Watching the Detectives (Justified)

In February 2012, it was reported that the eighth episode of the third season would be titled "Watching the Detectives", and was to be directed by Peter Werner and written by series developer Graham Yost.[2]

Series developer Graham Yost teased that Raylan's and Boyd's relationship would play a pivotal role on the episode.[3] He also explained the beginning of the episode where someone tried to plant something on Raylan's car, "our logic there was that the bartender saw someone by the car, and by being seen, that person left before they could plant the gun. That probably would've been Mike, Duffy’s henchman. He couldn't plant it in the car, so he went to Plan B, which was to plant it in Winona's house."[4]

On Gary's death in the episode, Yost said, "as much as we love Billy Ragsdale and I think Gary is this wonderful character — this weird sort of endearing, earnest weasel — let us not forget that he actually contracted to have Winona and Raylan killed last season. That ultimately, in the universe of a show like this, cannot go unpunished."[5] While working on the episode, the writers used the scene in "Harlan Roulette" where Raylan throws a bullet at Duffy and decided to use the bullet to kill Gary, which would trigger the events of the episode.[4] The lines "Deputy, that might be the coolest thing I've ever laid ears on" and "I mean, she's older for a Victoria's Secret girl, but that's how you know she knows what she's doing" were improvised during the filming day.[4]

Napier's role was previously addressed by Yost, explaining, "we were interested, in this political season, in doing some sort of politics. You can read interesting stories in Tennessee or Kentucky or any part of the country where there could be pretty wild-ass shenanigans going on. We'd heard about one contest where there was a car blown up, or an attempt to blow up a car, and bribery, and shots fired. That became our inspiration. We just liked the idea of this guy who was cruising toward a victory, and in comes someone who gives him a bucketful of cash. It's that temptation, and he crosses a line."[5]

While Yost is credited as the writer of the episode, he said that the confrontation between Raylan and Duffy wasn't written by him, crediting producer Taylor Elmore and actors Jere Burns and Timothy Olyphant for the scene, "I had written a far less energetic scene that wasn't nearly as good. So that was something that the team created."[4]

Despite being credited, Joelle Carter and Erica Tazel do not appear in the episode as their respective characters. Yost confessed that "if there's any great failing of this season, it's that we haven't used enough of Erica. We will find more fun stuff to do with Rachel next year."[4]

The episode includes a guest appearance by Lynda Kay as herself, playing "Jack & Coke".[6] The show previously used a song of hers on "Brother's Keeper". Yost explains, "as we were in the writers room getting set for season 3 and starting to write, Lynda came and visited and played two songs for us. We were just struck by her presence, and I've always loved that song 'Jack & Coke'. It's a Justified kind of song."[4]

The episode was filmed back-to-back with the previous episode, "The Man Behind the Curtain", in order to save time for filming. Yost said, "we knew that 308, and 307 to a certain extent, needed to have a lot of Marshals office stuff."[4]

In its original American broadcast, "Watching the Detectives" was seen by an estimated 2.16 million household viewers and gained a 0.8 ratings share among adults aged 18–49, according to Nielsen Media Research. This means that 0.8 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode.[7] This was a slight increase in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 2.15 million viewers with a 0.9 in the 18-49 demographics.[8]

"Watching the Detectives" received near universal acclaim from critics. Seth Amitin of IGN gave the episode an "amazing" 9.5 out of 10 and wrote, "Now there's some of that in Justified, certainly with Ava and Boyd. But the difference is that Raylan in this episode is the same Raylan from episode 1. Winona is not the same, but she's had some pretty big life-altering events that would change a person. Gutterson is a pretty chill dude, which he always has been. Art Mullins continues to chew out Raylan, but keeps him on board—and we finally got an answer why: because he was once like him at some level. Adding in a Quarles pretty seamlessly, and yet making him stick out like a sore thumb, is a credit to this crew. This is the best this series has been and I get the feeling it's only going to get better."[9]

Scott Tobias of The A.V. Club gave the episode an "A−" grade and wrote, "While 'Watching The Detectives' does its share of juggling, with bits about Limehouse's shadowy machinations and Tanner's attempt to return to the fold and Sheriff Napier's explosive reelection campaign, but it happens within a satisfying structure and the payoffs are many."[10] Kevin Fitzpatrick of Screen Crush wrote, "Sigh, pour one out for ol' Gary Hawkins, ya'll. Justified may have been renewed for a fourth season, but you sir have been left in the dust! And with Winona gone once more, how else can we test the anger boundaries of Raylan Givens with only five episodes remaining? Will the third season finish out with at least a few more body bags?"[11]

Alan Sepinwall of HitFix wrote, "Though there are plenty of dark moments in 'Watching the Detectives' – the threat of what Quarles might do to the cop if he opened the bedroom door, Winona dealing with both Gary's death and the knowledge that her ex-husband tried to have her killed – I spent nearly the entire episode with a very large grin on my face, as various characters made fiendishly clever moves and counter-moves."[12] Luke de Smet of Slant Magazine wrote, "This is a great episode for Art and Tim, who are both just the right combination of badass and hilarious. Now, if only they can find something else for Rachel to do."[13]

Ben Lee of Digital Spy wrote, "What an episode. While last week's 'The Man Behind the Curtain' was more of a transitional episode, 'Watching the Detectives' wastes no time in getting started with a brutally abrupt death and continuing with Raylan Givens finding himself in a real pickle as the local police department and the FBI launch investigations into him."[14] Joe Reid of Vulture wrote, "This episode kind of stacks the deck in terms of just how many kinds of crazy are swirling around in Quarles's head."[15]

Todd VanDerWerff of Los Angeles Times wrote, "I think I say this every time we have an episode of Justified this good, but this show is at its best when it's backing its characters into corners and seeing what happens."[16] Dan Forcella of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4.5 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Each season of Justified has been so outstanding because the writers find different ways to make each episode interesting in its own way. Whether it's a thrill-a-minute shootout, a game of chess filled with impressive speeches, or in the case of 'Watching the Detectives', a simultaneous look into the problems of Raylan's past and certain problems of his future, Justified always entertains."[17] Jack McKinney of Paste gave the episode a 9.2 rating out of 10 and wrote, "The rest was as inevitable as it was devastating. Winona making one last play for her man and then asking one favor of grace. Raylan stunned, almost broken, but always looking ahead and to the job. There are still bad men to punish and scales to level. And that's no joke."[18]