Justified (2010)

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Seasons One and Two

The first episode opens with Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant), a federal marshal, shooting a Floridian drug-dealer in cold blood. It's justifiable and arguably justified, but enough to get him sent back home to Kentucky: Harlan County, U.S.A.

Strictly speaking, the Marshals Service office is in Lexington, but Givens is Harlan born and raised; he once worked in the mines, and his father Arlo (Raymond J. Barry) is deeply involved in the county's criminal fraternity. Raylan's old association with locals, including Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins), make him a more effective marshal -- but his personal life becomes increasingly troubled.

Occasionally episodic, the series hits its stride in the multi-episode arcs -- hillbilly Sopranos locked in hundred-year-old feuds. Season two, featuring a series-stealing performance by Margo Martindale as Mags Bennett, ruthless matriarch of the Bennett family, covers a lot of the same ground as Winter's Bone. The line between true portrait and condescending hicksploitation is thin, but this feels like a genuine -- occasionally even affectionate -- portrayal.

- Sam - 2011-05-29 11:53:50
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Season Three

Continuing directly on from the second season, Boyd (Walton Goggins) continues his campaign to control all crime in Harlan; but a new player is in town, sadistic city emissary Robert Quarles (Neal McDonough), who steals the season with increasingly-deranged elegance.

There is perhaps a little too much sensationalism -- organ theft, imprisonment and torture of rent-boys -- and, worse, too many characters to do any of them justice. Events that should be emotionally revealing or traumatic are given short shrift (such as events with Arlo late in the season); the characters who make the show worth watching are barely glimpsed amidst a blur of plot.

A truly great series if only it would slow down a little.

- Sam - 2012-06-20 01:23:41
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Justified's fourth season slows down a little; before its sudden turn for the action-packed around episode ten, its threats are fairly pedestrian: a fugitive here, a crooked preacher there. The overarching plot deals with the discovery of a diplomatic bag inside the wall of Arlo Givens's house, leading to a manhunt for a long-lost fugitive, Drew Thompson, who went to ground thirty years previously. The FBI wants Thompson so he can testify against Detroit crime boss Theo Tonin -- and Tonin wants the man who betrayed him and cut out his eye.

Perhaps the role of Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant), ostensibly the protagonist, is laconic straight-man. What is obvious in this season is just how thin and uninteresting his character is compared to the minor players -- Boyd (Walton Goggins) and Ava Crowder (Joelle Carter) continue to develop, but time is also given to supporting players like Johnny (David Meunier), marshals Tim and Rachel (Jacob Pitts, Erica Tazel), prostitute Ellen-May (Abby Miller), Sheriff Shelby (Jim Beaver), new enforce Colt (Ron Eldard). The list goes on. Even minor thugs come out as having greater depth.

The result might not measure up to season two, but it's far more subtly-written and character driven than the third. One of the best things on TV.

- Sam - 2013-04-24 01:16:59
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Binge 2019

When I decided to re-watch Justified I don't think I remembered how recently its sixth season ended. On the other hand, neither did I remember it.

As I did recall, season two is likely the best, with Margo Martindale's Bennett clan serving to cement the feeling of Harlan as a real place with its own long history. The relationship between Boyd and Raylan has space to breathe. Season five, after I last gave up taking notes, might take the silver, even if the Crowes do feel like a transparent attempt at recreating the success of the Bennetts. (One of the reasons I went back to the series was the discovery that Dewey Crowe, Damon Herriman, is actually Australian. I never would have picked that in a thousand years.)

The sixth season's frantic attempts at building tension unfortunately do rather begin to grate. Raylan and Boyd are now mortal enemies, nothing but, with Ava caught in the middle. Sure, it ends, and there's closure, but I rather wish it had ended after the fifth.

- Sam - 2019-09-02 11:55:02