"The Promise" is the series finale of the American Neo-Western television series Justified. It is the 13th episode of the sixth season and is the 78th overall episode of the series. The episode was written by series developer Graham Yost and executive producers Fred Golan, Dave Andron and Benjamin Cavell and directed by Adam Arkin. It originally aired on FX on April 14, 2015.
The series is based on Elmore Leonard's stories about the character Raylan Givens, particularly "Fire in the Hole", which serves as the basis for the episode. The series follows Raylan Givens, a tough deputy U.S. Marshal enforcing his own brand of justice. The series revolves around the inhabitants and culture in the Appalachian Mountains area of eastern Kentucky, specifically Harlan County where many of the main characters grew up. The primary conflict of the series revolved around the rivalry of Raylan with childhood friend and criminal Boyd Crowder, who crossed paths with him throughout the course of the series.
The final season covers the last showdown between Raylan and Boyd. Raylan used Boyd's fiancée Ava to work as an informant against him in order to avoid prison time. The season also introduced main antagonist Avery Markham, a big-time criminal recently back from Colorado with a small fortune from legalized cannabis, intending to take over Harlan for his business. In the final episode, the characters will make their last stand in order to survive and set out who leaves Harlan alive.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 2.24 million household viewers and gained a 0.7 ratings share among adults aged 18–49, making it the most watched episode of the season. The finale received universal acclaim from critics and audiences, who praised the directing, writing, performances, tension, pace, cinematography and closure, with many declaring it brought the series "full circle". The last scene particularly drew acclaim, and was deemed the highlight of the finale. It is considered by many to be one of the best series finales in TV history.
Plot Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) is taken into custody by the state troopers at the hospital. At the cabin, Boyd (Walton Goggins) is still looking for the money, finds a shovel that was used recently and digs up around the cabin. At the barn, Ava (Joelle Carter) is brought before Avery (Sam Elliott), who is unhappy to see she only carried $1 million in the bag and demands to know the location of the rest of the money.
As authorities search for Ava, Tim (Jacob Pitts) and Rachel (Erica Tazel) are notified that they found a gator-tooth necklace in the ground (not knowing it belonged to Dewey Crowe). Police scanners pass this information to all officers, including the one that is taking Raylan for custody. Raylan convinces the officer to ask if the necklace was gator-tooth. As the officer takes Raylan to a station, Art (Nick Searcy) appears and demands to take Raylan himself and the officer reluctantly agrees. Boyd fails to find the money, only finding Grubes' corpse. He is then called by Ava, who refers to him as Zachariah and asks for help. Boyd is not willing to help her until she says she is the only one who knows where the money is and agrees to meet with someone at a location. Avery sends Boon (Jonathan Tucker), instructing him to kill him once he gets the money. Boon agrees and takes Loretta (Kaitlyn Dever) with him.
As Art is driving him back to Lexington, Raylan states the situation with Ava and says he must do something. Art then stops the vehicle and hands over Raylan's badge and gun back to him, agreeing to help him. They arrive at a bar to confront Deputy Stiles (Chad Todhunter) for his role as being part of Avery's payroll and they obtain Avery's location at the barn. The Marshals arrive at the cabin but find no sign of Boyd. But they spot him nearby and it starts a pursuit, where Boyd uses dynamite to distract them and manages to evade capture. Art is called to the pursuit and leave his car keys to Raylan, who will go to the barn by himself.
Avery gets mad when he finds that Zachariah didn't show up at the location when suddenly, Boyd arrives holding his officer at gunpoint. An angered Avery then starts shooting but Boyd manages to kill his officers and shoots Avery in the eye, killing him. Boyd then confronts Ava and he pulls the trigger, but his gun is empty. Raylan arrives and has a confrontation with Boyd, intending to end their rivalry once and for all. He goes as far as to willingly hand over a reloaded gun to Boyd, preparing for a shootout. Before it starts, Boyd asks Ava why she did all her actions, she just says she did what he would do. Boyd then refuses to shoot Raylan and intends to provoke in shooting him by saying he will be released from jail and after he kills Ava, he will kill Raylan too. Raylan debates what to do before settling on handing Boyd over to the authorities.
Boyd is taken by Rachel while Raylan escorts Ava in his car. Ava still tries to save herself as she won't survive in prison but Raylan says there won't be a deal for her. Ava then questions what did Raylan try to prove by letting Boyd live, to which he just replies "nothing". Their car is then rammed by Boon's truck, who steps out for a final confrontation with Raylan through a quick draw gunfight. Both pull out their guns at the same time and shoot each other; Raylan is hit a minor wound in the head that impacts his hat while Boon is mortally hit in the chest. Boon tries to use his dying breath to shoot Raylan but Loretta steps on his gun and Boon dies in front of her. As Raylan regains consciousness, Ava has taken over his car and flees.
