Justified

[willoneill]

This is Season 4. Personally, I like it better than Season 3 (which did nothing for me), but not as much as Season 2; I don't think they're going to be able to top Margo Martindale. My only beef with this season right now is that it doesn't feel like there's much connective tissue between Raylan's story and Boyd's story (but I'm about 3 weeks behind, so I could be wrong on that).

[swo17]

It's still very entertaining but some of the narrative cheats are getting to be a bit much. For example, this one is kind of old but

Spoiler

Shelby chancing upon Ellie May at some random gas station within the couple minute window of Colt prepping his gun in the bathroom.

[Mr Sausage]

My only beef with this season right now is that it doesn't feel like there's much connective tissue between Raylan's story and Boyd's story (but I'm about 3 weeks behind, so I could be wrong on that).

They converge in last night's episode, which was a pretty great episode, tho' next week's looks like it'll top it.

I'm really liking Ron Eldard's performance this season. My favourite new character.

[Murdoch]

I like how Tim and Rachel are getting sick of Raylan's recklessness this season, but other than that it's felt pretty flat. I haven't been a fan of this Drew Thompson story; when it was first introduced I was hoping it was the starting point of a larger narrative thread that would eat up the season, but with it now 10 episodes in and just resolving the Thompson stuff it's been a drag. Hopefully next season will pick up and if it doesn't I'll have seasons 2 and 3 at least.

[Forrest Taft]

I agree that this season is not entirely on par with season 2 & 3. It has lacked a new, strong antagonist to compete with Mags Bennet w/family in season 2 and both Limehouse and Robert Quarles in season 3. I'm still enjoying this a great deal though (and last night's episode is the best so far this season), and the search for Drew Thompson has been a great Macguffin, as was pointed out earlier in this thread, even though

Spoiler

I guessed who he was an episode or two before the reveal. Speaking of Thompson, it's great that they've given Jim Beaver so much to do this season. He's a fine actor, and this is the best he's done since Deadwood.

The preview for the next episode (episodes?) looked promising too, like a Harlan county set The Gauntlet.

[flyonthewall2983]

I like that they've made the Ellen Mae character more 3-dimensional and clear-headed now. I do like Eldard's character too, and how Tim is getting entwined into that subplot.

[flyonthewall2983]

Awesome episode tonight. The Tim-Colt exchange might be the highlight of the season for me.

[swo17]

Loved Eldard's request

Spoiler

that he be played by a young Gérard Depardieu!

[jbeall]

I felt that the fourth season was better than season 3, but uneven at times. That said, I loved the finale, and Raylan's conversations with the mafia gun-thugs, with Picker, and with Nick Augustine were all fantastic.

[domino harvey]

It was yet another great season that suffered a bit in the last couple eps once the Drew Thompson mystery resolved itself but happily there was never any shortage of fascinating figures both major and minor interacting with each other-- Justified's greatest legacy will undoubtedly be the ability of its writing staff and crackerjack casting department to turn even the most minor speaking role into a fleshed-out character. This is just consistently one of the most entertaining and rewarding shows on TV and I'm sorry I have to wait another nine months to enjoy it all over again.

[Mr Sausage]

This is definitely the only show (or movie) I can think of in which the normally silent, disposable hired goons get names and personalities.

[swo17]

Ditto everyone. I will just add that I really like the misdirection provided by each episode's preview of the week to come.

[flyonthewall2983]

I am honestly grateful that the show ends right around the time spring begins. Would be too depressing otherwise.

[domino harvey]

Oh man, zedz, I'd love to hear your thoughts on Justified if you were tempted-- just make sure you make it through the spotty first season so you can enjoy the fruits of your labor for seasons two onward

[mfunk9786]

It could backfire like when you seemed to have some sort of serious mental disorder during the time you watched Breaking Bad

[zedz]

Oh man, zedz, I'd love to hear your thoughts on Justified if you were tempted-- just make sure you make it through the spotty first season so you can enjoy the fruits of your labor for seasons two onward

I'm working my way through season one at the moment, primarily on the strength of Olyphant, who's head and shoulders above everything else on the show so far, but I have been reassured that these things change, so I'm looking forward to seeing where it's all headed.

