A thread for JUSTIFIED, a TV show on FX starring Timothy Olyphant

Pilot was promising. Anyone else watching this?

was that the first episode? weird, I thought there was a "previously on" at the beginning

it seemed ok, need to see more

I've heard it's pretty good, thought I missed something so didn't keep watching

The pilot was last week - this week's episode was all right, though not as interesting.

i liked the first ep; second ep is on the tivo.
i have goodwill for olyphant post-deadwood; he reminds me of rawhide era eastwood. Dude only has about three gears.

pilot was kickass. nice to have something decent on tuesdays (don't care about LOST.)

follow up was pretty good i thought; the dialogue is pretty consistently bright, if only occasionally sensible.
i like that it inhabits a world where people don't shoot at each other unless they have very damned good reasons or are unbelievably stupid

loved the pilot. Honestly, I think I only like Olyphant in 'sherrif' roles. ie, Deadwood and this. I don't seem to care for him much in anything else. Loved that opening scene in the pilot: closeup shot to make you think he's standing in the middle of Deadwood or something & they pan back and he's standing by a pool in Miami.

should see the crazies then, dude plays a lawman who opens the film by sipping on coffee, putting his hand on his hip and saying something like "i don't care what they say, the first day of spring is the first day of high school baseball season." it's awesome.

Olyphant was also pretty good in the second season of Damages. In a show filled with great character actors with suspect motives and allegiances, he fit in perfectly (much like Martin Short is doing this year). I didn't see it, but I heard he was similarly entertaining in A Perfect Getaway.

he was indeed, but he played a lawman in that as well (if you count special ops guys as lawmen, and why wouldnt you)

shows that died were justified

Third ep was awesome, I am really digging the direction this show is taking.

ep 4 possibly the best one yet. one of the better hours of self-contained telly i've seen in a while.

high praise!

i dig it when some dudes are just being cool as shit and all.

Ruck nailed that.

Oh, Buster: "JFK was alive for HOURS!"

"There are other things than 'smart'."
"Yeah, and they're not smart."

didn't realize there was a thread for this, otherwise i woulda saved this exchange from 77 for here:

first two eps were GREAT, third was horrible, fourth and fifth await

― forksclovetofu, Tuesday, April 20, 2010 9:51 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i'm in like the total opposite camp -- first two episodes and the whole dynamic with the main characters bored the shit out of me, then w/ the more episodic/procedural style of the next couple episodes (especially the Alan Rock stuff in ep 4) it started to finally entertain me.

― Spiney G. Porcupinegarden (some dude), Tuesday, April 20, 2010 11:34 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i think part of my problem is i keep comparing this in my head to another FX show i like more, Sons of Anarchy. but seriously the whole thing with the friend-turned-enemy and the old flame? i just can't muster the slightest bit of interest in that stuff, very relieved that it looks like a lot of episodes won't center on it at all.

Con Stapleton guys

I'm surprised how well the procedural episodes are appealing to me too. This show's pretty good at drawing these criminal-of-the-week characters, and basically any excuse to have Timothy Olyphant tell corny stories in his self-assured way to a person is... great!? Yes! I still do like the stuff with the old friend and the ex-wife, but am secretly hoping it doesn't take over the show if they can keep writing great standalones.

now the good reverend.

"People are entitled to their hobbies, and I’m entitled to think those people are creepy.”

Renewed for a second season btw

yeah the procedural criminal-of-the-week stuff is what's hooking me now, they're really good at that stuff. loved the Hitler paintings episode.

and weirdly i watched that episode the same week i watched an old West Wing that Robert Picardo was also in. that guy is a TV guest star MVP imo.

This is one of the best new shows this season. After all of the death and mayhem in previous episodes, last night's episode very interesting in terms of bloodletting: "Some bumps, bruises and a couple of cracked ribs."

Premiering on five USA in the uk tonight.

Last night's was a pretty good mix of super-corny-yet-charming cliched cop show plot mixed in with the ongoing storyline b/w Raylan's wife's new husband's shady stuff and the Crowder family, usually they seem to have go on one side or the other. M.C. Gainey is a perfect casting choice to be Boyd's father, W. Earl Brown from Deadwood was pretty good too.

this whole layout is feng shui, designed to encourage spending.

