'Justified': Joelle Carter's Ava prepares to keep house

In the Tuesday, March 13, episode of FX's Kentucky crime drama "Justified," called "Loose Ends," Ava Crowder (Joelle Carter), who has taken up with local on-again/off-again criminal Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) -- brother of her late husband Bowman Crowder, whom she dispatched with a gun during dinner in season one -- is about to get medieval on forces threatening her new situation.

"Ava, she stands up for the new life she's developed with Boyd," Carter tells Zap2it. "She's really happy now, and she's not going to let anything get in her way. Boyd gets in some trouble, and Ava has to basically keep house, kind of like in the very beginning with the frying pan."

Carter is referring to a scene earlier in the current third season, where she had to apply a correction to one of Boyd's recalcitrant sidekicks, Devil (Kevin Rankin), by walloping him upside the head with a frying pan.

Unfortunately for Ava, Boyd getting in trouble is nothing new, and it usually involves his best "frenemy," U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant).

"That Boyd," says Carter, "he can't stay out of it. He's like a magnet. It doesn't make Raylan very happy. It's never Boyd's fault."

Of course, it's absolutely never Goggins' fault.

"Walt is the complete polar opposite of his character," says Carter. "He's such a sweet, generous man and actor, and he really embraces that character. He loves our relationship. It gives his character another color for people to see."

Since Ava has now fallen for the brother of the husband she murdered -- which borders on the Biblical -- how does Carter see their dynamic?

"Ava and Boyd probably had a connection for a long time," says Carter. "He was probably always crushed out on her. The fact that he never stood up for her when Bowman was beating her to death really pissed Ava off, and she had to learn to forgive. That's what happened in season two.

"They found themselves in the family. She took him in. She need the help to keep her house, and Boyd ended up needing the adult in Ava, in some sense. They ended up falling in love and being a much better match, because Boyd respects Ava. They really are very loyal to each other, which you see more and more throughout the season."

Asked if she can give any hints about the rest of the season, Carter says, "It's going to get crazy. Let me see, what do I want to tell you? I think they promised people, when we were talking to them at the beginning of the season, that there were going to be a lot of lines crossed. That definitely happens, especially for Ava. You will see that in episode nine, what lines she does cross. It's almost like, you're not sure who you would be or what you would do, unless you're put in that position, that kind of thing.

"All these great characters -- Mykelti Williamson as Limehouse, Neal McDonough as Quarles -- they're not going to disappoint, I'll put it that way. They wrote Neal a crazy character this season. Unfortunately, we never really got to work. We just see each other in our trailers."

As for "Justified" already being renewed for a fourth season, which was announced earlier this week, Carter says, "Yee-haw! I like it!"