Justified – 5.13 – Restitution – A to Z Challenge – Day 10
“In the deep dark hills of eastern Kentucky, That's the place where I trace my bloodline. And it's there I read on a hillside gravestone: You will never leave Harlan alive.”
― Brad Paisley, You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive, from the album Part II (2001)
Prologue
This episode falls into two categories, ‘Favorites’ and ‘Finales’. For the purpose of this little writing exercise, let’s file this under ‘Finales’.
There’s a saying in the Justified fandom, either you’re obsessed with this show or you’ve never even heard of it. I’ve been watching Justified from the beginning. With good reason too! The people I know that have heard of the show, seriously are obsessed with the show, everyone else pretty much has never heard of it. Yep, I really am just going to pretend that we can use anecdotal stories as empirical evidence - moving on...
I have a notorious fangirl boner for the FX network (with shows like The Americans, The Shield and Sons of Anarchy it’s hard not be). When it comes to the original programming they put on I’m usually pretty willing to give any new show a chance.
I love Timothy Olyphant to the core. Deadwood was my JAM (with so many of my favorite actors, writers, directors and producers crammed into one show, how could it not be?). I love the western genre; it’s one of many secret shames. So when I heard that FX had plans to make a show based on Elmore Leonard's novels Pronto and Riding the Rap and his short story "Fire in the Hole" I was already going to check it out. When I learned that Timothy Olyphant AND Walton Goggins were in it, I knew this was going to be ‘one of those shows’.
About the Show
Seasons: 5 | No. of Episodes: 65|Premiere Date: 03/16/2010| End Date: 04/2015 |Status: On-Air/Renewed
Genre(s): Crime, Drama
Story in a nutshell: Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens is something of a 19th-century–style, Old West lawman living in modern times, whose unconventional enforcement of justice makes him a target of criminals as well as his U.S. Marshals Service bosses.
As a result of his controversial but "justified" quick-draw shooting of mob hitman Tommy Bucks in Miami, Givens is reassigned from Miami to Lexington, Kentucky. The Lexington Marshals office's jurisdiction includes Harlan County, where Raylan grew up and which he thought he had escaped for good in his youth.
Best Reason to Watch the Show: The show has the ability to suck you right into its world. The good guy is kind of bad and the bad guys can be kind of good on several occasions. If you like shows that love to explore the grey areas of life then this might be the show for you.
The Best Thing about This Show: The actors, the writing, the scoring and the cinematography. Basically everything about the show is a reason to watch. It has a near universal excellence rating among its fans as well as critics. That is not something you see every day. It’s usually one or the other, not both.
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Episode Summary: Raylan has one last shot at taking down Art's would-be assassin, while cartel killers have Boyd's back against the wall.
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Character of the Night
• Raylan
Best Character Interactions
• Raylan & Winona
• Ava & Raylan
• Boyd & Wynn Duffy
Most Memorable Moment
• When Raylan looks at his baby girl with teary eyes and realizes he will get the chance to be with her finally.
Best Line
• Raylan: Man can’t hang himself if you don’t give him any rope.
Best Scene
• Raylan trades first kill stories with Kendall to convince Wendy he wasn't the one that shot Art.
That Awkward Moment Award
• That awkward moment when you can’t arrest or shoot the man who has caused so much havoc because he is currently the victim of a crime. – Sometimes I wish Deputy U.S. Marshal Rachel Brooks wasn’t such a goody two shoes.
The ‘Just When I Thought I Was Out They Pull Me Back In’ Award
• Seriously, I was so happy for Givens clan, finally they were going to be together and Raylan could leave Harlan, like he always wanted to. I should have known better, I mean every single season ends with a cover of the song, ‘You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive’.
The ‘Crack Ship is Still Afloat’ Award
• Way back in season 1, I was all for Ava and Raylan to be a thing. Four seasons later, I’m still writing fan fiction about them. I know it seems like Raylan only got Ava out as the ultimate screw you to Boyd but I like to think deep down somewhere Raylan still has a thing for Ava.
Memorable Moments
• Ava pulls up on the bridge to reveal herself as Raylan's criminal informant that will be Boyd's undoing.
Notable & Quotable
• Gretchen: You must be using your own product because you sound crazy right now.
• Ava: Word for something like where I’m from is, coward.
Superb Scenes
• Wendy gets Darryl to confess and shoots him as Raylan watches
• Raylan Skypes with Winona to tell her that he is getting transferred to Miami and they can be a family.
• Wynn Duffy and his associate summon Boyd to propose an new business arrangement, they want him to go back to robbing banks.
• Boyd and the other US Marshals get into a shootout with the cartel goons.
No, Baby, No
• Just leave Boyd alone, Raylan, go be with Winona RIGHT NOW.
• Ava better have a change of heart. Boyd loves her and she loves him. They need to have a happy ending. OK? Looks like my favorite ship is sinking fast (send help).
Favorite Main Character
• It will forever be a tie between Raylan & Boyd
Favorite Side Characters
• Ava Crowder & Wynn Duffy
Least Favorite Side Characters (EVER)
• The whole entire Crowe family.
Fun Fact: The working title for the series was Lawman.
Tasty Tidbit: Author Elmore Leonard ranked Justified as one of the best adaptations of his work.
Side Note: If you ever get the chance, you should totally marathon a little show called Boomtown, which Graham Yost created. The show has 2 seasons with a total of 24 episodes.
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Grade: A
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Comparable Shows
If you are interest in finding more shows like Justified then I recommend you watch one, some or all of the following shows: Deadwood, Sons of Anarchy, and/or The Shield.
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Up Next: If you love shows that feature talking cars then you are in luck because tomorrow I’m writing about the pilot of Knight Rider (2008).
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