My favorite television program is Justified. I don’t lament
its demise because I watch TV programs on Netflix or Amazon Prime. I don’t need
to be first on my block with an Apple watch, I don’t care about the Kardashians,
and I never banter with co-workers. I’m retired and way past the age of needing
to be hip, cool, with it, or whatever. (Thank goodness I write historical
novels.)
Being out of fashion is liberating. I can wear clothes
without an emblazoned logo, drive a 2000 model car, shun Instagram, and watch my
favorite television shows whenever and however I want. My way is after the
season’s over. I can binge-watch or spread them out, and I’m not even bothered
with a need to fast-forward through commercials. Life is grand without a remote
in hand.
All of this is to note that I’m in the middle of season
5. So please, no spoilers.
Justified,
starring Timothy Olyphant, Walton Goggins, and a host of other fine actors, is
a character-driven modern day western based on a short story by Elmore Leonard.
I believe bad guys and gals make heroes heroic, and Justified has a bevy of really bad characters. Our hero has
sidekicks of course, but basically, it’s Deputy Marshal Raylan Givens against this
cast of misfits, hoodlums, and felonious masterminds. Good actors portraying
interesting characters in a tightly written drama presented with masterful
storytelling. Who could ask for more?
If you haven’t watched Justified,
you should. Here are a few links to articles about the program. The first
consolidates all the professional reviews of the final episode. I glanced at it,
but quickly closed my browser window before I happened upon a spoiler.
Episode
Review: Justified Series Finale by Jason Dietz at Metacritic
Trigger-Happy
by Emily Nussbaum in The New Yorker
What
‘Justified’ Reveals About Manhood by Rachel
Lu at The Federalist
What
‘Justified’ Really Says About Modern Manhood And Westerns by John Daniel Davidson at The Federalist
The
Literary Genius Of ‘Justified’ by John Daniel Davidson at The Federalist
John Daniel Davidson wrote some lines that seem apropos to Justified and westerns in general.
“an extended meditation on grand themes: the price of sin and violence, the ties of blood and kin, the difference between justice and vengeance.”
“the western is at heart about the tension between civilization and barbarism—and the interplay between the two.”
“Ford’s films, like the Greek epics from which they’re drawn, portray civilization as a fragile thing, always under threat and always in need of protection—a task that often falls to those willing to step outside of civilization and into a state of nature. Hence, heroes like Ethan.”