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...

Guest blogging with Pia Valeno

I'm over at Pia Veleno's site, talking about Raylan Givens and Justified instead of my upcoming release Leonardo Di Caprio is a Vampire.  Can you blame me?

Come on by and say hello and see what I have to say about this sexy US Marshal!

http://piaveleno.com/2011/04/28/guest-blog-julie-lynn-hayes/

Welcome back, Raylan Givens - we missed you!

Last night was the season premiere of Justified on F/X, and it began where the last season left off, with Raylan, Boyd and Ava hunkered down in a small cabin, under fire from two drug dealers from Miami.

****Warning- may be spoilers ahead, proceed at own risk****

As those who watched the first part of this know, Boyd took off after the woman in the SUV, and Raylan went after him. From there the action returns to Miami, and into the lap of the man who'd like to see Raylan done harm to because of the whole Tommy Bucks affair (see season one). So once this all got squared away, Raylan returns to Harlan County, and goes out with another deputy to see about a complaint about a child molester.  And here we meet the family that I figure will take the place of the Crowders as arch enemies this season - the Bennetts, at the head of which there is a matriarch who can go from sympathetic to cold-blooded at the drop of a hat.  And don't underestimate her cause she appears so motherly - she can and does kill without hesitation.

What can I say about this series?  I can't say enough about it. The season premiere was fantastic, and I look forward to a whole lot of hot hunky Raylan Givens action this season too.  I'm still wondering what's going on between him and Winona - if you'll recall, last season she come to see him, removed her wedding ring and ended up in bed with him.  Well, rinse and repeat. But I've yet to hear her say why.  I have to assume she's re-evaluated her new marriage to realtor Gary (last heard from, he moved out of the familial home) and is contemplating some sort of relationship with Raylan.  A new relationship, that is.  But what?  And will the problems that came between them the first time around raise their ugly heads this time, or have things truly changed?  Also, what about Ava - is she really down for the count and out of the picture?  Or is she laying low and licking her wounds before she steps back into the ring?

I'm currently reading Riding the Rap, which is a Raylan Givens story by Elmore Leonard, creator of said Raylan, and it certainly has his touch all over it - typical goofy unpredictable and somewhat likeable baddies, Floridian setting - and Raylan.  If you go to check this one out, be aware that a lot of the action centers around the bad guys, so it isn't an all Raylan show or anything.  And if you go to the beginning, to Fire in the Hole, don't be surprised that there are differences.  For one thing, Elmore killed off Raylan's daddy from black lung disease and we never see him.  If you've watched the show, though, you know that Arlo Givens is alive and annoying the bejesus out of his son at every turn.

What makes Raylan Givens so damn fascinating?  I mean, outside of that whole hot hunky Timothy Olyphant thing?  That part's a no-brainer.  But what else is there that makes us turn to him every Wednesday night? Maybe it's his impeccable manners, the way he treats people, even the ones that don't deserve it.  And his own special code of justice and honor.  He believes in doing things honorably - you know his shooting of Tommy Bucks was justified.  He gave him twenty-four hours to get out of town, and even then he waited for the other man to draw first.  In Riding the Rap, he's in a situation where he believes that a man is being held hostage inside a mansion, but he won't go in without a warrant, and he knows he can't obtain one on the flimsy evidence he has, so he looks for a legal way to do it, which exasperates the heck out of his female friend, who still doesn't understand how he can shoot someone in cold blood (although justified) and yet not rush in to save a man he's sure is in trouble.  Knowing Raylan, he'll find the legitmate way to do it, and save the day.

Raylan has a way with women, although his track record isn't the best. You can see he cares for Ava, and he'd protect her with his life, but she just isn't the one.  He's been holding a torch for Winona ever since we first met him, and I'm sure that whole thing will be addressed this season.  I can't say I'm sorry Bo Crowder is dead - that is one damn mean family, and he was a very mean man. Boyd, on the other hand, is a bit of an enigma.  He found Jesus in the first season, and assembled a group of homeless men, formed his own church, and lived with them in a camp comprised of tents.  His daddy put an end to that - and I have to wonder what it's done to Boyd.  I believe he was sincere in his beliefs, and his desire to do the right thing. But just maybe Daddy did something to him when he killed his men - it remains to be seen where he ends up.  Will he take over his late father's empire and be the new drug kingpin in Harlan County?  Or will he embrace a higher cause?  Such as fighting injustice?  Last seen, he seemed to be blowing up a mine.  Wonder what that portends?  Both my daughters find Boyd strangely attractive - they can have him, I'll take Raylan, thankee kindly. Although I will make a confession - in the first season, Bo Crowder had a guy working for him, a child molester, that I found to be strangely attractive - I think it was the long wavy hair. He's gone now, though.  Oh well.

Anybody else think Boyd is cute?  Maybe it's realtor Gary you like?  Or Raylan's boss Art?  Or maybe it's one of the ladies - Winona or Ava?  Tell me what you think, I'd love to hear it!

Have an awesome day and live every day to the max!

Julie