#as they will get dull quickly. i had a rachel who was a babysitter of mine as a child and when i got older she crashed a plane with me on

[crimeronan]

had a dream that there was an oppressed class of people called "rachels" who were all born with natural anime-pink hair. sorry to all the rachels out there i guess.

[penniesforthestorm]

“Never trust a man with three first names”: ‘Justified’ Season Two, Episode One

That’s right, I’m still doing these! Before we start, a few procedural notes-- the premiere and finale episodes will be given the typical essay-style treatment, the rest recapped 3 at a time, according to whatever I jot down while watching. This particular season has a relatively self-contained narrative, so if you were only going to watch one season of Justified, this might be the one to choose-- I like S1 a lot, obviously, but after the pilot, it takes a rocky road for a few episodes (though the final six are pretty uniformly riveting). My thoughts on S1 can be found by clicking through (pilot, Episodes 2-5, Episodes 6-9, Episodes 10-12, finale), or you can search the tag ‘#did you miss my heart on purpose’ on my blog. Read on for my thoughts on S2:E1: “The Moonshine War”.

This episode begins with a refresher, taking us back to the chaos of “Bulletville” (S1:E13)-- Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) is taking shelter in a cabin somewhere in Harlan County, Kentucky, with his former coal-mining compatriot Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins), and Boyd’s sister-in-law Ava Crowder (Joelle Carter), facing fire from two emissaries of the Miami drug cartel, Ernesto and Pilar, who want revenge on Raylan for killing one of their own. Raylan manages to give Ava and Boyd the chance to escape, and shoots Ernesto. Pilar flees, and Boyd offers to track her down, making another claim to the old friendship between himself and Raylan, who allows him a head start.

We pick up with Raylan’s boss, Deputy Chief Art Mullen (Nick Searcy), and his team in the woods, questioning Ava. He asks, “Where’s your boyfriend?”, referencing Raylan and Ava’s brief affair (which compromised the initial investigation into Boyd Crowder’s criminal activities), and Ava replies, “Which one?” I think, in the moment, this is just Ava being flip, but in light of later developments, it caught my attention. After that, Boyd and Raylan catch up to Pilar, and Raylan delivers her (quite literally) to the home of Miami cartel boss Gio. Raylan’s former boss, Deputy Chief Grant, arrives, and the business between them is concluded with a pointedly off-the-record conversation. Following that, Grant tells Raylan that he’s welcome to return to Miami-- in fact, that Art Mullen wants him gone. Raylan, typically, takes this with the utmost maturity and declares that he just wants to go home (i.e., his motel room in Lexington) and go to bed. This is one of numerous examples of my favorite bit of characterization: Raylan Gives is handsome, funny, good at his job, and generally a good guy to have in a crisis. He’s also kind of an asshole. There’s the hoary stereotype of “yeah, but he gets results!”-- the renegade cop who is nevertheless always right. Raylan Givens is a great illustration of what a pain in the ass someone like that is for his colleagues.

One of those colleagues, Deputy Rachel Brooks (Erica Tazel), asks for Raylan’s assistance tracking down a sex offender who’s been spotted in Harlan: Jimmy Earl Dean. On the way, Rachel confesses that, as an African-American woman, she feels uncomfortable around the local white population, and since Raylan is a native Harlanite, she thought having him along would smooth the way. Rachel, from what we’ve seen so far, is tough and competent-- she’s not asking for a babysitter, she’s just being cautious. She can’t afford to be as reckless and nonchalant as Raylan is, and I like that the show calls our attention to that. And, likewise, that Raylan helps out.

It turns out that Dean is currently in the employ of the Bennett family-- matriarch Mags (Margo Martindale), and her “tads” Doyle, Dickie, and Coover--who run what appears to be a sizable marijuana operation. Dean attempts to menace a young girl, Loretta McCready (Kaitlyn Dever), whose father Walt (Chris Mulkey) has been growing his own bud on Bennett land, but Loretta’s a tough customer, and she’s able to get away. At home, Walt tells her that he called the tipline set up to catch Dean. Loretta realizes that this was a mistake-- the Bennetts won’t appreciate outside attention being brought to their business-- and goes to apologize to Mags.

The Bennett family is about as colorful a batch of characters as we’ve seen on the show so far. Mags seems every inch the jolly Southern lady, and her concern for Loretta is genuine, but her frank conversation with Raylan, when he and Rachel arrive at her general store, establishes her as a shrewd operator. She might ply him with her famous “apple pie” moonshine*, and warmly boast of his high-school athletic prowess to a seemingly starstruck Loretta, but she knows what his presence means. Likewise Doyle, who we’ve just seen interrogating Walt at the McCready home-- Doyle jokes with Raylan and demurs that he’s ‘not involved with the family business’, but even if we hadn’t seen evidence to the contrary, we’d know from the way he and Raylan size each other up that something’s fishy.

