton Goggins upped on FX's 'Justified'". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved January 14, 2023. The producers of FX's neo-Western crime drama "Justified" have elevated Walton Goggins to a series regular on the show.
    • Ettenhofer, Valerie (October 16, 2022). "Justified Is a Satisfying Neo-Western Anchored by Great Performances". /Film . Retrieved January 14, 2023. A soulful neo-Western at heart, "Justified" uses a near-procedural format.
    • Matthews, Liam (January 12, 2023). "Everything to Know About Justified: City Primeval". TV Guide . Retrieved January 13, 2023. Timothy Olyphant is getting his cowboy hat out of storage to play Raylan Givens, the witty, perpetually pissed U.S. Marshal he played for six seasons on FX's neo-Western crime drama Justified.
    • Klein, Brennan (January 7, 2023). "Justified Revival's Murderous Villain Teased By Executive Producers". Screen Rant . Retrieved January 13, 2023. The reboot series, which is coming to FX later this year, is a follow-up to the neo-Western show Justified, which is adapted from the stories of Elmore Leonard
  2. ↑ "(#509) "Wrong Roads"". The Futon Critic. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  3. 1 2 Blerly, Mandi (March 11, 2014). "'Justified': Graham Yost dissects 'Wrong Roads,' teases what's next". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  4. ↑ Kondolojy, Amanda (March 12, 2014). "Tuesday Cable Ratings: 'Teen Mom 2' Wins Night + 'The Game', 'The Haves and the Have Nots', 'Rizzoli & Isles' & More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on March 12, 2014. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  5. ↑ Bibel, Sara (March 5, 2014). "Tuesday Cable Ratings: 'The Game' Wins Night, 'Teen Mom 2', 'Justified', 'Pretty Little Liars', 'The Little Couple' & More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on March 6, 2014. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  6. ↑ Amitin, Seth (March 12, 2014). "Justified: "Wrong Roads" Review". IGN . Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  7. ↑ Wilkins, Alasdair (March 11, 2014). "Justified: "Wrong Roads"". The A.V. Club . Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  8. ↑ Fitzpatrick, Kevin (March 11, 2014). "'Justified' Review: "Wrong Roads"". Screen Crush . Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  9. ↑ Sepinwall, Alan (March 11, 2014). "Review: 'Justified' – 'Wrong Roads': Operation working vacation". HitFix . Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  10. ↑ Queally, James (March 12, 2014). "'Justified' 'Wrong Roads' recap: Do I know you?". The Star-Ledger . Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  11. ↑ Zoller Seitz, Matt (March 12, 2014). "Justified Recap: Song Ain't Over Yet". Vulture . Retrieved September 9, 2021.
  12. ↑ Anderson, Holly (March 12, 2014). "'Justified' Recap: 'Wrong Roads,' the Poor Life Choice Pageant". Grantland . Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  13. ↑ Forcella, Dan (March 11, 2014). "Justified Review: Greed and Betrayal". TV Fanatic. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  14. ↑ McKinney, Jack (March 12, 2014). "Justified Review: "Wrong Roads" (Episode 5.09)". Paste . Retrieved September 10, 2021.
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