Wick's Review

Summary - Great 4.0

Hard-bitten Elmore Leonard criminals and Timothy Olyphant’s 2nd Olympian-quality lawman come together in this great new TV series. A bit of a one-trick-pony, the show nonetheless freshly surveys the darkly humorous underbelly of contemporary American society. As for the trick-pony, Olyphant’s Western throwback Marshal exudes more quiet charisma than any TV lawman since David Caruso’s Det. John Kelly in NYPD Blue’s rookie season.

The series itself is somewhat of a throwback in that it doesn’t weave multiple story arcs into an episode. Rather each show contains a complete story, while also briefly advancing the larger arc of Deputy Marshal Raylan Givens’ return to Harlan County Kentucky, from whence he sprang. So what we have here is Raylan from Harlan going back to the old coal mining country. There he runs into his no good, real bad coal mining buddy. And the blond beauty who’s had a crush on him since she was 12, but has since married the real bad buddy’s brother, till she shot him cause he needed shooting. Real bad. That kind of thing.

Will this prove to be more than a flash-in-the-pan? Jury’s out, but it’ll be a hard-bitten treat watching to see.

Acting - Great 4.0

Timothy Olyphant – member of Western lawman Valhalla as Deadwood’s Sheriff Seth Bullock – adds a second richly memorable lawman – Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens – to his oeuvre. About Olyphant in A Perfect Getaway, I said “he’s got crazy eyes that convey just a bit more commitment than a sane man would bring to a fight.” His thin voice is the only thing holding him back from first rank leading man status, but that deficit doesn’t matter here given Givens’ soft spoken nature.

Joelle Carter distinguishes herself as Ava Crowder, his fetching and spunky suitor who “ain’t never forgot” Raylan from the time she was 12.

Several terrific character actors guest star as bad guys.

• Walton Goggins as wily White Supremacist Boyd Crowder, Raylan Givens’ old coal mining buddy. A tour-de-force as the season progresses, especially after Raylan screwing Ava springs him, Goggins’ Boyd Crowder is a villain for the ages.
• Natalie Zea as Raylan’s ex, Winona Hawkins now. Raylan didn’t threaten to kill her new husband. Really. As if Timmy O’s chemistry with Joelle C’s Ava ain’t hot enough, he can’t keep from having memorable moments with Natalie Z’s Winona. As if.
• Raymond J. Barry as Raylan’s no good daddy Arlo Givens.
• David Eigenberg – known to most as Miranda’s wimpy man in Sex and the City – sinks his teeth into a Brooklyn bookie exiled to Kentucky.
• Greg Cromer as a playboy stoner who can be “whoever he needs to be.”

Film - Great 4.0

Elmore Leonard creates richly interesting characters – especially bad guys – believable in their fallibility. Then he puts them in situations where violence arises unexpectedly, taking both the character and the audience by surprise. Justified opens with such a scene: two men meet at a poolside table in Miami Beach, discuss leaving for the airport, and end up in a shoot out, a masterpiece of tension, character and staging.

Edge - Risqué 2.3

Hardly old school TV, what with the ample profanity, joint smoking and racist claptrap. Edginess like this would’ve warranted an R rating at the theater not too long ago. Now it’s on display in a non-premium cable show. This may not be societal progress, but it does create a rich verisimilitude.

Reality - Glib 1.3

The show takes impressively few BioReality liberties. For instance, Givens gets shot in the chest while wearing a protective vest, then credibly shows how this sort of thing would knock a man out of commission for a while. Bravo.

Circumstantially, not so much. As with all crime fiction, it catalogs a veritable crime wave that would transfix the national media in the real world.

2 Comments

• BrianSez Apr 11, 2010 10:05AM

  Regarding Wick’s Review
  Wick – you won be over on this one. The last thing I needed was another TV show to be a fan of, but my TiVo and I managed to sqeeze in a little more room for this great show. FX constantly produces winners in my book. Can’t wait until Rescue Me starts up again….

• MJ5K Apr 4, 2010 10:15PM

  Great review, Wick. I’ve not had much of an interest in this show but now I think I may give it a try.

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