Which brings us to Coover (Brad William Henke) and Dickie (Jeremy Davies). Coover doesn’t appear to have much going on upstairs, but his sheer size and dull aura of menace mark him instantly as trouble. Dickie, on the other hand, is scrawny and frail-seeming, with a bad limp and a soft voice, but he quickly takes control of the situation when Raylan and Rachel arrive for a chat. It’s heavily implied that he and Raylan share a history, and, retrospectively, knowing what that history is makes their first encounter even wilder to watch-- Davies’ line readings are so thrillingly weird, it’s no wonder both Raylan and Rachel seem unsure what to do.

Fortunately, their immediate problem proves easier to dispel: Dean kidnaps Loretta, but State Trooper Tom Bergen (in what I believe is his first major appearance) alerts Raylan, and they catch up to him at a gas station. Raylan, in an inspired bit of improv, squirts Dean with gasoline, and then warns him that if he fires his gun, he’ll explode. (I’m not sure this would work, but neither is Raylan, so I’ll accept it). Raylan gallantly rescues Loretta, and Dean is taken away in cuffs.

Unfortunately, Loretta’s prediction about Mags’ ire proves true: as punishment for trying to poach Mags’ business and for telling the authorities about Dean instead of going to Mags directly, Walt gets a glass of poisoned “apple pie”. This scene is haunting-- the fear and surprise on Walt’s face, the way Mags’ voice never rises above a gentle croon as she scolds him, the way Dickie holds Walt’s hand and strokes his head as the poison takes effect. In the first season, Justified’s setting seemed a little haphazardly chosen-- the action could have taken place in any number of out-of-the-way places. But this scene, and the episode around it, show us that this season will be taking full advantage of the Appalachia featured in Leonard’s novels and stories. (Despite being filmed in Southern California. No, this will not be the last time I complain about that.)

*I have two notes about the moonshine: 1) Rachel refusing a sample, while it makes sense for her by-the-book character, is, in my opinion, a grave mistake of politesse. 2) My great-uncle, who ran a small, but successful cattle ranch in north-central Montana for most of his life, was famous for giving away jars of something we all called “cherry-bounce”. I’m a little sorry I never had the chance to try any. (He did teach me how to dance the polka, though. He was a cool guy.)

[gwynne-fics]

Pictures -- Eun-Sang & Young-Do

set up

Mama’s assessment made very little sense to her. “There is nothing—“

Death dealers are the exception to every rule. I know I taught you that.

Mama sat down and her assistant placed a folder on the table next to Eun-Sang before bowing and leaving them alone. A waiter came and took their order. Eun-Sang translated for her mother and tried to keep her breathing even.

Mama taught her about death dealers when she ripped one apart. After what she did to Young-Do, Eun-Sang tried to hide her nightmares from him.

“Why do I have an aura? It can’t be sex.”

It is. I can get rid of it for you. Today. Here. I can’t promise it won’t come back unless you stop screwing him. Mama’s hands were always so harsh and cold when she spoke. They learned sign language together. It was the only time Eun-Sang had been allowed back into Seoul before she became an adult. It took nine months. I can save you from this mistake as many times as it takes until you give him up.

“I won’t, Omma. You know that. You can see that I love him. My healing is still strong. Look. I fixed him.” Tears stung her eyes when Eun-Sang realized Mama wouldn’t even look at Young-Do. Maybe it was for the best. Maybe it would keep away the temptation to kill him.

Yes, Mama said after a minute of silence. I can see what you did. Open the folder. The board wants to make an agreement with you. That is your employee contract.

“You gave the police his gun,” Eun-Sang hissed as she curled her fingers into fists in her lap. “It is too soon to talk about this! I married him because I love him. He isn’t like the others.”

I am not here to listen to your naïveté. It is embarrassing. I need you. You know I spend time travelling to our subsidiaries. I have to introduce you to the Vault again. I can give you four months to come to your senses.

“It will be six or I will abdicate.” Eun-Sang started to stand. Maybe she could find someone else to help her understand what was going on with her body. Esther seemed to know everyone and everything. As much as she hated to bow her head to anyone, Esther didn’t try to kill her or Young-Do. She hated that this was her line right now.

Wait. Read the contract and I will make it six.

