The divisions between Boyd, Raylan, and Cope's hill-clan also shattered the stereotype that all rural people are the same. It's been fascinating seeing all the cultural fault lines in the Justified world: hill folk, Noble's Holler, complex kin relationships, etc.

:: gets mental image of Foghorn Leghorn training for mixed martial arts matches ::

How? Art questioned Thompson's widow after the marshals rescued her from Goins. She would have recognized him if he were Drew.

On the bright side, he hasn't hooked up with a Truth family woman yet.

I can totally see Ellen May hiding out in Noble's Holler to escape Ava, Boyd, and Colt. This would put Limehouse at odds with Boyd's criminal organization. Let's hope!

Robocop?

I predict that Boyd's empire will collapse before the series is over. He's facing impending betrayal by Johnny, he has loose ends (i.e., Ellen May) running around, and he's making enemies left and right.

Don't run off half-cocked, now!

It shows that Ellen May values other people's approval and acceptance over her own dignity and well-being. We're seeing just how childlike and dysfunctional she is.

Ellen May is definitely a sympathetic character, and I want to see her live too. Still, she's shown herself to have zero common sense and loose cannon tendencies, such as shooting a john while high on drugs. I see Ellen May getting herself into even more dangerous situations as the story progresses.

Her descent into criminality and ruthlessness has been fascinating. She clearly felt conflicted about ordering Colt to kill Ellen May, so I'm wondering if she has some self-awareness of her descent.

Considering that he'd just been bitten by a rattlesnake, and that snake venom does nasty things to one's body, he probably looked pretty horrific when he died. The show probably did us a favor by not showing his death on-screen.

It could be meth, or any number of other things.

He had just snorted drugs, so he probably wasn't thinking clearly at the time.

Stryker1121 — I wondered why he would shoot her at the pump too. There would be gas fumes about, so wouldn't it start a fire? Wouldn't security cameras and customers see the shooting? It's weird.

I wondered about that too. Ellen May doesn't strike me as very intelligent or savvy, so she probably wouldn't have figured out that Colt was about to kill her. If someone spirited her away, then who?

Agreed. When Rachel forcefully put him in his place, though, it was AWESOME and well-deserved.

Hoppus doesn't think highly of women either, judging from his words and love life, so Rachel would be dealing with bigotry from him on two levels.

Why am I picturing Quarles in the throes of spiritual ecstacy at Billy's church?

Well, the good news is that Ellen May disappeared before Colt could shoot her. Whether she ran away or was spirited away remains to be seen.