Justified Season 4 Episode 4 ‘The Bird Has Flown’ Review

Justified Season 4 Episode 4 The Bird Has Flown ReviewThis week’s episode of Justified, ‘The Bird Has Flown,’ let the ongoing Drew Thompson mystery take a back seat (save for a quick shot of Sheriff Shelby’s computer screen) while Raylan tied up some loose ends involving Randall the fighter and Lindsay the bartender. In fact, this week’s episode gave all of Justified’s female characters some much deserved time in the spotlight.

Rachel (Erica Tazel) finally got her fair share of the screen, coming along with Raylan through most of his pursuit of Lindsay, Randall and the “goodly sum” of money that the pair lifted from Raylan’s room. The Rachel character has always come off as a buy the book do-gooder, and this season seems to have her spreading her wings a bit. Helping Raylan get his secret money back while off the clock and giving someone like Raylan a shotgun is definitely not something I feel the Rachel of old would have abided by. Granted, the show hasn’t given her all that much time until now, so who knows?


Over in Harlan, Ava finds herself stuck in a never-ending Ellie May situation. On one hand, she’s invested so much into Ellie, including the murder of her previous pimp. It’s said murder coupled with Ellie May’s wild nature that has Ava feeling like she has one giant loose end that either needs to be taken care of or else it’s going to come back and take care of her.

After discussing the situation with Boyd, Ava decides to let Ellie May move on to Alabama and start her life over. That is until Ellie May runs off at the mouth one last time and Ava knows that she has to die. In a scene that felt very reminiscent of the Silvio/Adriana scene from The Sopranos, Colton is driving Ellie May to what would seem to be her last moments on Earth. Deciding to take a quick break to snort some drugs, Colton comes back and finds Ellie May has completely disappeared.

Justified Season 4 Episode 4 The Bird Has Flown Review

And then there’s Lindsay, the bartender that stole Raylan’s heart and his money. It was still somewhat ambiguous as to whether she left with Randall on her own accord or was forced to tag along. It turns out that what she’s always been doing is looking out for herself. Raylan gets it half right when he deduces that she wants to see him and Randall beat each other to death, but it’s not because she wants the victor. She just needs a distraction so she can get away from it all. A couple shots of bean bag pellets will afford her just that.

Other notable moments and quotes:

  • Line of the night goes to Boyd: “You look oddly out of place in a house of iniquity.”
  • Raylan reference of the week: “You like her spinning up the boys; keep ’em pixelated like Longfellow Deeds.”
  • “Nice socks, Joey. Gold Tips?”
  • I hope to one day have myself “a goodly sum” of money.
  • The gas station clerk managed a lot with his two brief scenes, including “Tasteful boudoir shots” and his shared moment with Raylan about Lindsay getting one over on him.
  • “A little no-tell motel. The kind with free HBO and no ice.”
  • “He’s a Marshall, Randall. It’s what they do.”
  • “I’ll have to download that.”
  • One of Justified’s bright spots is that it’s never afraid to let Raylan get his ass kicked.
  • The reveal of Raylan’s “money” in the van is priceless.
  • “Randall, I know you’re shackled and it ain’t half fair, but if you say one more word about chickens I’m going to shoot you again.”

Justified Season 4 Episode 4 The Bird Has Flown Review

Even though ‘The Bird Has Flown’ did take a departure from this season’s bigger ongoing plot, it was still a solid Justified episode full of great bits of character development and, as always, remained incredibly entertaining and emotionally intense. For a character that’s never really amounted to much, Ellie May’s imminent demise was dark and affecting. Her disappearance raises lots of questions, including how she got away. My money is on Cassie seeing Ellie May as a way to take down Boyd after more or less killing her brother and taking Ellie May for herself. I’m also quite curious why Sheriff Shelby had Drew Thompson’s autopsy report up on his computer.

– Matt Hardeman

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