Mama had to be desperate. Eun-Sang had never seen her compromise before. She stayed in her seat and opened up the folder. It was not a bad contract until she got to the end. “Omma, this is a little too Persephone and Demeter. I can’t live with you for six months straight. I am a married woman. I belong with my husband. What if I get pregnant? I’ll need him.”

You know how important it is that I have you by my side during contract negotiations. I don’t speak the languages you do. I rely on you, Eun-Sang. I need you.

Eun-Sang closed her eyes but didn’t sign the contract. She swallowed and put her seal in her purse. At least it was good Mama brought it with her. Eun-Sang needed it for other things. She picked up the pen and crossed out the six-month homesteading clause. What happened when she got pregnant and they were ready to start a family? A six-month separation like that could…ruin their relationship. She wasn’t ready to just give into Mama’s sweeping declarations.

“When I am in Seoul, I will live with my husband. We will talk about this another time. If you’re not going to help me today, I will just talk to President Lee. She might know someone better who will be honest with me.”

Mama sighed and looked away. Very well. Come here. I need to touch you for this.

Eun-Sang stood and Mama put her hands on the back of her neck and against her stomach. There was a rush that made her dizzy as Mama pushed the death aura away from her. She immediately felt better and the edges of her skin were no longer blurry with anger. She fell back in her seat and closed her eyes.

You may feel ill for the rest of the day. It will pass quickly. Do not try to heal yourself. To Eun-Sang’s shock, Mama waved Young-Do over to her. Her assistant quickly joined them as well, probably because Mama knew Eun-Sang would not translate her next words. Young-Do’s stance was very defensive and Eun-Sang couldn’t blame him, especially since Mama was smirking. She will need rest. If you loved her, you would never touch her again. You are the only one who can stop this from repeating itself.

Then Mama left, the contract still on the table. Young-Do sat down next to her after putting a cold glass of water into her hands. “What does she have against sex?”

“I do not know,” Eun-Sang muttered after draining the glass. “It’s…hard…to know that she only got pregnant with me to fulfill an obligation to our company and use the pure life potential of a birth to fix her powers. I know she loves me. There are times I felt like her entire world. But…this is my life. I want it with you, in our home, making our garden beautiful, with three or four little ones running around.”

He raised his eyebrows and she caught him trying not to grin. “Three or four?”

“The number is negotiable,” she teased and giggled when he bent over to kiss her. “Let’s just sit here. I feel dizzy and nauseous.”

“Do you know what she did? After she touched you, the aura just left like it had been cut out of you. I was worried for a few seconds. You didn’t look good after she did it.”

It worried Eun-Sang too. She didn’t see what Mama did, so she couldn’t replicate it if it did come back. She could feel Young-Do’s aura on the edge of her skin but it didn’t scare her the way this one had. “I should talk to President Lee anyway,” Eun-Sang said with a sigh as she scooted her chair closer to his. Young-Do waved over a server before running his fingers through her hair. “She’s so well connected. She might know more than my mother is letting on.”

“You don’t have to be defensive. I know why you don’t like her and it makes me…twistedly happy,” Young-Do teased. “I mentioned why we were talking to Park Hee-Nam to her when I asked her to be on standby for us. All she said was, Huh.”

“Never mind,” Eun-Sang groused after he ordered dinner for them. She liked letting him pick when they came to places like this. He always had fun deciding what she might enjoy. So far, he’d never been wrong. “What is it with our cryptic moms?”

“We’re adults. They have to find ways to control us somehow.”

Eun-Sang wanted to argue with him but he was right. Mama couldn’t handle it that she wanted something other than guarding the Vault. “I miss my store,” she said to herself. “I miss interacting with people and helping them find the perfect plants. I wish I could find my mother’s enemies, end them, and have my own life.”

Young-Do gently put his hand on her knee. “I can do that for you.”

She took his hand and kissed his palm. “I know you can. I’d rather you not. I know how dealing death wears on you. I would like to spare you that as much as possible. Young-Do…you’re fading and it’s scaring me. Are you putting off the next deal because…”

“Because it will fuck up our ability to have children and you will need to start all over again?” He pulled away from her and leaned back in his chair. She often forgot how different he was with her than with everyone else. His face became tight and hard, his shoulders broader, and no movement was wasted. She hated it. She liked her warm and caring man much better.

“I can’t be a single mother.” She didn’t take his hand even though she wanted to. Young-Do needed his space right now even though it pained her to give it to him. “I need you to be here, with me, as a father. I look at Rachel and she is so strong but so miserable without Lee Hyo-Shin. I’m too weak to do it without you.”

