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 1.80 million household viewers and gained a 0.6 ratings share among adults aged 18–49.
Ready to pull-up roots, Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) cleans up Arlo's house and burns the contents of his old army footlocker.
Boyd (Walton Goggins) is informed by Carl (Justin Welborn) and Earl (Ryan Dorsey) that The Pig died on the shaft and Zachariah (Jeff Fahey) is waiting for him to talk.
Katherine (Mary Steenburgen) visits Duffy (Jere Burns), who maintains his suspicion that Avery (Sam Elliott) was behind Grady Hale's fate.
Raylan looks into Arlo's back shed fearing the worst, but finds it empty while also talking to a hallucination of his father (Raymond J. Barry).
So Chris and VJ finished the script and sent it to [executive producers Fred Golan and Dave Andron] and me, and we didn't know that Arlo Givens was going to reappear in the story.
"[3] In its original American broadcast, "Dark As a Dungeon" was seen by an estimated 1.80 million household viewers and gained a 0.6 ratings share among adults aged 18–49, according to Nielsen Media Research.
This is an episode in which circumstances maneuver together the likes of Boyd and Walker, Katherine Hale and Art, and even Raylan and Avery Markham.
"[7] Kevin Fitzpatrick of Screen Crush wrote, "'Dark as a Dungeon' brought quite a few other dynamics to enjoy as well, between always-reliable Wynn Duffy and Mike humor, that gorgeous back-and-forth between Katherine Hale and Art over her ex-husband's killer, or really any of the dozen exchanges and character beats throughout, though truly, this was just a lovely hour of television.
The endgame remains a bit clunky, between Raylan and Boyd's final confrontation, Ava's allegiance (still), or any of the Markham-Hale business, but good grief if tonight wasn't some fascinatingly complex work on all fronts.
"[9] Jeff Stone of IndieWire gave the episode a "B" grade and wrote, "One nice thing about Justified over the years is that it's never flinched from Raylan's contentious relationship with his father, Arlo.
"[10] Kyle Fowle of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "As Justified barrels toward its series finale (five episodes to go), it's clear that even if the likes of Raylan, Boyd, and Ava manage to escape Harlan, they can never really outrun their past or change who they are.
There are only five episodes left in the series, yet 'Dark as a Dungeon' seemed to be in a holding pattern, offering us more meat on past problems in the Raylan and Arlo scenes, than the present ones.
"[14] Sean McKenna of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4.6 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "This season has been very exciting, and I can't wait to see how it all concludes.
For Justified, greatest hits means pulling a theme from an early season, referencing a moment that worked later on, revisiting the mystery genre that buoyed a later year, and then meshing them all into a more perfect union.