The Following is over - or is it?

I just watched the two hour series finale of The Following. I know it was canceled at Fox, but it's being shopped around. It remains to be seen, therefore, if it's over or not. Let's assume not, for the sake of discussion, and think about what we are left with at the end of the finale.

**SPOILERS AHEAD** In my last post on this subject, I played with the idea that Joe Carroll did not die as supposed. And guess what? Nothing in this episode has proven me wrong! I have to admit finding out who the mole in the FBI was came as a bit of a shock. For just a moment, I wondered if I was wrong, and she was the brains behind it all, but then no.... I realized she wasn't.

I think I became really suspicious when the mysterious person who wanted Ryan Hardy said to take him alive, much to Theo's chagrin. That really got me to thinking. Who would want Ryan alive? Who but Joe? And when they began to speak of this person as "he", my suspicions were only confirmed.

After Ryan fell off the bridge into the turbulent water below, I knew he could not be dead, because if he was, how could they shop the show to anyone? With Ryan and Joe both allegedly dead, there is no show. So that was a given, and sure enough that hunch panned out when he showed up at the hospital, at Lisa Campbell's bedside, where she whispered the name of the man into Ryan's ear.

I have no doubt that she whispered Joe's name. So when the show returns - if it returns - we have that to deal with, as well as the issue of Ryan's unborn child, and his struggle with his alcoholism, and trying to get back into Gwen's good graces so he can be part of the child's life. Did Theo live or die? That we don't know. Daisy is gone, and since Mark died earlier, that is the end of the Grey psycho story arc.

Now, there is another situation that was never dealt with, and one that should not be pushed under the rug. Max betrayed Tom Reyes with Mike, and he found out because of the laptop they found which was being used to watch Max, unbeknownst to her. He kept the laptop and kept spying on her, after seeing the footage of her and Mike in bed, feeling horribly betrayed, justifiably so. But his actions grew out of control, and he killed an FBI agent, and he ended up dead himself. His knowledge of what he saw should come out. Then will Max and Mike feel guilty? They should. I suspect Max will, and maybe this will tear them apart at least temporarily. But it just needs to come out.

So, those are my ideas. I still maintain that without Joe alive, the series will fizzle and die. I saw the list of possible spin-offs, and I have to say I'm not interested in any of them. All I want is Ryan and Joe. It's what I signed on for.

Now we wait and see.

A last farewell to Raylan and Justified

**SPOILERS GALORE***

Well, it's over, and it was certainly great fun while it lasted. Lots of great characters. But would you expect any less from an Elmore Leonard story?And now Elmore has passed, and Justified has concluded.

I always knew Raylan and Boyd would come face to face again, and they did. If you watched the

episode before this, you know Ava shot Boyd and took the money, and Boyd and Avery - and every one else, including Raylan, whose CI she was - were after her. Well, not Wynn Duffy. You know, at the beginning I didn't care for him a whole lot. He came in to the story with Winona's no-account husband, whose name I've already forgotten, and he was rather sleazy. But he's grown on me, and I'm glad Mikey saved him, and sorry Mikey died.

Raylan has been hung up on his ex, Winona, since the series started. But that didn't stop him from getting involved with Ava Crowder, in her pre-Boyd days. This was back when Boyd's daddy was around, Bo Crowder, and he wasn't a very nice man. But Raylan's love for Winona won out, he dumped Ava and went back to her. And then she disappeared on him. Not surprising, considering Natalie Zea was also in Californication and The Following.  Toward the end of the series, Raylan decides to move to Florida, to be a part of his baby daughter's life - and Winona's. But things keep holding him in Harlabn County. I still expected them to get together at the end, but that didn't happen, although Raylan is in his daughter's life, as we see in a scene that takes place a few years after the end.

