Ava’s storyline as been the weakest because it hasn’t really started, I’m pretty sure this episode signals the beginning though. I’m not sure how you take that scene as an innocent cutting of the hair, is that not one of the most over-used tropes for a female character in a storyline who’s about to get some serious agency? Chopping off your own hair with a pair of shears or razor or not-for-hair scissors is like the cinematic shortcut metaphor of the Rocky training montage. Last week’s shanking setup plot twist to get her into this position was pretty weak, but it almost feels as though Ava is the only character who will end the season with her life better off. She seems like the only character poised to take control of her life, to see clearly. Everyone else’s is spiraling out of control (except maybe Tim and Rachel, but they don’t get much of a shot to even show their lives, which I agree is a shame.)
That’s probably my one complaint of the season so far, that everyone is on this dark, out of control ride down the hubris chute. There’s not enough Wynn Duffy, there’s not enough quick-witted positive Boyd, smart-ass Tim, cocky Raylan, or exchanges like the Carl duck-taped to the chair to buoy the grim-seriousness of everything else that’s going on in everyone’s lives.
Actually the storyline that seemed underserved in the episode is Amy Smart’s, but I think that’s just because I really don’t trust her character for some unknown reason and I’m just looking for that moment where we find there’s something more going on that her just being the boring female Raylan screws and has to rescue this season.
