You guys watch Justfied, right? You should. It's an awesome show.
I was catching up on last week's episode when I heard a familiar voice—a gun thug from Detroit showed up to menace the series' hero, Raylan Givens. The minute he opened his mouth, I thought, "Hey! I know that voice. That's Sam Fisher!"
In truth, it's Michael Ironside, the actor who voices the protagonist of the Splinter Cell franchise. Ironside is a bit of a Hey! It's That Guy, turning up in all manner of film and TV show over the years.
But I'll always know him as the man who gives Splinter Cell stealth-master Sam Fisher his menacing, purring voice. So I was happy to see him on one of my favorite shows, lending a wry layer of humor to what could have been another boring, thuggish part.
Then came the sequence above, in which Ironside's character makes a small but funny Splinter Cell reference. Raylan gets the drop on him, and as he surrenders he remarks, "There was a day when I woulda said nobody could stealth me."
Ha! It's almost too small to count as a real reference, but who in the world uses "stealth" as a verb? Looks like someone on the Justfied writing staff is a Splinter Cell fan.