Jasmine Sahu is well suited with this new American drama exclusive to Dave.
Lois Cameron explains why this series is much more than your average cosy period drama.
The last episode of this series sees Sherlock and Moriarty attempt to solve the final problem with devastating consequences.
With major cast changes afoot, Jacob Martin ponders whether Being Human can live up to its own scarily high standard.
To say that Justified is simply a great TV show doesn’t quite convey quite the message that I’m aiming for here. So, in the interest of making things very clear, I’ll say, right now, that Justified is an utterly fantastic television drama, and one of the greatest from 2010. Whilst it’s a real shame if you missed it when it first aired on Five USA last year (I know I did - I watched it after it was released on DVD), thankfully the first season is currently showing from the start (it began with ‘Fire in the Hole,’ last week) and I really can’t recommend watching it highly enough.
The plot of Justified revolves around Deputy US Marshall Raylan Givens (played expertly by Timothy Olyphant) who, after shooting a drug cartel hitman in Miami, is sent to work in his hometown of Harlan County, Kentucky. When in Kentucky, Raylan faces both his past and present in the form of his family, old friends, old enemies (new ones, too) and the ever-present consequences that arise from his own personal style of justice. The series is created by Graham Yost (writer of Speed and co-executive producer of The Pacific) and the plot is an adaptation of the short story Fire in the Hole by Elmore Leonard.
The first season’s premiere essentially embodies everything that I see as necessary from a television pilot. It provides an understandable introduction to the majority of key characters, an engaging plot that feels simultaneously standalone and consequential and an enjoyable atmosphere, punctuated with action, tension and intrigue. I’d actually struggle to pick many other series that are tonally this sure of themselves and truly compelling within a 60-minute long pilot episode. (I can think of some that manage it with a longer series premiere, like Lost and Battlestar Galactica, but really brilliant hourlong pilots are quite rare.)
Amongst the strongest aspects of Justified is Olyphant’s portrayal of Raylan Givens. On the surface, his character appears to be one of the coolest cops on TV, but beneath his charisma and casual exterior is a fully fleshed-out, multi-layered character just waiting to be explored (and, if you keep watching, you’ll see things get interesting). Raylan, with his no-nonsense approach to law-enforcement, might be one of the most interesting and complex characters but he certainly isn’t the only one. Watch Boyd Crowder (Walter Goggins), Winona Hawkins (Natalie Zea), Ava Crowder (Joelle Carter) and Art Mullen (Nick Searcy) closely for some awesome character development.
Hopefully, due to the fact that I have been unrelentingly extolling the virtues of Justified, you won’t be surprised when I praise the outstanding writing of the show, which is wonderfully paced and constantly unpredictable. If you want to know how the future of television drama will look, this is probably a good place to start as I expect we’ll come to see more shows operating with standalone plots that blend in the serialised elements, rather than separating out the two. Another thing that you get from Justified that isn’t always guaranteed elsewhere is reliable consistency - every single episode is of a very high-quality standard.
At this point, I’ve probably said just about enough concerning how great this show is. It has to be seen to be believed, so please tune in for the rest of the season (and season 2, whenever that reaches us here). After I saw it, I was so impressed that I could hardly contemplate not giving it a spot on my list of the top 10 American TV shows of 2010. You’ll just have to check it out for yourselves.
Watch the next episode of Justified, ‘Riverbrook’, tonight at 10pm on Five USA
You must log in to submit a comment.
