Justified: City Primeval episode 6 recap — a good plan goes awry

Marin Ireland in Justified: City Primeval
Marin Ireland in Justified: City Primeval (Image credit: Chuck Hodes/FX)

NOTE: this post contains spoilers for Justified: City Primeval episode 6, "Adios."

Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) is in bed when there’s a knock at the door. It’s Carolyn (Aunjanue Ellis). She tells him there are things she wants to do with the information in Judge Guy’s book that are not legal, but they are just. She senses he understands the difference. Raylan tells her to come in.

Stealing from a thief

Burt Dickey (David Cross) is not about to give up the painting Mansell (Boyd Holbrook) took. He goes to see Lonny (Kevin Anderson), a thief for hire that he's worked with in the past. Burt tells Lonny he will pay to get the painting back. 

Mansell keeps dropping bodies

That night Mansell and Sweetie (Vondie Curtis-Hall) sit in a car waiting for a mark. The man arrives and Sweetie tells Mansell to stay in the car. Sweetie talks to the mark, gives him the page of the book and comes back to Mansell with an envelope of cash. But it's short. There’s only $12,000 instead of $15,000. 

Sweetie tries to tell Clement the $3,000 doesn't matter and they should just take the $12,000. But Mansell backs the car into the other man's car. The man climbs out of the wrecked car and limps toward the railing of the parking deck. Clement advances towards him but the man throws himself off the parking deck before Mansell can reach him.

The plan

Using the information Carolyn gave him about Judge Guy's book, Raylan goes to Maureen (Marin Ireland) for help setting up a sting. Raylan wants to use someone whose name is in the book to be the bait to help them catch Mansell. If they can set up a meeting between this person and Mansell they can have officers waiting to catch him with the book. That would tie him to the murder for Judge Guy and give them enough evidence to arrest him. 

While Raylan is laying out the plan, Maureen questions why he's pushing so hard for this. Somehow, she guesses Raylan and Carolyn are romantically involved. Maureen asks Raylan who he is planning on using as bait. It's Diane (Regina Taylor), the ambitious prosecutor, whose name is in the book.

Lonny makes contact

Lonny goes to Sweetie's bar. He asks where Sweetie is and when he's coming back, but Trennell (Joseph Anthony Byrd) isn't giving up any information. So Lonny waits. Trennell is suspicious. He calls Sweetie and tells him to get back to the bar. 

Sweetie is at the condo with Mansell and Sandy (Adelaide Clemens), frustrated Mansell is constantly upending the plan and leaving bodies in his wake. He notices the painting Mansell stole from Dickey and is angry Mansell went back to steal it. Irritated and a little worried about what Mansell will do, Sweetie leaves to go deal with Lonny at the bar. 

Diane plays hardball

When Maureen and Raylan approach Diane to participate in their sting she doesn't want to do it. Maureen tells her they have proof in Judge Guy's own handwriting that Diane and the judge took bribes to let cops off for killing people. Maureen argues even if they can't make a legal case against her, if that information goes public it will ruin any future plans Diane has for her career. Reluctantly Diane agrees to be their bait.

With Maureen and Raylan in the room, Diane calls Sweetie's bar. She tells Sweetie she knows he has the book and that her name is in it. She sets up a meeting later that day at a local park to exchange $30,000 cash for her page of the book. 

Sweetie gambles on a way out 

Sweetie talks with Lonny, who just wants to know where Mansell is. But Sweetie wants to make his own deal with Lonny. Sweetie offers to pay Lonny to kill Mansell, telling him where Mansell will be. Lonny agrees. 

After making the deal with Lonny, Sweetie goes to Mansell and manipulates him into being the one to make the exchange in the park.

When Carolyn calls Sweetie to warn him to stay away from the meeting at the park, he worries that this sting operation is going to get in the way of what he has planned. Carolyn tells him to cancel whatever he's got planned. Sweetie calls Lonny to try and call it off but it's too late. 

The sting

Boyd Holbrook and Regina Taylor in Justified: City Primeval

Boyd Holbrook and Regina Taylor in Justified: City Primeval (Image credit: Chuck Hodes/FX)

Maureen, Raylan and the police are all in position at the park. Lonny is waiting for Mansell too. Mansell approaches Diane. and asks her for the money. That's when the police swarm in. Raylan approaches Mansell. They have a tense exchange.

Seeing the police swarming Mansell, Lonny hides his knife and keeps walking. Maureen arrests Mansell but he doesn't have a weapon or the book on him so they can't hold him. Raylan is furious, but Maureen tells him to let it go for now. 

Later that night, Raylan pulls up to Carolyn's house. He says he wants to know what she's holding back. Carolyn agrees to tell him everything and they go inside.

Lonny goes back to Sweetie to tell him what happened. Mansell shows up to find Lonny and Sweetie talking. Mansell shoots Lonny, then he puts a tape of himself singing into a boombox. He tells Sweetie he thought they had an agreement. Mansell knows Sweetie ordered a hit on him. Clement shoots Sweetie then sets the bar on fire.

New episodes of Justified: City Primeval air Tuesdays on FX. They stream the next day on Hulu.

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Sonya Iryna

Sonya has been writing professionally for more than a decade and has degrees in New Media and Philosophy. Her work has appeared in a diverse array of sites including ReGen, The Washington Post, Culturess, Undead Walking and Final Girl. As a lifelong nerd she loves sci-fi, fantasy and horror TV and movies, as well as cultural documentaries. She is particularly interested in representation of marginalized groups in nerd culture and writes reviews and analysis with an intersectional POV. Some of her favorite shows include Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, The Handmaid’s Tale and The Sandman.