Watchlist is an irregularly scheduled series of posts featuring reviews and observations on streaming TV series I’m watching.
Recently American Express sent me an email with an offer I couldn’t refuse: Pay $9.95 on a combo subscription to Disney+ and Hulu and receive a $9.95 statement credit each month for six months. Well, my mama didn’t raise no dummy (most of the time), so I jumped on it in enough time to have six free months of both streamers.
I sampled Hulu when it first came out and hated it. It had too many commercial breaks, and at that time, no actual commercials, just a broken record of show promos that sometimes ran twice in the same break. Ironically, the Disney+ part of this current subscription has ads (usually a 90-second or less break), but the Hulu part doesn’t; when a show I’m watching comes to a commercial break, the screen just dips to black for about 10 seconds and the show starts back up. Oh … and hey, Burger King—whose ads show up on a regular basis on Disney+—want to know why your market share is slipping? JUST LISTEN TO ONE OF YOUR F-ING COMMERCIALS! You know, the ones with the off-key, amateur singers and the horrible jingle. They get muted every time in this here household.
Anyway … I got this subscription offer just in time to catch up on The Mandalorian Season 3 (it was okay), Ahsoka Season 1 (I enjoyed it, but liked Sabine Wren better than Ahsoka, who I found to be insufferably smug most of the time; give Sabine her own show), and Marvel’s Secret Invasion (hated it). And over on Hulu the reboot of one of my all-time favorite TV series, Justified, now called (for this season only) Justified: City Primeval, a new eight-part series based on an Elmore Leonard novel.
Timothy Olyphant as US Marshal Raylan Givens and Walton Goggins as his nemesis, Boyd Crowder.
I loved Justified on FX during its original six seasons (from 2010 through 2015), and I thoroughly enjoyed City Primeval, too. It takes US deputy marshal Raylan Givens out of his normal stomping grounds of Kentucky and Miami and places him smack dab in the middle of Detroit, a city that was always a tangential part of the story in the first series. Timothy Olyphant cut such an iconic and likable figure as the marshal who bent—hell, broke—the rules all the time in his pursuit of justice. The supporting cast was a joy to watch, too: Nick Searcy as Raylan’s boss, Art Mullen, Jacob Pitts and Erica Tazel as his co-marshals, Tim Gutterson and Rachel Brooks, Joelle Carter as Ava Crowder, Natalie Zea as Raylan’s ex-wife, Winona, Raymond Barry as his father, Damon Herriman as Dewey Crowe and Jeremy Davies as Dickie Bennett, two Kentucky low-lifes with dreams of bigger things, plus David Meunier as Boyd’s cousin Johnny, and of course, the real co-star of the show, Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder.
Marshals three: Nick Searcy as Art Mullen, Raylan’s boss, Erica Tazel as Rachel Brooks, and Jacob Pitts as Tim Gutterson.
The real story in the series is the conflict between Raylan and Boyd. The two were friends, mining coal together while they were still teenagers. Boyd went one way, Raylan another, and they ended up on opposite sides of the law. In the excellent pilot episode (season 1, episode 1), Raylan returns to Harlan County, Kentucky where he was born and raised, after killing Miami thug Tommy Bucks; it’s a righteous shooting, but Raylan’s methods are questionable to say the least. He’s reassigned to his home district and immediately runs afoul of Boyd, who is a white supremacist, a Nazi-loving, bible-quoting misanthrope, very true to author Elmore Leonard’s depiction in his novella, Fire in the Hole, which first introduces the Raylan-verse to the world. (SPOILER ALERT!) Boyd was supposed to die in this first episode, shot by Raylan at Ava Crowder’s dining room table—just like in the story—but the performance of Walton Goggins and his chemistry with Timothy Olyphant made the producers and writers notice, and he ended up being just wounded.
The women of Justified: Joelle Carter as Ava Crowder, Natalie Zea as Winona Hawkins, and Kaitlyn Dever as Loretta McCready.