I'm a coupla episodes behind, but damn, loved Ray McKinnon showing up as the hitman "Mr Duke" (Deadwood holla!). He'll always be the Reverend to me, though...

yeah i love this show's steez. already taking Rayland down a few pegs.

I did not realize until this last ep that Gary was Herman on 'Herman's Head.' I knew about Jere Burns, but not William Ragsdale.

But yeah knew he was coming back to the bar and thought it was going to be some sort of bad ass-kicking but that is what is great about this show -- it throws just the slightest curve ball.

Herman! Wow. Did not recognize the dude at all.

Dude was in how many episodes until the last? But yeah did not see it until last night. Almost like Win Duffy: "I know we've met somewhere before."

Sorry, lotsa of "but yeahs" right now. It's the vodka-tonics. Please cut slack. Thx.

Tahiti lols: "Too many mosquitoes. Everyone speaks French. Only one movie theater..."

Liked tonight's set-up episode for the finale. Probably the least actual story we've gotten from any episode so far, but I liked how they seemed to bring in as many characters as possible, like that corrupt sheriff from a few episodes ago and one of Boyd's sidekicks from the first two eps.

Oh wait, there are two episodes left - nice.

feels like a lot to tie up in the finale next week.

Man, the dads in this show. Sumbitches for real. Hoo-wee. Excited for the finale, should be some good showdown action.

Last episode is called "Bulletville." Psyched.

Anyone wanna guess who's not making it through the finale? I'm going with Bo.

Statutory rape guy introduced a couple of episodes ago definitely getting got; wouldn't be shocked if Bo, the other Crowder brother, and one of Raylan's women get killed, either Eva or Winona.

I like how it turned out that Raylan killed a ridiculous amount of people in the first few episodes, then they called him out for on the show itself, and he hasn't shot anyone since. Now we'll see how far back he turns in the final episode, or not at all. Wonder if they actually planned it this way, or if it was part of the growing of the show and the writers realized quickly "we can't actually have him gun down people EVERY episode!"

I'd be gutted if they got rid of either Ava or Winona! I think you're right, though, that rape dude probably is a goner.

This show improved greatly.

Kickass finale.

Yeah, I'm a sucker for that sort of thing. Really great.

Great stuff. Body count was pretty ridiculous when you think about it - including Boyd's flock, around 20 people got shot?

Olyphant still has the old twinkle, but the daughter of a cop conveniently being THAT naive/clueless/trusting is some irritating bullshit.

We watched the first episode and it wasn't great, but yes, very twinkly.

the Boyd Holbrook baddie is just about the lamest criminal character in Justified since the Rappaport one in that season of it I completely forgot

Yeah, this guy sucks. Maybe Wynn Duffy will pop up and kill him and the real story will begin...

Rooting so hard for this to be good but really not sure so far

Olyphant has slipped right back into the character tho, no complaints there. I think at least it will be a serviceable adaptation of the novel even if it doesn’t do justice to the parent series (btw the setup of these first two eps — clement mansell kills the judge on a whim when he gets in the way of setting up the Albanian — takes like 15 pages in the book)

I just think the tone/vibe is a bit lacking, it doesn’t need to match that of the old show but it’s a bit bland so far

First two episodes were ... fine. Wish it were a little zippier. Not sure what to do with a bad guy whose main motivation seems to be just being a bad guy.

There were a couple of scenes in the second episode where I thought, wait a minute, I know those places, that's not Detroit, it's Chicago. And I was right. Filmed mostly in Chicago, too, sound stage but also street shoots. Where I guess things were interrupted one night by actual crossfire:

https://deadline.com/2023/02/timothy-olyphant-talks-shooting-set-of-justified-city-primeval-chicago-1235256122/

Okay not reading this thread, just popping into say I decided to watch the series from the start on a whim after seeing this thread about SNA for a while and got damn, I love everyone in it (especially Winona, hard to confess that one to my wife).