[HistoryProf]

Oh man, zedz, I'd love to hear your thoughts on Justified if you were tempted-- just make sure you make it through the spotty first season so you can enjoy the fruits of your labor for seasons two onward

I'm working my way through season one at the moment, primarily on the strength of Olyphant, who's head and shoulders above everything else on the show so far, but I have been reassured that these things change, so I'm looking forward to seeing where it's all headed.

one of...and some weeks THE...best shows on TV. Seasons 3 and 4 are phenomenal television. A rare program that seems to get better each season.

[Cold Bishop]

but I have been reassured that these things change, so I'm looking forward to seeing where it's all headed.

The basic formula is this: the first half of a season usually leans towards crime-of-the-week episodes (the most frustrating part about convincing people to stay with the show). But the background of those episodes slowly start weaving the material for a bigger arc that pays off in the second half of the season.

And while I'm not caught up, the show really does get better season to season, so even if you find it merely "likeable", you can comfortably proceed forward.

[kingofthejungle]

The basic formula is this: the first half of a season usually leans towards crime-of-the-week episodes (the most frustrating part about convincing people to stay with the show). But the background of those episodes slowly start weaving the material for a bigger arc that pays off in the second half of the season.

That's a good description of how it works.

I think it's a pretty effective narrative approach -- there's a certain amount of foundation-building necessary for long form story-arcs, and foregrounding these little side plots keeps the show's momentum brisk. TV Shows that stay firmly within a single narrative arc, even good ones like Breaking Bad, tend to have a certain amount of slow episodes every season that one just has to grind through in hopes of an eventual payoff. Justified at its least is a breezy, unpretentious crime drama. Perhaps the downside of Justified's approach is critical under-appreciation. It would be easy to mistake it for a lesser show on the basis of a handful of episodes, and I've seen at least a few critics fall into that trap.

Justified is without peer on television right now. It's a seamless blend of western self-determination (and the difficulties associated with that), hard boiled crime fiction, and old testament southern craziness - with an occasional dash of liberal populism thrown in for good measure. Has any show offered such a wealth of interesting characters, or a cast to so perfectly realize them?

I generally have a hard time warming to TV shows, finding them less rewarding than cinema, but Justified has shattered a lot of my hardening preconceptions about the medium.

[cdnchris]

Justified is without peer on television right now. It's a seamless blend of western self-determination (and the difficulties associated with that), hard boiled crime fiction, and old testament southern craziness - with an occasional dash of liberal populism thrown in for good measure.

I'm not a gun advocate but I like a show/movie where they let the main character just shoot somebody because they had it coming without moralizing it in anyway. You can tell he really doesn't want to do it but he's not going to lose sleep over it.

[kingofthejungle]

I'm not a gun advocate but I like a show/movie where they let the main character just shoot somebody because they had it coming without moralizing it in anyway. You can tell he really doesn't want to do it but he's not going to lose sleep over it.

Agreed.

The way Justified avoids moralizing in general is one of the series' great strengths.

It's certainly a show that believes in right and wrong (or at least good and bad), but it shows us that the lines we draw to separate the two are so personally formed by individual experience that when we have a confrontation between Raylan and Boyd, or Raylan and the Bennetts, or the Detroit Mafia and the Crowders, that it's more a clash of worldviews rather than a conflict between good and evil- and the characters appear to understand this. That Raylan and his adversaries (whether it's Boyd, the Bennetts, etc, etc) don't seem to resent each other for who they've become makes the relationships between them endlessly fascinating.

[flyonthewall2983]

Rejoice as everyone's favorite Winnebago gets it's own parking spot as Jere Burns is promoted to series regular for season 5.

[domino harvey]

Wynn Duffy in every episode is exactly the kind of good news we all deserve

[flyonthewall2983]

I just hope he brings the mustache back.

[domino harvey]

What could be better than Duffy for the Wynn? The series introducing Dewey Crowe's family (?) as the new heavies