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lostdragonfound ([personal profile] lostdragonfound) wrote in [community profile] tv_talk2014-01-15 07:26 am

Justified: A Primer

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The Show:

Justified is based on the late Elmore Leonard's novels Pronto and Riding the Rap as well as his short story "Fire in the Hole." In fact the pilot follows "Fire in the Hole" very closely.

It's a dark and gritty show that also has a lot of humor on the side. It's a show with U.S. Marshals pitted against various criminal elements. It's also a show with a lot of grey areas.
It has great characters, many that go through a lot of change and character growth as the show progresses. Racism, poverty and dysfunctional families are recurring themes and there's also an awful lot of shooting going on.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens tends toward the unconventional when it comes to law enforcement. When the pilot starts out he's still working in Miami but soon gets re-assigned to Kentucky, his home state. Raylan has no desire to go back to where he came from but has little choice in the matter if he wants to keep being a Marshal.

Much of the show focuses on Raylan and his work and personal life as he returns back home to the impoverished coal mining area of Harlan County. He is faced with family, an ex-wife and his own history in general as well as the crime arcs of each season.

By the end of the first season Boyd Crowder a former acquaintance/friend/nemesis (depending on who and when you're asking) of Raylan's and outlaw (usually) becomes another major focus of the show and this continues throughout the rest of the seasons.

The fifth season is currently airing in the U.S. and it's been announced that the sixth and final season will air next year.

Each season is 13 episodes long.


The Characters:

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Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens played by Timothy Olyphant

Raylan is kind of and Old West style lawman despite living in the modern era.
What he's really good at is shooting people.
He's a quick draw and is rarely without his cowboy hat.
He's a bit on the angry and brooding side.

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Boyd Crowder played by Walton Goggins

Boyd and Raylan worked in the mines together when they were younger. After that Boyd joined up with the army and did a tour during Operation Desert Storm. These days Boyd is usually an outlaw of some sort or other. He's intelligent and crafty with a sharp wit and a larger vocabulary than most of the people he surrounds himself with. He comes from a family of outlaws.

His character changes the most throughout the seasons in my opinion and I started out not liking him at all to having him be one of my favorite characters on the show.

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Ava Crowder played by Joelle Carter

Ava was married to Boyd's older brother Bowman (hence the same last name).
I can't say much more than that in regards to that situation if I want to avoid spoilers.

Ava is a strong woman who also changes a lot throughout the seasons.
She, like Boyd and Raylan are from Harlan.


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Deputy U.S. Marshal Rachel Brooks played by Erica Tazel

One of Raylan's co-workers.
There hasn't been that much background on her sadly.
She is pretty awesome though and she really needs to be in more episodes.


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Deputy U.S. Marshal Tim Gutterson played by Jacob Pitts

Another one of Raylan's co-workers.
He used to be a U.S. Army Ranger and is a trained sniper.
He says he doesn't miss.
He also needs to be in more episodes.

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Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Art Mullen played by Nick Searcy

He's Chief Deputy of the Lexington US Marshals Field Office in Lexington, Kentucky and also Raylan's boss. The amount of stuff he has to put up with dealing with Raylan would make a weaker man quit.
He's pretty laid back most of the time and quite funny.

There are also a lot of other interesting supporting characters. Some have recurred throughout most of the seasons and others have been season specific. I'm not mentioning any of them specifically even though I love so many of them past and present because I want to avoid spoiling things.


How to Find the Episodes:

The first four seasons are all available on DVD and also on Amazon (free streaming with prime). Individual episodes can be bought at Amazon, including the fifth season that is now playing. Episodes can be bought from iTunes as well. And then there are the other ways that people find of course.

It's really not that hard to catch up since each season is only 13 episodes long.

The fifth season began on Feb 7, 2014.
It airs Tuesdays 10pm EST in the US on FX
I just signed up to be the captain for this show!

More info:
Justified @ IMDb
Justified @ Wikipedia
laisserais: kiss (Default)

[personal profile] laisserais 2014-01-15 02:53 pm (UTC)(link)
This show has been on my list to catch up on for DAYS. Now I have a reason to get on the stick :) great job on this primer!
skieswideopen: Ava Crowder from Justified (Justified: Ava)

[personal profile] skieswideopen 2014-01-15 10:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Yay! So glad someone's doing Justified!

Now I just need to get caught up.
skieswideopen: Raylan Givens from behind (Justified: Raylan Givens back)

[personal profile] skieswideopen 2014-01-16 07:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, I've seen everything up until the end of last season. I just need to start watching this season!