The best laid plans never seem to go as planned for anyone on Justified.

Raylan, Boyd and Ava all have amazing abilities of manipulation and are smart, but they still end up continually in trouble. It doesn't seem to matter if they are on the right or wrong side of the law.

On Justified Season 5 Episode 8, Boyd had to find a way out of Mexico after four men were killed, Raylan's vacation to Florida with Alison turned into a search for Kendal with Wendy, and Ava procured a drug route. Just another normal day in their crazy lives.

Watch Justified Season 5 Episode 8 Online

Boyd's gotten a bit sloppy this year with his business. Blood on his face has become a normal occurrence, along with poor business decisions. He was always such a savvy business man. With Ava in prison, he's let his ambitions and risk taking overtake his smart business sense. 

This Boyd isn't nearly as enjoyable to watch, especially with the annoying Crowes in tow. He did pull off a few slick moves to get out of Mexico after the deal was nearly busted. He saved the drug deal by promising to take the bodies with him over the border.And, then he offloaded the truck with the dead bodies to Federales extorting him. All it cost was a wad of cash and the truck. He kept the valuable asset -- the drugs.

It's too bad that a few -- or all -- of the Crowes weren't part of the deal. Will it come back to bite Boyd that he didn't follow through with his promise to get the bodies out of Mexico? The Federales could easily trace them back to the Mexican drug cartel, I expect. Boyd has enough problems to worry about without that coming back on him.

The big risk now is whether or not Daryl's contact will really be able to get the drugs over the border. Something suspicious was going on there, but it wasn't clear to me what. I kept expecting (and hoping) the truck to blow up when Daryl started it. Oh well. The Crowes live on for another day. They are by far the worst part of Justified season 5.

The Crowes were responsible for Raylan missing out on a trip to Florida with the lovely and sweet Alison. Work again took precedence over his personal life even on his vacation. His baby is going to be a teenager before he actually sees her in person, if even then. Wendy convinced him to help her find the missing Kendal.

I never gave much thought to Kendal's parents, but Wendy being his mother makes sense. Kendal's living conditions with his kin were horrible. No boy should have to live like an indentured servant in a brothel and bar. He took what was probably his only way out by calling Jack. Only that didn't work out too well either.

The chase provided a little comic relief. Raylan and Wendy have a contentious relationship, but one that is fun to watch. They understand each other in a twisted way. While Alison is good for Raylan, whenever he's with Wendy, I wonder if they wouldn't actually be a better fit. One caveat, she'd have to ditch her brothers. She may have conned Raylan into helping her with a false promise, but he didn't seem that bothered by it. 

Kendal doesn't have anyone to look up to, so it was nice that Raylan put a few nuggets into his head about choosing a different path from his family. Raylan showed a parental side that occasionally comes out. It's a shame he avoids Winona and his daughter. They could have a good future together if he would only give it a chance.

A normal relationship is clearly not in Raylan's future though. He didn't see it coming, but Alison dumped him. She had enough of Raylan's antics and crazy relationships from his job. The story about giving Kendal the money wasn't enough to save that relationship.

Raylan's on the market again!

The other storyline involved Ava's quest to secure a drug route into the prison. She had someone dislocate her should, went to the medical bay, and secured safe passage for drugs. Boring. I'm not at all interested in Ava's storyline. There's nothing new there. 

If the writers were going to leave Ava in prison for the season, they should have come up with a more original story for her. Instead, we're getting something that's been done before many times. I love Ava, but not this season. It's such a disappointment. There are still a few episodes left this season. Let's get the old fierce and fun Ava back!

Grade the Ava prison storyline!

Carla Day is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter and on Google+.