The series is based on Elmore Leonard's stories about the character Raylan Givens, particularly "Fire in the Hole", which serves as the basis for the episode.
The series revolves around the inhabitants and culture in the Appalachian Mountains area of eastern Kentucky, specifically Harlan County where many of the main characters grew up.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 1.81 million household viewers and gained a 0.5 ratings share among adults aged 18–49.
The episode received very positive reviews from critics, who praised the writing, the heist scenes and the performances, with many highlighting Kaitlyn Dever.
Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) shares his concerns to Rachel (Erica Tazel), Art (Nick Searcy) and Vasquez (Rick Gomez) that Ava (Joelle Carter) may have blown her cover.
Seabass (Scott Grimes) confronts Avery (Sam Elliott) and Katherine (Mary Steenburgen) at their room, demanding a larger sum of money for having betrayed Walker.
Having his sights on Avery's money, Boyd gives his blessing to Loretta's purchase of the farms he's threatened against selling, and for men to protect her for fair wages.
Loretta puts forward her offer to the landowners: to buy them out for cash but keep them in their homes, hire locals for security and farm hands and keep the profits in the county, and names Boyd as her partner.
After Boyd lights the fuse, Zachariah attacks him and chains him to a support post, expressing that he won't let Ava be related to a Crowder and leaves the scene.
"[3] The episode originally included Zachariah's death after he tried to kill Boyd in the mine but the writers decided to keep him alive for possible story purposes.
"[5] In January 2017, it was reported that Jonathan Tucker was joining the series in a recurring role for the final five episodes as Boon, "a hired gun of Katherine Hale's ex, Avery Markham.
"[5] In its original American broadcast, "Burned" was seen by an estimated 1.81 million household viewers and gained a 0.5 ratings share among adults aged 18–49, according to Nielsen Media Research.
"[10] Kevin Fitzpatrick of Screen Crush wrote, "An incredible, thread-tightening push toward Justified's inevitable end, and with four hours still to go, there's no telling how much greater one of FX's strongest dramas will get.
"[12] Jeff Stone of IndieWire gave the episode a "B" grade and wrote, "This is a well Justified has gone to repeatedly, but Harlan's denizens defending themselves from threatening outsiders is a running theme, so it's hardly a shock.
"[18] Jack McKinney of Paste gave the episode a 9 out of 10 and wrote, "Classic mysteries derived their tension from the knowledge that there was a single unknown killer in the room.