Okay, then, just because of a chance photograph (the FBI still searching for Ava, of course, although Avery Markham is long dead), Raylan knows where she is and goes to see her. She fears he is going to take her back to prison, and she finally agrees to show him something - or someone, actually - but only after he swears that Boyd can never know (Boyd is in prison, where Raylan put him, rather than kill him). Apparently Ava had Boyd's child, a son she named Zachariah, after the only man who never wanted anything from her, her late uncle. So Raylan promises, secure in the knowledge she will do no harm. I have to wonder if he'll go to visit her now and then?

Finally, Boy and Raylan. Raylan goes to visit Boyd at the prison, where we discover that he has gone back to preaching the word. He is told he has a visitor, and finds Raylan waiting to see him. They talk, and in the end, it all comes down to one thing - they dug coal together.

And that's all she wrote...

Raylan Givens, how can I quit you?

It's hard to believe, but there's only one episode of Justified left, and then it's gone for good. Six seasons is a pretty good run, especially these days when television shows don't seem to have the same longevity they once did. But still, it's going to be hard to let go.

I remember the first time I saw the trailer for Justified. We were at the theater, and they ran an ad for it before the coming attractions, and my first thought was seriously? Commercials here? So I wasn't kindly disposed to want to watch the show. But the next time we went to watch a movie, we saw the ad again, and it started to grow on me, and we decided to give it a try. We haven't missed an episode since.

**SPOILERS AND SPECULATIONS AHEAD**

It's been on hell of a ride, I have to say. And this season is no exception. Last season, we saw Ava end up framed and in prison, and then she got herself released to become Raylan's CI. Raylan began a daddy, but Winona and his daughter live in Florida, kind of a far distance for being a good daddy. So Raylan's had to consider his future and what part he wants to play in his daughter's life.



Boyd Crowder (Walter Goggins) has certainly has his share of ups and downs, but like the Energizer bunny, he keeps on going. He's been doing his damnedest to get Ava out of prison, also to make the big score he's always dreamed of. This season, he sets his sights on a very wealthy man named Avery Markham (played by Sam Elliott). Markham has ties that stretch to another familiar face - Wynn Duffy.

Raylan is determined to bring Boyd down this season, and he's not above taking matters into his own hands, doing things in his own way, which often puts him at odds with the Sheriff's department, particularly his boss, Art Mullins. Art isn't going to cut Raylan any slack, and he's got his eye on him.

Remember Dewey (I have four kidneys?) Crowe. He's been providing comic relief from the

beginning, ever since Rayland pounded his face into a steering wheel and busted his nose. Last year, he found some balls and hijacked Boyd's drug shipment, and blackmailed him. Dewey means well, but he isn't the brightest bulb in the box, and he went up against the wrong guy.
I shouldn't have been surprised when Boyd blew him away, but I was. Rest in peace, Dewey, you poor fool.

So Avery Markham has a girlfriend named Catherine, played by Mary Steenburgen, and she's a pretty tough gal, determined to find out who ratted out her late husband and got him killed. Trouble is, she suspects Markham, but guess what? It was Wynn Duffy. Boyd delights in telling Markham the truth, and Avery tells Catherine he'll take care of Duffy, but she doesn't listen and tries to take care of him herself. She almost succeeds, but Duffy's driver/friend/assistant Mikey kills her, dying in the process.

Remember Bobby Quarles (Neal McDonough)? He was one wacky guy with a great ass who was cut

down a few seasons back, but I've always had this idea he didn't die, that he only lost his arm but lived. Well, if he's coming back, he better do it tomorrow night, it's his last chance. And if he does, boy am I gonna brag about how I figured this out a long time ago.


This series has been excellent from the beginning, with an ensemble cast, especially Timothy Olyphant. Justified awakened my interest in his films, and I've watched more of them, including Hit Man (which I own), and Die Hard 4. I'm sure he'll do something else, but it won't be Raylan Givens, so it won't be the same. Not to say I won't watch whatever he does next.

Well, tomorrow night is it, the end of a good run. I'll have some comments, probably Thursday. But damn, that's one good series. It's gonna be missed.

Especially you, Raylan.