“Eun-Sang, I don’t want you to do it without me either. I just…I’m sorry. It is affecting me more than I want to admit. I’ll talk to Rachel about making a deal.” It relieved her more than she cared to acknowledge, too. Their food arrived and they ate quietly. At least, during the drive home, Young-Do put his arm over her shoulders and let her snuggle into his side. His phone buzzed with a text and he pulled it out. A moment later, he sighed. “Kang Ji-Hyuk wants to speak to you again. He’s at the hotel.”

“I’m sure he has my phone number. Why isn’t he using it?” It made her a little cranky but she was mollified when Young-Do ran his hand over her hair and pulled her a little bit closer. “I don’t know what this could be about. Omma would not have told the board I was sick.”

“He might be sleeping with Esther,” Young-Do said quietly. “Rachel called him her new toy under her breath last week. I did tell my step-mother about today.”

That surprised Eun-Sang. She hadn’t really thought Kang Ji-Hyuk’s haunted looks were that appealing and he was so much younger that Lee Esther. She also thought he was one of the few people Mama really trusted. He knew about her existence long before anyone else did. She spent a summer watched by him.

“He used to be one of my babysitters,” Eun-Sang finally said. “This feels a little like babysitting.”

“Rachel can tell him to leave and wait for you to contact him.”

Eun-Sang wrinkled her nose and pulled her feet up on the seat so she could wrap her arm around his waist and just feel safe curled up beside him. “The police have your gun. I know you’re not worried but I am. She didn’t try to kill you today. I think this just means she’s trying to separate us another way.”

“That’s a fair assessment. I’ll have him wait in the lobby.”

A dull pain twisted in her lower stomach and she groaned. Young-Do was immediately attentive. “What’s wrong?”

“I think my period is starting. I’ve been off these last few months and it is about to take revenge on me.” He rubbed at her back and she hoped he would be up to cuddling with her in the next few hours. She would need to sit in their garden to feel better after taking a few supplements. Young-Do held her hand as they walked into the lobby.

Kang Ji-Hyuk sat on one of the couches and held a folder when he stood to bow to her. She came up and tried not to let her growing ache make her too cranky. He offered her the folder. “You turned twenty-five two months ago. This is overdue. These are your shares. It is a high enough percentage point to allow you a seat on the board. We took the paperwork from your mother after we learned that she’d reported the incident at Park Botanicals to the police.”

“Who is We?” Eun-Sang quickly flipped through it and her eyebrows went up when she saw that most members of the board personally donated their shares to make her practically equal with Mama.

Kang Ji-Hyuk just smiled placidly and didn’t answer. “Our company must have a healer of your bloodline as president. President Park has become obsessed and paranoid with your relationship to Choi Young-Do. While a male death dealer has never fathered a child, our experts remain confident that he can with your help. We are grateful for all the work and effort President Park has put into the company but it is coming time for her to retire. You are our chosen successor, Agassi.”

“Until I become obsessed and paranoid with something you don’t approve of?” Mama dedicated her entire life to the company. She did not deserve to be ousted this way. Eun-Sang couldn’t do this to her. She would accept her shares but it would not be the swing vote they hoped for. Eun-Sang refused to betray Mama this way.

“That is what a board of directors is for, Agassi. We must keep the company stable. The Vault depends on it. The world depends on it.”

“If that were true, you would release the rights to all of our seeds, and let farmers buy them wholesale.” Eun-Sang had seen famine ravage countries in her youth. Mama tried to keep it from her but the best place to hide a young girl was in a country no one cared about. Their biggest fight, after the death dealer who tried to kill her, was about the proprietary GMO formulas they had the rights to.

“You know we cannot do that, Agassi. I will await your response. Our first board meeting is in two months. We look forward to your participation.” He bowed and left. Young-Do shifted uncomfortably next to her.

“Do you want to talk about it? They are setting you up for an inheritance war against your mother.”

“Did you know we own the rights to flood resistant rice?” Eun-Sang said it as they walked to the elevator. “Do you know how many farmers, how many peoples, how many countries’ lives would better if they have access to flood resistant rice? Do you know how often seasonal crops fail and the world is on the brink of starvation?”

“I don’t.” He kissed the top of her head and she felt dizzy and nauseous all over again. “I can tell you how many people, on a given night, are cheating on their spouses though.”

“That is also depressing. I’m about to fall over.” Young-Do immediately caught her when her legs gave out. He lifted her up and she grunted in pain. He carried her out of the elevator and into the suite. “I just need my garden. I have plants and trees that help me…center…”

Young-Do stopped short and they stared at their garden in shock. “What the fuck?”

It was dead.