The Smoking Gun – As this episode of Justified: City Primeval begins, Sweetie (Vondie Curtis-Hall) plays with his band in 1988. Outside the club, Sweetie talks about the time he intimidated a man by pretending to have a .22. When he is asked about Carolyn (Zahra Kadence Dowd), Sweetie explains that he only babysits her sometimes. Her father worked at GM but died of a rough life after the plant closed.  Sweetie told him he’d take care of his little girl. Carolyn joins them outside. Later, Sweetie asks Carolyn if she wants to see what he has been working on. He shows Ronnie (Leo A. Allen II) and the others around what will eventually be his bar.

After saying he paid the down payment, Sweetie shows them where everything will go. He is going to play the music he wants to play and serve the people he wants to serve. Carolyn thinks it is going to be cool. In the present, Wendell Robinson (Victor Williams) watches the body being taken away before Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) arrives. After Raylan says he is sorry, Carolyn Wilder (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) tells Raylan he was a chump. Carolyn sees Trennell (Joseph Anthony Byrd) looking down from his window so they go up and speak to him. He tells them he has a brother in White Rock, New Mexico where there is nothing but blue skies. Trennell gives them the handgun which was wrapped in a shirt.

Raylan is confident he’ll be able to use it. Sandy Stanton (Adelaide Clemens) approaches Clement Mansell (Boyd Holbrook) to ask whether something is burning. Clement asks what she sees and if anything is missing. He mentions that the painting is missing. Although Sandy wants to leave Detroit, Clement makes it clear they aren’t leaving until he says so. He is upset at Sandy for throwing away a Stanley Garlick. At the station, Raylan and Maureen Downey (Marin Ireland) briefly talk about Sweetie’s place being torched. In private, Raylan shows her the gun and asks her to find out whether it is the gun they’ve been looking for. Maureen says she’ll need 24 hours to determine whether the gun killed Judge Guy.

Clement steals a car after breaking the window. Sandy is surprised when she receives a visit from Raylan. She says Clement isn’t home, but Del is coming back this weekend. Raylan tells her that Skender (Alexander Pobutsky) is going to be crippled for the rest of his life. He wants her to tell him how she feels about it, but Sandy knows she doesn’t have to talk to him so she won’t. After Raylan tells her that they have the gun, Sandy makes it clear she isn’t going to testify against Clement because he could walk. She’d only testify against Clement if he was dead and buried. Raylan doesn’t think she sees the point. After all, Clement didn’t mean for the gun to reach him when he gave it to Sandy.

Raylan asks how Clement will feel when he knows he has the gun used to kill Judge Alvin Guy, Rose Doyle, and Sweetie. Sandy breaks down because she feels like she is in big trouble. When Carolyn makes it home, she finds Clement in her house. He begins telling her a story about Oklahoma and a guy who was sleeping with his mother. Clement reveals he was the last one to be in her bed. Once his car disappeared, he grabbed his .22 and shot his mother. Then, he buried her body where no one could ever find her. Clement confesses his story could be BS since a tornado could’ve carried his mother away. Carolyn curses him for taking the only father she ever knew.

Clement pushes her against the wall before warning her he can come back anytime he wants. Sandy goes to the hospital to see Skender who argues she shouldn’t be there. Sandy knows she screwed up, but she wants to make it right. She confesses that she set him up to get robbed although she never thought he’d get hurt that bad. Skender tells Sandy she has broken his heart. She claims what she said to him was true so she’d like to get away together. Skender threatens her by telling her that she is a dead woman. She flees the hospital and begins packing her stuff. Raylan receives a call from Carolyn and immediately realizes something is wrong. When Clement comes home, Sandy hides her bag and pretends nothing is going on.