Up to season 2 now, Boyd better keep walking that straight and narrow

Tapped out on this new series midway through episode 3. Having the villain (who is FUCKING BORING AND NOT EVEN A LITTLE BIT SCARY) tell a lie about his mom dying in a tornado and having said tornado appear on screen and suck Mama up into the sky is some Fargo bullshit.

It's driving me nuts that the villain's motivation seems to be just being a big asshole. The subtitle of the Leonard novel is "High Noon in Detroit," but this guy isn't much of an adversary, just compulsively adversarial.

But yeah, three episodes in and this is just not that good, (elder) Olyphant aside. I really can't believe they were satisfied with this script/story after the relentless sharpness of the show. Goodwill will get me to watch it, but damned if it isn't disappointing.

Part of the way into season 6 on the re-screening -

Forgot just how bad Michael Rappaport is, a real turning point from "corny but a decent character actor" to "fuck this guy"

Not that you'd want it to just be a cop-buddy-dramedy but it really shines when Rachel and Tim are heavily featured, I would have traded 15% of the Raylan and Boyd show for them to get more screen time.

Boyd gets less interesting the darker he gets - less charismatic without the family drama and more just an asshole.

Rappaport’s on-screen presence has gotten worse over the years as he’s become even more of a thin-skinned weirdo offscreen. That Justified character was supposed to be menacing and he just seemed perpetually whiny!

overall, the City Primeval miniseries was mostly a miss for me. the father/daughter stuff didn’t quite work, Keith David character was good but was only there to introduce the macguffin, Raylan’s womanizing seemed oddly charisma-free, and the other law enforcement characters were a non-presence instead of a good backing cast

and they cast an actor whose actual name is Boyd and then just made him a hyper-violent dork!

We never made it past the third episode. Should we?

I think that's where there actually starts being movement. Mansell and the Albanians meeting up finally gets some things moving, but it's still pretty bleak

I ducked out around episode 3 myself, then decided to come back to it. I was pretty satisfied with it by the end. I thought a lot of the “Raylan is older now” elements, like the relationship with the lawyer, were handled well, though it was pretty funny how quickly the female detective figured out that he had something going with the lawyer — as ever, Raylan is not as slick as he thinks. I continued to hate the villain all the way to the end, but I ended up feeling okay about it, because every single other character wound up hating him, too. The coda/tag, which I won’t spoil, felt tacked-on and excessively fan-servicey. So ultimately…ehh, but I don't feel my time was wasted.

I haven't read much if any Elmore Leonard so are the books close to the adaptation.

The original Raylan story, Fire in the Hole, is pretty close to the Justified pilot, fwiw.

Leonard is tons of fun, btw.

The coda/tag, which I won’t spoil, felt tacked-on and excessively fan-servicey. So ultimately…ehh, but I don't feel my time was wasted.

Yeah, the ending was annoying. If they are thinking of making more of these, I hope someone breaks it to Timmy O that Junior O cannot act and should not be in them.

Anyone seen the 1997 version of "Pronto"? I did not realize that James LeGros that plays Wade Messer was who played Givens in that movie adaptation.

It's got Peter Falk as Harry Arno, which seems like a pretty on target casting.

Got to be interesting to see if nothing else.

just finished, what a huge disappointment. mostly been covered, ridiculous Jason from Friday the 13th bad guy with no charisma, fellow law enforcement officers are total duds, daughter plot went nowhere, Keith David who actually had some juice and felt like a Justified character was wasted....I liked Sweet and the defense lawyer...even Raylan seemed a little charmless at points. Marvel movie ending, surprised Samuel L Jackson didn't pop up wearing an eye patch.

Season 6 really isn’t a huge improvement on 5. I had blessedly forgotten Boon(e?).

Oh man, I don’t know if I can handle Young Olyphant’s voice.

The cartoon villain’s signifier of badassery being a White Stripes mix tape is certainly a choice.

got thru episode 6, let me tell you that the white stripes mix is not meant to be a signifier of badassery

This is so bad. Should have been a series about the Detroit Armenian mob starring the guy from Oz.

Armenian mob, Sweety and the blonde girlfriend, that could be decent.

