Justified: City Primeval Episode 8, 'The Question,' Recap & Spoilers

The Justified: City Primeval finale reveals Raylan's fate and that of other characters, including a few unexpected ones. Here's an FX recap.

The Justified: City Primeval finale brings Raylan Givens' extended stay in Detroit to a close -- but not the way fans might have expected. FX's revival has put Raylan into one heck of a predicament, with his evidence against Clement Mansell sinking into a river and Raylan himself now at the mercy of vengeful Albanians. Everyone's favorite U.S. Marshal has gotten himself so deep into someone else's predicament that he's stuck without a clear way out.

When the Albanians drag him out of the car, Raylan sees his love interest Carolyn Wilder waiting there. "We had a deal," she tells Toma, the leader of the Albanian group, confirming that she put everything together. Mansell thinks that means he's home free, but viewers will recognize the room he's pushed into as the place where he crushed Skender Lulgjaraj's leg. With Carolyn standing behind him, Raylan pushes the button to trap Mansell behind the same giant metal door he crippled Skender with. But it's not going to be that easy, is it?

As Carolyn heads for the car, Toma explains to Raylan that this arrangement works for both of them; after all, Mansell can easily be found there later. He returns Raylan's sidearm to him, along with Judge Alvin Guy's black book, and Raylan has another conversation with Carolyn -- who asks how he's going to explain all this to the police. "That God himself sent down a lightning bolt and the book came with it," he deadpans but still looks visibly perturbed by this turn of events. Carolyn insists that the world is better off and invites him to her place; he declines, saying he has other things to deal with.

The next morning, Raylan joins Wendell Robinson and Norbert Beryl to pay a home visit to their colleague Maureen Downey. How quickly Justified: City Primeval has turned on her. "I don't think you want this going down in front of your family, Maureen," Norbert warns her and she reluctantly leaves with them. Maureen promptly finds herself in a room at the Detroit Police Department with the three of them and one angry Internal Affairs officer; her name was another one in Judge Guy's book. She laughs at the accusation and after a spectacular rant about how it won't hold up in court, demands both her attorney and her police union representative. Afterward, Raylan remains silent as Norbert asks how they're going to arrest Mansell, before leaving the remaining detectives to their own devices.

Away from Detroit in the city of Lansing, Carolyn has wrangled a meeting with the Lieutenant Governor of Michigan. She wants to discuss her application to become a judge, giving her monologue about how she's worthy of the job. It includes the line "Some people need to sit in a room and think about what they've done," which is a nice allusion to Mansell. Furthermore, she offers to be a political ally to the Lieutenant Governor if she gets the position and throws her ex-friend Diane Rogers under the bus at the same time. She's clearly done holding back, and that night tells Raylan how much she hates her house. Through all of this, viewers watch Mansell dealing with his new living conditions.

Raylan wakes up in the middle of the night, signaling that he's still struggling with Mansell's fate -- and Carolyn doesn't share that feeling. He leaves her home and returns to potentially rescue his nemesis... but simply utters "Oh, shit." City Primeval then backs up to two hours earlier. While Raylan and Carolyn were trying to relax together, the previously mild-mannered Skender finally lost it. Armed with a gun and told to "go get your honor," he'd left the hospital and gone back to the room. But Mansell easily overpowered the still-injured Skender and violently beat him to death with his own weapon before escaping. Raylan's reaction is to Skender's bloodied corpse, and he leaves knowing that things are now much, much worse.

After telling Carolyn to leave Detroit, Raylan informs Norbert about Mansell's escape. But Mansell is already taking his revenge on the Albanians -- shooting everyone he can find, including Toma. The only one he leaves alive is an elderly man, who briefly aims a weapon at Mansell himself but thinks better of using it. Norbert finds the massacre shortly thereafter, while Raylan is at Carolyn's home, betting that "The Oklahoma Wildman" will also want to get back at his ex-attorney. Mansell does indeed show up several hours later and is pleased to see his new rival. When Mansell makes a move, Raylan doesn't hesitate to shoot him multiple times. But while he bleeds out against Carolyn's fridge, City Primeval reveals that he wasn't reaching for a gun. He was going to give Raylan his demo tape.

Carolyn returns -- having totally disregarded Raylan's instructions, just like his daughter Willa -- so she and Raylan can watch Mansell's demise. Mansell thinks Carolyn is calling him an ambulance, but she informs him that she actually called the local morgue. Six weeks later, Raylan is back in Miami at his boss Dan Grant's retirement party, listening to a speech from a colleague (played by Anchorman star David Koechner). A clearly inebriated Dan offers Raylan his recommendation for promotion; a bewildered Raylan says he's resigning instead and leaves his badge on the bar.

A week later, Raylan receives a gift from Carolyn, who has been appointed to Judge Guy's vacant position and heard about his early retirement. She suggests that she'll come visit him in Miami. But more importantly, he's reunited with Willa -- and her mom Winona, as Natalie Zea makes a very welcome return to Justified. Winona is stunned when she learns about Raylan's retirement. "Are you okay?" she asks, followed by "Why now?" She points out that he couldn't retire for her, but she's glad he did for their daughter. There might be some unresolved feelings between them as she drives away.

While Raylan takes Willa out on a fishing boat confiscated from a drug dealer, City Primeval drops one last surprise on fans. When the show cuts to a prison in Kentucky, it's very easy to deduce who the next cameo belongs to. Walton Goggins' fan-favorite Boyd Crowder is still locked up, although he's about to be transferred to a local hospital for a mysterious illness. Before he leaves, he wants to pass on a message to his fellow prisoners: to replace hate with love. That's a little counterintuitive to the ruckus he starts making on the way over. The prison van is forced to pull over in the middle of nowhere, and Boyd predictably escapes, as one of the corrections officers is actually his new girlfriend. Raylan gets a phone call about Boyd's escape, but City Primeval ends with him not answering it... yet.