I should never write for "Justified."

More than once, I've thanked Mike Russell for getting me into Justified, the filmed adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Raylan Givens stories that the late Elmore Leonard actually liked. (There was a 1997 TV movie with James LeGros as Givens. Here's what Leonard said about it. Heh.) I love that the show's simultaneously brutal and hilarious, and all about the grey areas of law enforcement when Raylan Givens, a U.S. Marshal, has friends and even family members who are crooks. (In one episode, Raylan comes to grips with the knowledge that HIS OWN DAD Arlo would have no qualms about killing him.) I can't yet watch Justified's fourth season, which comes very close to the high water mark set by its second season -- if you don't hear the name Mags Bennett and shudder, you haven't seen it -- and the fifth season which just started will have to wait, too. But, turns out I can think Justified thoughts before I see that.

Last night's dream involved Harlan County criminal activity by, it took me some time to realize, basically an evil version of the 501st, the charity group comprised of people who dress up as Star Wars characters. Like them:


(source here)

Though my mind avoided copyright infringement by having the film the people had based their costumes on be called Tawsis or Tarsis* or something similar The costumes were clearly Star Wars-inspired, but just slightly off from what we've seen. And they're in those costumes while killing people.

WHY WOULD I DREAM SOMETHING LIKE THAT ABOUT A CHARITY GROUP? A group that does actual good and makes a lot of people smile? Because my subconscious is a strange, strange place. (This was also my second Justified dream. The first one involved Arlo committing a bank robbery that goes so utterly wrong, Arlo burns up and dies. I imagined that then thought Arlo's almost sure to come to a damn bad end...)

Welcome to the inner workings of my mind. So dark and foul I can't disguise, can't disguise. (Which would be terrible Elmore Leonard dialogue.)

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* No, I don't know why my mind came up with that. I only knew that those words sound non-Western. Quick Googling shows that Tawsis can be a name in the Muslim world, and Tarsis/Tarshish is referenced in both the Hebrew Bible (possibly as a place name) and the game Warhamer 40K. I also saw one person from Uganda and another person from Russia named Tarsis. Had to have occurred somewhere where people speak...