NOTE: this post contains spoilers for Justified: City Primeval episode 3, "Backstabbers."
In the third episode of Justified: City Primeval, Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) struggles to balance his work and fatherhood while Mansell (Boyd Holbrook) zeroes in on his next victim.
The roundup
Things open with Mansell showing up at Caroline Wilder's (Aunjanue Ellis) house to tell her that Raylan attacked him. Caroline says he probably deserved it and warned him to stay away from Raylan, Willa and her house. Mansell, dripping with menace, insists he'll do whatever he wants.
At the police station, Willa (Vivian Olyphant) sits and waits for Raylan, who isn't about to let her out of his sight. Raylan tries to make things right by taking her to breakfast. It doesn't go well. Some things about Raylan Givens have changed, but his ability to communicate isn't one of them.
Maureen (Marin Ireland), Norbert (Norbert Leo Butz) and Robinson (Victor Williams) get ready to round up Mansell and his associates. Robinson arrests Sandy (Adelaide Clemens) at work. Uniformed police go to Sweetie's (Vondie Curtis-Hall) bar with a search warrant for the gun and destroy the place while they search. Mansell is also brought in for questioning.
Teamwork makes the dream work
Norbert takes a run at questioning Mansell, but he knows Raylan is watching the interrogation behind the one-way glass, so he puts on quite a show. At one point he insists Norbert find him a tape recorder even though the room is already wired to record conversations. Mansell sings into the tape recorder. Then he gets up and sings to Raylan.
While Norbert is trying to trip up Mansell, Robinson tries to get Sandy to flip. He sympathizes with her, telling her he's seen the look she has before when people are being squeezed to do things they don’t want to do. Robinson presses her about the gun, revealing they were following her and saw her go to the bridge but then take it to Sweetie's instead.
Maureen is taking on Sweetie. Her no-nonsense approach goes over well, but Sweetie's not going to do anything that doesn't give him an advantage. He's not afraid of the police, and Maureen knows it.
The three Detroit detectives do a good job trying to play Sandy, Sweetie and Mansell off each other, but ultimately they get nothing they can use to build a case against any of them.
When Caroline Wilder shows up, Raylan tells her to get Mansell under control. Caroline gets angry and tells Raylan if he knows Mansell killed the judge to get the evidence and get Mansell the right way. She's not happy about representing Mansell and she knows he's dangerous, but she's still going to do her job and defend him.
Once Sweetie is released he goes back to the bar to start cleaning up. His partner, Trennell (Joseph Anthony Byrd) isn't happy Sweetie is getting himself mixed up with Mansell again. Sweetie says he may have a way out. Later on, Sweetie meets with Caroline to discuss what would happen if he gives the police the gun used to kill Judge Guy.
Fathers and daughters
Raylan takes Maureen up on her offer of a hot meal and a place for him and Willa to stay. But after watching Willa with Maureen's daughters and meeting Maureen's husband, Raylan is uncomfortable putting them at risk. He knows Willa will be a target until Mansell is dead or in jail.
Reluctantly, Raylan puts Willa on a plane back to Florida. Willa is upset, accusing Raylan of not wanting her around and not caring about her. The rift between them deepens when he takes a phone call in the middle of their conversation at the airport. She slips away to board the plane without saying goodbye.
The Albanian
At the condo, Mansell quizzes Sandy about the Albanian, Skender Lulgjuraj (Alexander Pobutsky). Sandy has been working on Skender for awhile. He's got a lot of money and he's backed by the Albanian mafia in Detroit. Technically his business is a hot dog stand, but that's just a front. When Sandy describes a secret room Skender told her about built to be an impenetrable hideout, Mansell is very interested.
Raylan pays a visit to Skender at the hot dog stand. He's baffled to find out that Skender isn't a criminal genius, just a dorky Albanian mobster who genuinely cares about Sandy.
Skender, Sandy and Mansell go out to dinner. Mansell is posing as Sandy's brother. Skender is so serious about Sandy he's bought her a $27,000 engagement ring. Her eyes pop when he pops the question with that ring.
After getting Skender falling-down drunk, Mansell tells Skender he won't give his blessing for the marriage until he sees Skender's secret room.
Robinson and Norbert are tailing Mansell as he follows Skender and Sandy. Mansell knows he's being followed. So at a light he throws his car into park and sits there. The light turns green. People get angry and drive around him but he doesn't move until the only car behind him is the detectives. A truck careening through the intersection hits them and Mansell takes off.
Skender's secret room is impressive. It's fully equipped for someone to live there safely and comfortably if necessary. And he's got an impressive collection of guns in the safe. But no cash, which is what Mansell wanted. He and Mansell argue, which isn't going to end well for Skender.
New episodes of Justified: City Primeval premiere Tuesdays at 10 pm ET/PT on FX. They are then available to stream the next day on Hulu.
