One can’t help but sense the doom looming on Justified: City Primeval Season 1 Episode 6.
Raylan articulates it as a feeling of being played the fool. Clement sees it as a sign he needs to take control. Sweetie faces it head-on and takes it point blank.
And Carolyn? Well, it’s looking like her dreams of sitting on a bench in a white hat are blinding her to the damage she’s doing to get there.
Doom’s been dogging Sweetie’s steps for a long time. He’s had Clement’s crazy haunting him ever since the Wrecking Crew murders, and ever since he set Clement up with Carolyn as his attorney, he’s made him bulletproof.
His days have been numbered since Clement came back to Detroit, and the clock only sped up when he decided to dance with that particular devil while, at the same time, trying to conduct the music.
Carolyn’s offer of immunity in exchange for testimony and the gun on Justified: City Primeval Season 1 Episode 4 was really Sweetie’s last chance to step away clean from the Mansell madness.
By leaning in on the extortion scheme, thinking he could handle Clement as a partner by using the gun as leverage, Sweetie chose a path that would never end with them both upright and breathing.
Clement: Close your eyes for me.
Sweetie: Fuck you. I gotta go out listening to your honky chicken-fat cover song bullshit. Nah. You gotta look me in the eye.
At least he got the opportunity to give Clement some honest feedback on his singing before the end.
Sweetie’s death puts Trennell into play as an invested party now. Trennell has the gun and knows its significance. And now he’s got a score to settle.
The question is: Does Clement know?
Clement probably assumes the gun has been destroyed in the fire. It was Carolyn who advised Trennell to hide the gun from Sweetie, and Trennell most likely moved the gun to his home across the street.
I don’t believe Sweetie would’ve survived even if the gun had still been in the jukebox.
In theory, he might’ve managed to wound Clement, who would’ve left to get patched up rather than set fire to the bar, but Clement came in with the intent of tying up loose ends and settling a score.
Speaking of settling a score, Carolyn does a startlingly effective job at getting her own back by setting Diane Rogers up for the Mansell sting.
Their relationship has taken a complicated turn, from drinking buddies to adversarial colleagues to slam-dunking Diane’s career.
Diane: You can’t just sit there like a wallflower, hoping people will notice you. I do what has to be done.
Carolyn: You are a politician, Diane. And politicians should not be sitting on the bench.
Diane: You want it, Carolyn? Go make friends with the governor. Don’t beg me for it.
So much of Carolyn’s success relies on her keeping her involvement on the down low and pulling the strings from the shadows, as it were. Not a great place for someone who wants to be a hero.
So far, it’s worked out — for her.
Diane doesn’t know she sent Downey and Raylan to shake her down for cooperation on the sting. Diane’s now out of the running for the judgeship.
Sweetie doesn’t know she told Trennell to move the gun. He’s dead.
Clement doesn’t know she’s seen the book. He’s still the wild card.
And Raylan doesn’t know she tipped Mansell off about the sting. But he suspects.
And when our good marshall gets his spidey senses tingling, he typically doesn’t let things distract him from figuring out the cause.
But, then again, it’s been fifteen years.
We have no idea what his track record’s been like since transferring back to Miami.
All we do know is that it’s been SIX EPISODES, and he hasn’t shot a single person. So yeah, people change. Obviously.
Raylan: Am I actually watching this man walk away right now?
Downey: You told me you want to do this the right way. You make a move on him here, the right way is no longer a possibility.
There’s a great irony that Diane’s documented sin is looking away (for a fee) from unjustified police shootings.
Clement: How many people you shoot with that little bitty gun?
Raylan: Lately?
Clement: Oh, you think you’re pretty good with it.
Raylan: Qualify every year.
Clement: Wouldn’t it be something we had ourselves a little shootout?
Raylan: Don’t think they got a range where you’re headed.
Clement: I’m not talking about any range. I’m thinking on the streets. Just when you least expect it.
Raylan: I’ll ask the Chief. See if he says it’s okay.
Keeping in mind that the full title of the literary source material for this limited series is City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit, we can safely assume Clement plans on having the showdown he proposes.
But who will be in attendance?
Picture it: Some desolate Detroit parking lot or back alley. Raylan and Clement face off, each intent on shooting the other first.
But wait, here come the Albanians with Sandy.
Oh, and there’s Trennell with a familiar-looking weapon.
And, damn, Bryl just shot himself in the toe and gave away the position of all the DPD snipers. LOL, I’m kidding, of course. (But it’s not an entirely impossible scenario, admit it.)
In the peanut gallery, we have Willa and Jamal hanging out while Carolyn’s off getting herself measured for her judge’s robes.
If the writers intend to convince the viewer that justice doesn’t always shake hands with the Law, I find it problematic that Carolyn is set up to espouse this message.
There are things that I want to do with that book and none of them have a damned thing to do with what’s legal but everything, EVERYTHING to do with what’s just. So do you understand what it means for me to trust you?
Carolyn
She’s crossing a lot of lines quickly and risked everything in hopes of catapulting herself into Judge Guy’s vacated seat.
I’m kind of hoping someone knowledgeable in the workings of Detroit’s legal system will explain how she can step into that position from her current private defense attorney role. Also, why aren’t there more candidates than she and Diane?
My last quibble with the narrative is also a regret that David Cross didn’t have better material to work with as a guest star.
Why does that painting matter so much?
Dickie: I hired you to do a specific job and you completely betrayed my trust.
Lonny: You didn’t pay enough.
Dickie: You stole.
Lonny: I’m a thief.
Dickie: Yes, exactly! Which, thank you, that’s what brings me here today.
As it is, the ghosts of Lonny and Sweetie will have to get in line to haunt Clement as he continues to rack up a body count. (I’d have to go back and check, but I think he’s had as many human victims as stolen cars since he returned to Detroit.)
What do you think, Fanatics?
Is Clement the Joker to Raylan’s Batman? Will Raylan have to go from white hat to dark knight to take him down?
Hit our comments with your thoughts and theories!
Diana Keng is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond ’til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. Follow her on Twitter.