I was going to write some kind of recap of last night’s Justified episode, but Matt Zoller Seitz already wrote something so good on Vulture that it’s impossible to add anything interesting.
“For all its gore, gunfire, and criminal nastiness, it’s a joyous show; even when the characters are scowling, the show seems to be grinning at you. It’s that Elmore Leonard DNA that cinches it, I think. Although Olyphant, Yost, and their superb writing staff have little day-to-day involvement with the master, his spirit seems to guide their choices. It’s the spirit of an entertainer who wants to tell the truth about people without congratulating himself on his insight. It’s the voice of a wise man who’s been around and seen a lot and who knows that, sooner or later, all of these drama queens and kings will be fertilizing daffodils. Leonard has spent his life creating fiction that’s precise, relaxed, droll, and wise about human behavior, yet so much fun that even some fans are reluctant to call it what it is: art.”
In other words, if you’re not watching Justified yet, you’re a philistine and a fool.
I will say that after the first episode of Season 4, I already have much higher hopes than I did for Season 3. I like it when the drama stays in Harlan county. The rest of the riff raff deserves what the Jody got—he was the convict with the hamburgers in the premiere—which is to be stuffed in the back of Raylan Given’s car, and taken beyond state boundaries.
(And now, I’ll return to my fantasy of Caleb secretly turning out be Raylan Givens in disguise.)
