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Bloody Harlan

Bloody Harlan
Season 2, Episode 13

Air date	May 4, 2011
Written by	Fred Golan
Directed by	Michael Dinner
Episode Guide
← previous "Reckoning"	next → "The Gunfighter"

"Bloody Harlan" is the 13th and final episode of the 2nd season, and the 26th episode in the series overall. It was written by executive producer Fred Golan and directed by executive producer Michael Dinner. It first aired on May 4, 2011.

1 Synopsis
2 Cast
- 2.1 Regular Cast
- 2.2 Guest Cast
3 Screenshot Gallery

SynopsisEdit

Chief Deputy Marshal Art Mullen calls Raylan Givens into his office. "I'm truly sorry about your aunt," the boss says. The Deputy Marshal requests a week-long leave -- and then asks if he can be promoted out of the field and into weapons instruction at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia. Art doesn't think it's a bad idea, but he has to think about it.

Sheriff Doyle Bennett enters his mama's almost empty store with news: Boyd Crowder wants to talk. Naturally, Dickie Bennett is infuriated by the thought of negotiation with a Crowder, but Mother Mags agrees to it. Her mistake with Boyd: "Thinking I had the measure of him."

Boyd, meanwhile, has a clandestine meeting with cop Nick, who explains that the Bennetts screwed the entire town with the Black Pike deal -- and that they need to be taken out. Boyd laughs. "You're doing this to get Doyle out of the way, so you can be Chief of Police," he says. Nick doesn't argue.

Givens, meanwhile, gets big news from Winona: she's pregnant. Givens is overjoyed. The two kiss -- and the marshal swears that he will quit if Art doesn't grant his request for a transfer. Later, Doyle and Mags meet Arlo and Boyd at the church. "I think we can both agree that bloodletting is bad for business," Boyd says. Mags insists that she had a deal with Boyd to stay out of the pot business -- and he broke it. Boyd then hands over a briefcase filled with the money he took from Dickie. "Every single dollar," Boyd says. Mags appears pleased.

Of course, Mags isn't about to let Boyd off the hook so easy. Sure enough, she has sent her goons out to assassinate those closest to Boyd. First is Johnny, who gets the better of his would-be killers by hiding in nearby barn and blowing up his own house with the assassins inside.

Elsewhere Ava is making coffee in the kitchen when Dickie suddenly enters the kitchen and shoots her in the chest, then heads out. Devil shoots at Dickie's pick-up truck as it races away from the house. Back inside the church, Doyle gets a call. He shakes his head. The assassinations weren't entirely successful. Boyd immediately picks up on the signal. "I take it that's bad news," Boyd says to Mags, adding, "I think we understand each other." Boyd and Arlo leave.

Givens, meanwhile, gets a call: Loretta has gone missing. Turns out she has taken her foster father's gun along with $300. (Loretta previously had faked a head cold in order to stay home from church in order to get the things she needed to have to go back to Harlan).

Loretta, who is at a gas station with Wade, a friend of her father's friends, who agreed to take her back to Harlan. The two soon part ways -- and Wade warns Loretta to stay away from the Bennetts. "I've come this far, I will see this through," Loretta says. "I owe daddy that much."

Later, Winona asks Givens to "leave it alone" and let the authorities find Loretta. Givens is incredulous. "Go to Harlan," she says. "I can't promise you I'll be here when you get back." Boyd, in the meantime, races home to find Ava bleeding on the couch. Devil tells a distraught Boyd that Dickie did it. Boyd makes a call: a high price is now on Dickie's head.

At Marshal HQ, Winona pleads with Art to intercede in Raylan's situation because she convinced, with justification, that it's more than he can handle by himself. Art is not encouraging.

Givens pays a visit to Wade, who admits to giving Loretta a ride. Givens is about to cuff Wade when he is bashed on the head from behind by Dickie. "No one's gonna tell me that wasn't no base hit!" a fired-up Dickie exclaims.

Sometime later, Givens finds himself hanging upside down from a tree ... with Dickie laughing and holding a baseball bat. Dickie swings and makes contact with Givens' torso. Another swing catches Givens in the shoulder. "This ain't no three-strike game," Dickie tells his old nemesis. "I get as many swings as I want."

Just then, Boyd emerges, pointing a gun at Dickie. The Bennett boy drops his weapons and cuts down Givens on Boyd's order. Boyd explains that Dickie shot Ava as Dickie, realizing that he's in a non-survivable situation with Boyd, blabbers for his life. Givens understands Boyd's need for revenge, but insists that he needs Dickie to find Loretta.

"You asking me or you telling me?" Boyd asks. Says a stone-faced Givens: "If it makes you feel better, you can tell people I asked."

Loretta walking along the side of the highway. She soon shows up at the Bennett homestead. "I've come to see Mags," she tells the gun thugs at the gate who block her passage onto the porch.

But Mags happily welcomes Loretta, the daughter she never had, back into her home. "You came at a difficult time, but I'm glad you came," Mags tells the teenager, who refuses a drink of water. "I didn't come for refreshments," says a crying Loretta, who pulls out her gun and points it unsteadily at the old woman. Mags then tries to blame Coover for killing Loretta's father, claiming her only crime was protecting her son.

Outside, Givens arrives, holding a gun to Dickie's head and demanding to see Loretta. Doyle refuses to accommodate the marshal. Inside, Loretta panics as Mags closes in on her, trying to talk the young girl down. At the last moment, she shoots Mags in the leg.

The sound of the gunshot spooks the armed goons who open fire. Givens is shot in the leg and falls to the ground as a panicked Dickie flings himself onto the front seat and starts screaming in terror.

Givens rolls over and finds Doyle hovering above him with gun in hand. "This bullet's been on its way for 20 years," growls Doyle as his finger tightens on the trigger.

A suppressed shot is heard and a dark hole appears in Doyle's forehead as blood and brain matter spurt from the rear of his skull. He falls forward and Government agents burst from the nearby brush as law enforcement vehicles flood onto the Bennett property. Turns out Art along with Deputy Marshals Tim Gutterson and Rachel Brooks and others, has decided to lend his employee a hand, after all.

Givens thanks his boss and then heads inside the house to find Loretta still holding a gun on Mags. "I'm tired of people telling me as much truth as they see fit," she mutters determinedly.

A pained Mags confesses, "It wasn't Coover who did it. It was me." Givens warns that if Loretta pulls the trigger, her life will change -- and "not for the better." Loretta reluctantly lowers the gun. She is escorted out the house by the agents. Givens then tells Mags that Doyle is dead and Dickie is under arrest. Mags then offers Givens a drink of her apple-pie moonshine.

They both drink. "Good as I ever remember," Givens says. Mags then offers Givens her hand as a peace offering -- and clutches it hard. "Mags, what did you do?" Givens asks, alarmed.

But Mags didn't poison Givens. She poisoned her own glass. "This is the hard part," the old woman says while shaking violently. "I get to see my boys again," she whispers before closing her eyes. Mags convulses and dies where she sits -- across the table from Raylan, who simply watches her die.

(Synopsis taken from Bloody Harlan IMDb page.)