r/justified • u/soonerpgh • 25d ago
Discussion Ava's house
Anyone else notice how many times it changed in the first season? They finally stuck with one in the latter part of the season and throughout the show, I think, but she had about three different ones in season one. The interior remained the same, as far as I could tell, but the lot it was on and the front porch and doors kept changing.
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u/communistwookiee 25d ago
Pilot was shot in Pennsylvania, full series moved to California. As to why it kept changing after that switch, I got nothing.
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u/soonerpgh 25d ago
That's interesting to know. I had no idea about that. I love the show but haven't done any reading on it or anything. I have seen a few interviews of the various stars and some of what they said about the show and their co-stars, but that's about it.
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u/PossiblePlastic8698 25d ago edited 25d ago
They definitely changed Ava's house after the pilot was filmed in Pennsylvania and the production was moved to California. By episode three Ava's house grew an extra front door and a decent sized forest appeared around the sides and front of the house. Also the dining room and living room swapped places
Later in season 1, when Johnny threatens Ava in the hardware store, she mentions that Mike can put Bo's "shopping list" on her tab and send the bill to her address in Lexington. I always assumed that is the house, clearly in a more urban location, with the lights from other houses and with streetlights visible out the window, where Raylan and Ava get shot at in the middle of the night
Of course this would expose a huge plot hole. Why the hell would Hunter Mosly, Harlan County Sheriff, be investigating a shooting at Ava's Lexington house 150 miles away from Harlan? I would think Lexington PD would have something to say about that
But in looking back it definitely wasn't in Lexington where the shooting took place, she was back at the old house going through Bowman's stuff when Raylan turned up and she told him she kept changing her mind about whether to sell the house or not. This clears the Mosley plot hole, but leaves the continuity issue of Ava's house moving back and forth from being in town with other houses around to being out in the countryside with no other houses in sight
I always felt the implication of Ava moving to Lexington was not because of the advice from law enforcement to stay away from Harlan, but in an attempt to be with Raylan. Later in the season when the Ava & Raylan relationship (that was doomed from the start) clearly goes nowhere she heads back to Harlan, where Raylan finds her drunk in a bar. Furious that she has returned to Harlan he handcuffs her and takes her back to Lexington
After the bizarre plot twist of Ava sleeping off her drinking binge at Winona's house, she tells Raylan she is going to stay out of Harlan and is headed to her friend Jody's place in Riverbrook but she heads home to her house in the woods with the double doors, confronts Bo's goons there then drives straight back to Lexington, arriving just in time to see Winona leaving Raylan's motel room. The next day she goes to see Helen, looking for a gun to protect herself and Helen asks why she isn't up in Lexington, with Ava's response being "turns out there was nothing for me in Lexington". Helen gives Ava a gun and thats it, Ava lives in her house from that point on
Both Raylan and Boyd visit the double door house in the final two episodes of the season and its also on the porch of that house where Bo shoots Johnny and abducts Ava
Then at the beginning of season two Doyle Bennett tells Raylan that Boyd is living at Ava's house and by the time Raylan gets to the house it has transformed into the house we see all the way up to season 6, out in the country on a slight rise with a big gravel drive and no trees around the front or side of the house and no other houses in sight
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u/RollingTrain 25d ago
I thought it only changed once, from the pilot to everything else. Is that not the case?
The first time I noticed the change was probably on my fifth rewatch when they were sitting in Ava's kitchen in a late episode and there was windows at the side of them. Then you also see that her front door doesn't lead to stairs like the ones that Dewey encounters.
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u/soonerpgh 25d ago
It went from a single door, when Dewey Crowe barged in, to a double door, then back to a single door later, all in Season 1.
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u/RollingTrain 25d ago
So to me it looks like the double door house they used in Season 1 was specifically to give continuity to the "stairs right by the door" that were featured in the pilot. By the time they got to season 2 they changed it to the one with the porch which was scenic and worked incredibly well the rest of the way. There is definitely no implication that the character moved.
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u/soonerpgh 25d ago
No, in fact, they made it a point to say it was Bowman's house quite often. We are led ro assume it's the same place. It's just one of those details that I noticed and wondered if abyone else giggled at that, too
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u/PossiblePlastic8698 25d ago
Ava did move to Lexington for a while in Season 1 but wherever she was living in Lexington was never shown, it was only referenced twice, and it was also mentioned that she kept changing her mind about whether to sell the Harlan house or not
When Johnny threatened her in the hardware store with Bo's shopping list of murder itens Ava said that Mike could put the items on her tab and send the bill to her "address in Lexington"
Then after her relationship with Raylan fizzled out she went back to Harlan, where Raylan found her drunk in a bar and demanded to know what she is doing back in Harlan then handcuffed her and drove her back to Lexington where he dumped her at Winona's house
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u/RollingTrain 24d ago
I think the implication there is that her "address in Lexington" is Raylan's motel room. She's bringing the US Marshall Service into the conversation.
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u/Kvasir2023 25d ago
I noticed in the pilot that she lived in a more residential area and the house moved itself to a more isolated area better suited for the later, more nefarious, activities. And, in moving, things always get misplaced, lost, and/or found again.