In “Justified” Season 2 Episode 4 “For Blood or Money,” the Bennett family has sat down for dinner, which is apparently accompanied by a lot of cap pistol firing by the kids and bluegrass music by the adults.
Spoilers surely follow.
Raylan shows up, uninvited but, at least initially, welcome. The news he brings is not exactly welcome. He brings the first word to Ma Bennett about how her loving sons pulled the oxy-bus heist, which is going to bring down upon them the wrath of the Dixie Mafia. Mrs. Bennett is very put out that her dumber sons have decided to think for themselves and that he smarter son, Doyle, did not stop it in time.
Raylan even pays a visit to an old friend in the big city who used to be involved in the Dixie Mafia, though the organization does not officially exist, and is now in real estate. A message is to be passed along that no one had better enter Raylan’s jurisdiction to exact vengeance.
This is all set up for latter mayhem, no doubt. In the meantime, Rachel’s brother-in-law is having anger management issues at the halfway house he is staying in. He has just had his day pass revoked for a screw-up, which means that he will miss his son’s 12th birthday. He decides to beat up the gruff but kindly supervisor of the halfway house and go out on a lam. Another encounter with an old drug dealer buddy also ends badly.
This sequence provides an insight into Rachel’s background and an explanation for her bitterness. Her idyllic Cosby family-style childhood was a façade because (a) her parents were slightly lower on the socio-economic scale than the Huxtables and (b) her sister was a drug addict from the age of 9. It turns out that brother-in-law was in prison for killing the sister by crashing into a tree in his car while high. However, he was driving the car to the emergency room because sister was overdosing.
It is really quite sad. All the brother-in-law wants to do is see his son, whom he has not seen in a long while, to present him with a crappy present. But people keep putting obstacles in his path, which makes him angry. This finally results in Rachel having to shoot the drug dealer, which is no loss, and the present being shot, which is a bit of a loss. Father and son do meet briefly before brother-in-law has to no doubt go back to jail to have some unlawful flight tacked onto his sentence.
A couple of minor plot lines progress. Winona’s husband wants a divorce, but really only so that she will not be dragged down into financial ruin when their house is foreclosed. This may be a clever way for hubby to make Winona feel guilty as she was the one who wanted the house.
And it looks like Boyd is being dragged back into a life of crime with a “sure thing” opportunity for a little armed robbery. More future mayhem, without a doubt.
Source: Justified, For Blood or Money, TV.Rage