The first season of Justified, airing in 2010, is the most episodic of all six original seasons, and rightfully so: There’s a lot to set up, including Raylan’s complicated history with his father and stepmother (wonderfully played by Linda Gehringer), and his equally complicated dealings with his father-figure boss, Art Mullen, with whom Raylan taught firearms at marshal school. Harlan County is the last place Raylan wants to be, until he encounters his ex-wife, Winona, and sparks fly once again. I love Natalie Zea as Raylan’s ex, but she all but disappears from the show after season three or so, with very sporadic appearances—usually once or twice per season—until the end in season six. Season one does end on a two-three episode mini-arc, wherein Boyd’s father gets out of prison due to a corrupt cop (whom Raylan busts) and Boyd and Raylan end up teaming up to save Ava from the wrath of daddy (Ava shot and killed her husband, Boyd’s brother, so papa is out for revenge, besides trying to take back his hillbilly criminal empire).
Mags Bennett (Margo Martindale) and Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) face off in season two.
After watching City Primeval, I went back and started to rewatch all six original seasons of Justified on Hulu. I had memories of season two being the best, so I started there (pro tip: watch from the beginning with season one if you’re going to try Justified). Season two is still the best season. It’s the one with the incredible Margo Martindale as Mags Bennett, the matriarch of the Bennett Clan, a drug-dealing, backwoods family, which also includes Dickie (the afore-mentioned Jeremy Davies), his dim hulk of a brother, Coover (Brad William Henke), and the oldest brother, Doyle (Joseph Lyle Taylor) who is also the crooked local sheriff. Season two also introduces Loretta McCready (Kaitlyn Dever) as a young, pot-dealing entrepreneur, who would recur—and grow up before our eyes—in multiple seasons. Martindale’s performance as Mags would earn her an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Dramatic Series, and this season is absolutely the best of the entire series, with a long, deep, continuing story arc that dominates the entire 13 episodes.
Not quite the 3 Stooges (well, maybe the 2 Stooges): Damon Herriman as Dewey Crowe, Jeremy Davies as Dickie Bennett, and Jere Burns as Wynn Duffy (he’s the smart one).
I remembered season three as being inferior from the simple standpoint of it was hard to top season two. I was right, but I did enjoy it more the second time around, although it’s still ten pounds of story stuffed into a five-pound bag. The main big bad is Robert Quarles (wonderfully played by Neal McDonough), whose precise, clipped demeanor unravels quickly throughout the 13 episodes as he tries to take over all drug trafficking in Kentucky. This season also gave more airplay to the great Jere Burns as Wynn Duffy, a Dixie-mafia member who reported directly to Detroit. Duffy in his Winnebago with his driver/bodyguard Mike (Jonathan Kowalsky) make a memorable duo, with a kind of “are they or aren’t they?” vibe (are they employer/employee or something more … ?). Season three also introduces Ellstin Limehouse (Mykelti Williamson) as the mysterious leader of a hidden community of African American Harlan County residents, who the white folk use as a bank and a secure hiding place. Season three ends with a memorable encounter between Raylan, Quarles, and Limehouse in a jaw-dripping scene … let’s just call it, um … disarming.
Season four to me was an improvement over season three, with the introduction of a mystery central to the season’s storyline: Is the person who parachuted to his death into Harlan County in the 1980s with a lot of cocaine actually still alive? The answer is, he is, but who is he? It’s one of those hide-in-plain-sight type of things, and it’s a great season, as everyone scrambles to find out the missing person’s real identity and keep him away from the Detroit mob, who is out to kill him. Better than season three, but not up to the benchmark of season two, this season is also the one that introduces Boyd’s army buddy, Colton Rhodes (played by Ron Eldard), and the church that worships with snakes, which has Boyd scrambling to maintain his drug market share. The church thing (featuring the grown-up kid from Jurassic Park, Joseph Mazzello), absolutely befuddled me then and now; to be honest, it adds almost nothing to the story. Season four also introduced Patton Oswalt as Constable Bob, a Raylan ally, but the less said about Bob, the better; he’d also show up in subsequent seasons.
Season five is my least favorite. It introduces Dewey Crowe’s extended family, his kinfolk from the Everglades in Florida. One of the reasons I disliked it originally is the presence of actor Michael Rapaport as Daryl Crowe Jr., the leader of the Crowe family, Southern branch. I’ve never liked Rapaport as an actor and still don’t, but to be honest, my second viewing of this season was more enjoyable than the first back when it originally aired. It’s apparent that the producers and writers were looking for another extended crime family to rival the Bennetts in season two; sadly they don’t quite get there. This season also introduces Mary Steenburgen as Katherine Hale, a famed Kentucky criminal kingpin, whose dead husband was a crime lord; she’s an ally of Wynn Duffy and recurs as one of the two big bads in season six, the final one.
