It’s fairly standard procedure to move a prisoner out of a county lockup after a guard is assaulted. Ostensibly this is to protect the prisoner from guard retaliation while charges are being determined, and to deny the rest of the population a “hero” figure who could serve to incite more violence against the guards. (Cynics would say the transfers exist as sleight of hand – while the bright lights are focused on the investigation at the jail, the prison guards can begin payback-in-absentia for their local comrades.)
(The accosted guard’s immediate disappearance feels like a clue that he didn’t frame Ava on his own hook…that type of petty dictator would have reveled at being the centerpiece in the investigation. I think that guard was bought/persuaded/intimidated by someone offstage – Johnny, Duffy, a still-breathing Paxton or Sheriff, maybe even the “you’ve got such pretty hair” inmate from prior episode – and that he’ll turn up disgraced, or dead. Twofer-Tuesday bonus points if the hand behind the setup makes Boyd appear to be the agent of that guard’s death.)
Seems to me that Kevin missed the import of Ava’s hair-raising hair-razoring scene. It starts with good old drama during her request for the razor (OMG, has Ava really been broken so badly by the incidents culminating in the yard attack that she’s going to suicide?). And then a brief respite (Oh, she’s just cutting her hair). But as she continues to hack away, there’s a realization that she has been broken…or at least suffered a few cracks. She is signalling to the Aryans that she’s willing to go along in order to get along; she’s legitimizing their power over her, and perhaps backsliding to her years of accepting abuse. So far this year she’s been occupied in chivvying Boyd and the clown lawyer to speed up her release, moving emotionally from frustration to depression, working hard to keep her sense of self-empowerment in a situation where she has little control. Now she understands – in her bones – just how little power she currently has over her life. Survival mode in a predator is one thing…as prey it’s something else entirely.
I love the contrast between Ava’s situation and the scene with Raylan and Rachel driving back from the near-disasterous visit to the Crowe’s (to me, this ep’s finest dialog). Rachel offers Raylan this season’s cleanest, most-direct chance to unburden himself – to acknowledge that his self-empowerment has limits – and he fails completely (even to the point of his gaslighting-lite retort that Rachel is a kiss-ass). This week, everyone from Ava to Boyd to Darryl(!) found the will to make accommodation…except Raylan.