Raylan appears at the office just before he goes to Florida. He and Art drink from Art's special bottle and while Raylan is worried that Ava is still on the run, Art assures him they'll find her and that he was hired to catch Boyd Crowder, which he accomplished. He then talks and says farewell to Tim, handing him his copy of The Friends of Eddie Coyle. He also passes Rachel and both say goodbye as Raylan leaves the office, wearing Boon's hat as a replacement.
4 years later, Raylan lives in Miami, working for the local Marshal's office and often spends time with his daughter Willa while Winona (Natalie Zea) is now married to a man named Richard (Jason Gedrick). At his office, his partner, Deputy Sutter (David Koechner) tells him he will have to transport from the Glades. Raylan also finds an article sent by Rachel, which shows Ava in a pumpkin patch. Raylan visits her at Lebec, California, she explains that she is living in the caretaker home of an old couple. Raylan deduces that with Ellen May (Abby Miller) and Limehouse (Mykelti Williamson) unavailable, Duffy (Jere Burns) helped her get out of Harlan in exchange for Avery's $9 million, after which he disappeared. She then shows Raylan that she had a child with Boyd, named after Zachariah, and asks Raylan not to tell Boyd about it. Raylan decides not to arrest her and let her stay with her son.
At Tramble penitentiary, Boyd is now a preacher for the inmates, claiming to have found religion again after succumbing to temptation. He is then visited by Raylan, who informs him they found Ava. But he shows him a death certificate for an alias of Ava, telling him she died in a car crash on Texas 3 years ago. A saddened Boyd asks why Raylan went out of his way to deliver the news in person, Raylan states that despite everything, there's something that brought them together in the first place. Boyd then says, "We dug coal together", to which Raylan responds, "That's right." The series ends with title cards thanking everyone involved in the show and a final dedication to author Elmore Leonard.
Production Development In January 2014, FX Original Programming President, Nick Grad mentioned that the series would probably end with the sixth season, "We like having shows that rate really well, and there’s an instinct that you want it to go on forever. But it doesn't. Another metric that's important to us beyond ratings is, 'What shows are going to be talked about in the next 20 years?' If you're making a great, 80-hour movie, it has to have a beginning, middle and end. Going out at the right time is going to make your show last forever — we want to make shows that stand the test of time." One week later, it was announced that the series was renewed for a sixth season, also announcing that it would be the final season. Chairman of FX, John Landgraf, commented, "we talked about it a year ago. They felt that the arc of the show and what they had to say would be best served by six seasons instead of seven. Regretfully, I accepted their decision." Series developer Graham Yost said, "it really felt in terms of the story of Raylan Givens in Kentucky that six years felt about right." He further added, "we just felt like if this chapter in Raylan's life was about Raylan and Boyd that we could only take it so far, that was basically it. We didn't want to outstay our welcome." Back on 2013, Yost said that if they ran for more than six seasons, they run a greater risk of doing "Elmore light." Star Timothy Olyphant said, "usually when things end, I'm not the first person to find out. It's been wonderful to just be able to see the finish line and enjoy it", referring to the cancellation of his previous series Deadwood.
In March 2015, it was reported that the thirteenth episode of the sixth season and series finale would be titled "The Promise", and was to be directed by Adam Arkin and written by series developer Graham Yost and executive producers Fred Golan, Dave Andron and Benjamin Cavell. Many considered that the title referred to the promise made in the first episode, where Raylan says "you make me pull, I'll put you down" to Boyd while talking on the church. But Yost said the title referred to the promise Raylan made to Ava on "Restitution", where he promises to keep her safe. It was also a callback to the first episode, where Ava states she knew everything was going to be fine because she knew it was Raylan.
Writing
Joelle Carter previewed the finale, saying "this season was filled with schedule conflicts and lots of collaboration. It's always been a show of collaboration, but the writers really honored that we had breathed life into these characters." On the legacy of the series, she said, "I hope it will leave the idea that you can have dramatic entertainment that also has an underlying sense of comedy. We touch on some heavy stuff, but you can also find yourself laughing throughout the hour, and you can escape."
Killing off Raylan was never a plan by the writers. Yost said, "we didn't feel like we were a kind of show that would kill of Raylan. We're not a tragedy. In Elmore's stuff, tragedies happen, but usually the good guy survives." The central idea of the episode was growth, with Yost explaining, "Tim [Olyphant] and I talked right from the beginning of the series that Raylan could grow, but not by much. That was, I suppose, the target for the end."