After he insists he loves her, Sandy asks why he never plays her any of his songs. Clement promises to get a copy of the tape so he can play it for her. He has sex with her. Carolyn tells Raylan what happened. She reveals that the school called her mother one time to say Dwayne tried to choke her although he didn’t mean to. An angry Sweetie took her to the boxing gym and taught her how to hold her own. Carolyn asks Raylan how he is going to put Clement’s prints on the murder weapon. Back at the station, Wendell tells Raylan that she brought in Darrold Woods (Corey Hendrix). Carolyn hears about Darrold’s arrest on the television. Clement wakes up to find that Sandy is gone along with some of his stuff. Del (Andy Carey) enters.

At the police station, Darrold is questioned and accused of killing the woman. He insists he didn’t although he touched her around her legs. Maureen gets him to admit that he touched her with a lit cigarette. She alleges that he killed Judge Guy before killing Rose and having sex with her. Maureen says she found the gun in his things and ballistics matched it to the gun that killed the judge. Darrold asks for a lawyer. After the intro, Raylan asks Maureen to tell him that he isn’t seeing this because he doesn’t want to believe it. She tells him he can get back to Florida to his little girl. At the airport, Sandy receives a call from Clement who is using Del’s phone. She claims she is picking up some food. Clement accuses her of taking his money. If she comes back, they won’t have another Skender situation.

Otherwise, Clement is going to take it out on Del and come looking for her. Norbert (Norbert Leo Butz) approaches Raylan who is in his car. He says he never sent a poor devil up the river he knows didn’t do it just to get a win. Norbert gives Raylan a bag and leaves. Sandy calls Clement to apologize and explains that she just got scared. She offers to come back to Del’s place as long as Clement promises not to hurt him. Clement says they can meet at the Radisson near the airport. They can talk and get on the plane to head to paradise. Raylan listens to the conversation while standing next to Sandy. After the call, he tells Sandy that he’s got it from here. Sandy wants to make sure he is going to get Clement because she wants to do things differently.

Raylan takes her phone. Clement tells Del he is going to make Sandy pay before shooting and killing him. Raylan calls Carolyn to tell her about the meeting and promises to see her when it’s done. Once the call ends, Carolyn tells Toma Costia (Terry Kinney) okay. Raylan meets Clement at the bar with a bag. Clement tells Raylan he is moving on and could possibly be leaving tonight. Raylan claims Clement has nothing to worry about if he believes Sandy only told him where he’d be. When Raylan tries to give him the bag, Clement suggests he wants him to put his prints on another person’s murder weapon. Raylan asks if he wants to go outside to reduce the likelihood they get shot in the balls.

He reminds Clement that he said he wanted a shooting match. Toma eventually interrupts with a group of men and tells them to hand over their guns. As one of the men grabs the murder weapon, Raylan tells them to be careful about getting their prints on it. In the car, Clement tries to find out where they’re being taken only for Toma to tell them the importance of silence. Raylan tells Toma that the murder weapon in the bag can put Clement away for two lifetimes. Toma pulls it out of the bag before Raylan asks him to let him do his job. Toma begins talking about how it was when they left Albania.

It was all heartbreak and killing until they came there. Now, they’re back to their old ways because they are sometimes the only ways. When the vehicle stops on a bridge, Toma gets out and throws the murder weapon into the water below.

 

Justified: City Primeval Review

The Smoking Gun was a decent episode of Justified City Primeval that fans of the previous installments will enjoy. Aspects of the series are more effective than others, but the story could be much stronger. Truthfully, it feels a little dry at times causing the scenes to have little impact when they should be explosive. The performances can be hit and miss depending on the characters and the scene in question, but even the shaky performances are easy to overlook.

Some scenes have great music choices that really add to the overall feel. The camerawork was competent in this episode. The story has become very simple and a bit unbelievable with so many murders being swept under the rug. There might’ve been one too many twists in this episode to the point that almost everyone has become a bad guy.

Justified: City Primeval is what it is. It is a mediocre show that hasn’t managed to live up to the hype created by the original series, but it is watchable enough to be a good time filler. The episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Justified City Primeval can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.