We're though episode 6 and this season is such a slog, though it did feel like there were a few signs of life in episode 6. I don't expect the last two episodes to save it

episode 7 was good, finale was a let down. the epilogue was totally unnecessary fan service (but not unwelcome, tbh, i am a fan after all)

that was even more frustrated like if you were gonna do that anyway what the hell did we do this whole season for??

We haven't returned to it after the third episode, but it's extra frustrating that this followed what seemed to be years of "we're waiting for the right story" or "the timing has to be just right" or "Tarantino found the perfect source material and lobbied Olyphant" or whatever, and then the results are so wan. I sometimes felt the same way with the reboot of "Party Down." You literally had years to come up with ideas, and then against all odds a new season arrives, and it feels like it's been given no thought at all. Or, like, they were told they had a very limited budget and schedule and had to rush something into production. Maybe that was the case.

Think I can already guess what the epilogue will be

party down season 3 was much better and more thoughtful than this

i think what a normal season of justified, even a less-good one like season 5, has that this one doesn't is time to breathe. we knew what made every thug or underboss or put-upon law enforcement officer tick, while in this, characters are just tossed into the mix and act with no established motivation or personality quirks, let alone personality. sweety was the only character that felt truly fleshed out, and a lot of that was due to the performance. aunjanue ellis was great as caroline for a bit, but her character got more and more muddled as the season went along.

Party Down 3 was fine, but I'm pretty certain my affection for the characters was doing a lot of the heavy lifting

Sweet was the only character that really felt like a classic Justified character to me

Oklahoma wildboyz - no redeeming qualities as a character
Blonde girlfriend - pretty good Leonard character if not Justified
Sweety - good all around (except for that one shot of him making bass face)
Armenian mob boss - pretty good, probably would have been funny trying to hide out in Harlan County
Cop who was in Bosch - why was he in this
Cop who wears Oakleys and definitely has a Punisher skull sticker on his F-250 - I think they were casting for SEAL Team and put him in the wrong pile
Redheaded cop - stupid storyline
Black detective - felt wasted, that guy had gravitas

Raylan felt like a passive observer so much of the time rather than the driver of the story (despite committing various crimes to get the wildboy) - almost like they took a non-Raylan story and shoehorned him in. Hmmm

I have a soft spot for season 5, which a lot of people didn't like, and I mostly think every season of Justified was solid to great. But this season was bad. There was no plan, just people running back and forth. Daughter was a drag, Raylan a shadow of his former self. Very little fun compared to previous seasons - best you get is weird character quirks like the White Stripes thing. Last episode was anti-climactic too, like they couldn't wait to get to the epilogue

And I was 90% correct about my guess for the epilogue, lol. Fully agree with ums - if you're gonna have that happen, just make the damn season about that. Though I guess there's a high chance they will make that season next, assuming people didn't hate this one too much

Big Chief in the soundtrack for episode 2 of the new show. I thought that a pretty good deep cut Michigan representation in the music.

Just finished season 2 - haven’t read the thread beyond that point to avoid spoilers. Great show, what a cast. Glad to see Kaitlyn Dever who played Loretta has gone on to have a strong career. Fun to see Margo Martindale playing a backwoods version of her character on The Americans. It wasn’t remarked on ITT during the first 2 seasons but the nazi shit everywhere hits way differently now :( On to season 3

i think kaitlyn dever is the best actor of her generation

I fell away from this in the 6th season, just picking it back up and damn if I haven’t missed the man himself, Wynn Duffey

I’m really enjoying Wynn’s annoying military arms dealer offering Boyd Crowder a Negroni (“it’s Italian, tastes like grapefruit”)

Oh well…. That was short lived

WYNN DUFFY WAS THE INFORMANT????? Just when I thought this character couldn't get any better. I love this guy!

he’s such a treat

i'm just dropping in here to say that Timothy Olyphant is a babe

baberaham lincoln

Timothy Olyphant x Natalie Zea. One of the greatest husband/wife/estranged casting picks of all time. Love these two together

Would also like to go on record that Ava Crowder is the worst

I love that in the end, this is just a show about three families in a hate-triangle with one another constantly outwitting all exterior malevolent forces while through unintended cooperation. Now if that ain't southern hospitality