Old School Cool with New School Flair
Now in its fourth season, FX’s Justified has quickly evolved from a shoot-em-up cop drama to the coolest show on television. Hollywood journeyman Timothy Olyphant has always been a respected and interesting character actor, but his role as the trigger-happy U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens who Internal Affairs “has on speed dial” is one of the most interesting and fun characters on television.
After being forced from Miami to his hometown of Harlan County, Kentucky in the series premier due to his propensity for shooting without warning, Givens has since taken on a Dirty Harry-esque role in the lawless backwoods of this “Modern Western” setting. With his John Wayne hat, quips that he “saw in a movie once” and “Gary Cooper walk” Raylan and his always present pistol have become the undisputed force of good (or almost good) in Harlan County.
His mirror opposite (or mirror image depending on how you look at it) is Boyd Crowder, played flawlessly by Walton Goggins (no joke, that’s his name). In the last four years, Crowder has morphed from a drug pusher to reformed criminal to Christ-like prophet and finally to the redneck crime lord we know him as today. His cool, calm demeanor is just as spot on as Raylan’s, but it is far more creepy.
The coolness doesn’t stop there! Surrounding these pinnacles of badassery are great regular characters such as Raylan’s coworkers (an ex-sniper who is looking more and more like his mentor, a hot-tempered lady cop who is losing her edge and their aging boss who has given up fighting them). Or try Crowder’s crew which includes his bitter cousin who was once shot by Boyd himself or his hard nosed sister-in-law/girlfriend who runs the family’s local whorehouse (P.S. she also dated Raylan).
The characters are one thing, but you have to give it up to the writing staff for taking a simple idea like Justified and making it so Goddamned cool. Every character is unbearably quippy and devastatingly sharp despite the fact not one of them graduated high school. It’s like Swamp People meets Glengarry Glen Ross.
Despite Crowder’s yearly drastic changes, Givens hasn’t even changed his impeccably well polished boots. Each season he dates a super hot blond southern belle, gets into trouble with a different branch of law enforcement and inevitably dares some unwitting scumbag to draw on him (SPOILER: It ends badly for the scumbag).
This season, Ron Eldard, Joseph Mazzello and Hatfield & McCoys Lindsay Pulsipher have been added to the cast, but it will be hard to top Mykelti Williamson and Neal McDonough’s outstandingly audacious and unsettling characters from last season. Even so, there is no doubt Givens and Crowder’s clash will remain extremely cool and always stylish throughout the year.
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