Boyd and Raylan are the emotional core of the entire series.
I remember being incredibly disappointed when I watched season six when it aired back in 2015. I felt it lacked the necessary emotional outcome to the whole Raylan/Boyd relationship. To me, the show had to end with one of them dead and (SPOILER ALERT!) it didn’t. In this season, Katherine Hale looks for revenge against her husband’s partner, Avery Markham, who may or may not have had him killed. Markham is played by the great Sam Elliott, and just to spice things up, Hale and Markham are also lovers. Wynn Duffy (Jere Burns) plays heavily into this season, and Raylan and Boyd come to the end of their fractured relationship once and for all … or do they? I liked this season much more on my recent viewing (probably only the second time I ever saw it), especially the last four or five episodes, which present a tight, compelling race to the finish. Elliott and Steenburgen make for great villains, he with that smooth drawl of a voice, and she with that sweet lilt that could just as quickly kill as drip honey. One big mistake, at least in my book: Raylan gets a new hat—a black one—in the last episode. Raylan doesn’t wear a black hat; his hat should always be white, something they restore in the reboot.
Raylan’s back—a little older and (hopefully) a little wiser—in City Primeval, with a new foe: the crazy and violent Clement Mansell, wonderfully played by Boyd Holbrook.
The new series, Justified: City Primeval was very enjoyable. It’s only eight episodes (all six seasons of the original run had 13 episodes), and all but one of them moves the story along quite nicely (there’s always one episode where nothing happens to really advance the story; in this series it’s episode five, which tells the backstory of the ambitious attorney of bad guy Clement Mansell, Carolyn Wilder (played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), who also happens to be Raylan’s love interest du-jour in this series. One thing they get right in this series: A charismatic—and downright crazy—bad guy, the aforementioned Clement Mansell, played balls to the wall by Boyd Holbrook. He and Raylan are just cruisin’ for a bruisin’, and y’all (sorry it’s hard to watch 7 seasons of this show and not come away with a Southern drawl) know it’s going to happen. One misfire: The addition of Olyphant’s real-life daughter Vivian as Raylan and Winona’s teenage daughter, Willa; it adds nothing to the story and comes across as just plain stunt casting. And while this series only has Raylan and his old Miami boss, Dan Grant (played by Matt Craven) as recurring characters, make sure you watch until the very end of episode eight for some surprises.
Yeah … Raylan carries a big gun and he ain’t afraid to use it.
When I grew up in the 1960s, there was a plethora of actor that were the coolest guys on Earth: Steve McQueen, Sean Connery, James Coburn, and Charles Bronson, to name just a few. I think Timothy Olyphant certainly fits that bill. His lean, laconic, “new marshal in town” vibe—along with the silhouette of that white Stetson hat (its proper name is “Stetson 6x Beaver, just so you know)—certainly makes him a hero worth looking up to, even if he does bend, break, and otherwise maim the law on a regular basis. His perfect counterpart in Justified, Boyd Crowder, only grows more … well, lovable as the series goes on, along with more erudite, verbose, and just plain downright ruthless. Justified is a very bloody, violent series. It’s not an homogenized, generic network-TV series; its home on FX allowed it to play fast and loose with some of the no-nos of regular series rules. Both Raylan and Boyd so often dropped such great bon mots into the flow of dialogue, that there should be “The Wit and Wisdom of …” books for each of them. A personal favorite: Raylan watching one character die in a later season and saying to him as his life fades away, “Didn’t I tell you you were going to wish I killed you?’
I remember watching the very first episode of Justified back in 2010 when it premiered and being on the fence about continuing with it, until this exchange at the very end, when Raylan is talking to his ex-wife, Winona, and he says, “I guess I just never thought of myself as an angry man,” and she smiles and says, “Oh, Raylan … while you do a good job of hiding it and I suppose most folks don’t see it, but honestly … you’re the angriest man I have ever known.” For some strange reason, I was hooked with that line, spoken with a soft, Southern drawl by Natalie Zea. She would be proven right, again and again, through all six seasons.
(Apologies for any ads that may pop up!)
Watchlist will return …
innocent-bystander.com 