I was thinking that for all that Mags is evil and wily her sons are her (really, really big) blind spot. She didn't know they pulled the bus holdup, which left her and her family open to retaliation from the Dixie Mafia. She wasn't aware that Dicke and Coover were forging the signatures on those checks, which were enough to bring the Feds investigating. (Although I'm not sure if her disgust and irritation at their hiring of the pedophile counts as anger, honestly.) She didn't realize that Coover would be stupid enough to keep the watch, much less wear it. But that's because she didn't seem to realize that Coover would be jealous of the attention she was giving Loretta.
edit - Come to think of it, Coover kept the watch before Mags started paying attention to Loretta, so his stupidity began even before then.
Oh, I think he
kept
the watch out of greed. He
wore
it because he wanted to feel dominant over Loretta.
I haven't decided if he meant for her to see it though. I doubt it. Too much planning ahead and being aware of consequences.
I just love Mags so much. She's like the world's most awesome villain. She's completely evil and conniving, and you totally understand why. That's part of why this bit was so wrenching, because she's just pulled off this major coup, she's provided for her family and town in a massive way, shown up the city lady, set up new agreements with people like Boyd, and there's Raylan again, changing the shape of things.
Coover's "You looked like you just saw a ghost" looked just so natural and surprised that I don't think initially it was meant as a provocation. Then he realized he had something, but didn't realize what the full implications of that meant.
The scene where he put it on, which was emphasized, made it look like he didn't give more than a second's thought other than I need to look nice for momma's party.
Justified S1 isn't available for free somewhere on the web -- legally, I mean?
Alas, no -- if they had S1, I can't find it there now. Just the last S2 episodes.
Oh, well SEason 1 is out on dvd - you could Netflix it.
I finally got a chance to watch the lst Justified, and I definitely think Coover wore the watch and manipulated things so Loretta would see it.
Isn't the crooked sheriff (Doyle?) Mags' son too? I thought he would be the heir to her throne.
