‘Justified’ Spoilers: Does Episode 8 Hold A Major Clue To Finale? [Photos]

Justified fans are feeling the heat between Deputy Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) and his nemesis, Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins), as the series crosses the midway mark of its sixth and final season. If Justified fans are feeling sentimental about the impending loss of one the most critically-acclaimed shows on television, suffice it to say Raylan doesn’t share that nostalgia about his family or his roots in Harlan, as he’ll make clear Tuesday in Season 6, Episode 8, “Dark as a Dungeon.”

Mild spoilers from the screener follow, so proceed with caution.

If Justified fans think time may have healed the emotional wounds between Raylan and his dearly departed father, Arlo (Raymond J. Barry), think again. Quite the opposite, in fact. As the preview clip briefly shows, Raylan behaves like a man anxious to sever all ties to his family and his roots in Harlan, Kentucky, and move on to a new life with Winona (Natalie Zea) and his baby, Willa.

Raylan Givens is just done with all of this, y’all.

The heat has been cranking up in Raylan’s last quest to bring down Boyd, using Ava (Joelle Carter) as his informant. But last week on Justified, Ava confessed to Boyd, making her a double agent, so to speak, and complicating this final storyline further.

Speaking of “heat,” there appears to be an Easter egg of sorts in this Justified episode, referring to the film Heat, starring Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino. In the film, professional bank robber Neil (De Niro) questions another character on whether he appears stupid, asking him “You see me doin’ thrill-seeker liquor store holdups with a ‘Born to Lose’ tattoo on my chest?”

One Justified character uses a similar line on Boyd on this upcoming episode, telling him, “Let’s just say I don’t see you pullin’ thrill seeker holdups with a ‘Born to Lose’ tattoo on your chest.”

Is there a secret message in this parallel in this episode of Justified? Both the Boyd and Neil characters are professional bank robbers. In Heat, Neil makes two grave mistakes, the first in going for one last big score before getting out of dodge, which already fits with Boyd’s actions on Justified. The other grave mistake Neil makes is turning around when he has a clear exit to seek revenge on someone who betrayed his crew.

Will the Justified writers pay homage to that second mistake as well in the final plot? Or do the writers just love that film and used it as a one-time reference?

Anyway, there are some interesting alliances formed in this episode of Justified, with two in particular that will surprise fans, even though one of them is very short-lived. Also, we’re over halfway to the season finale, so the pattern of significant character deaths continues this week on Justified.

And, of course, how can we have an episode of Justified this final season without some polite, southern-style verbal sparring between Raylan and Boyd?

Check out some photo stills from “Dark as a Dungeon” in the gallery. Justified airs Tuesday nights at 10 p.m. ET on FX.

[Photos by Prashant Gupta/FX]