Justified tells the story of Raylan Givens (played by Timothy Olyphant), a US Marshall who is a the type of law man that's a little old fashioned, harkening back almost to the sheriffs of the wild west. The show opens with Raylan in Miami, seated across from a drug lord. They have a conversation about what's going to happen now that he's in the presence of a US Marshall-Raylan reminds that he was given 24 hours to leave town before something would be down. The drug lord can only scoff, and sneakily tries to pull a gun on Raylan. But Raylan's too fast-he draws and plugs him in the chest, killing him. Shortly thereafter, the Marshall service comes to collect Raylan, who tries to explain that his shooting was justified.
It doesn't matter though-Raylan is pulled from Miami and sent back to his home in small-town Kentucky, back to everything he was trying to get away from--an ex-wife, an abusive father, and old enemies. But Raylan is stuck home until the investigation into his shooting is completed.
The set up, then, is similar to a lot of dramas-the hero who is forced to return to where he came from and has to face all that he tried to leave behind. Luckily, it works in Justified, and quite well. A large part of this is fantastic writing-the dialogue is natural but also sounds like something out of a western. The characters are all intriguing (including a love-to-hate villain played amazingly by Walton Goggins) and their history is well presented without the ever-terrible writing technique of over-extensive dialogue between the two used to introduce their past.
The show uses a format famous in a lot of crime shows: Raylan struggles to deal justice upon Boyd Crowder (Goggins) after a violent race crime and deal with his own trial, all while helping the US Marshall service take down local criminals. This format works very well, threading the overall story within Raylan's individual cases.
Olyphant gives a terrific performance as Raylan, playing his archetype not in a way that is over-the-top and cheesy, but in a way that seems to respect famous performances of the cowboy lawman hero.
You do NOT wanna f***k with this guy...
He and Goggins play excellently off each, as men who were once childhood friends but now on opposite sides of the law.The show also features great supporting roles, including Joelle Carter as Ava Crowder, a recent window and love interest of Raylan's.
Bottom Line: If you're looking for a new show to watch that's fun, exciting, and smart that takes on the crime genre in a refreshing way, look no further.
Grade: B+
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