Justified: Season 1

Wow, this show is surprisingly good. I was actually about half way through the first season and I was thinking to myself "How is it possible this show is so well written?" when I noticed, for the first time, in the opening credits that the show is based on works by Elmore Leonard. I do not mean to detract from the fabulous job the screen writer's have done adapting this for television but I am sure it helped a bit to have a solid base to work from. I admit, I have never read any of Leonard's books, though I have heard they are very well written, but I have seen a few of his movies, and there are two things that you can count on from Leonard: great characters and great dialogue. This show has both (more on that in a moment).In a way, the premise of the show sounds kind of silly to me. Essentially it is an attempt to transplant the old Western, with the fast drawing gunslinger, into modern times. The main character, a deputy U.S. Marshal named Raylan, has just been transferred back to his hometown in Kentucky after shooting someone under somewhat suspicious circumstances in Florida. Raylan is a fast draw and he gets himself into quite a few old Western style stand-off situations. Like I said, that sounds a little bit silly on the face of it (do they still train Marshals to draw quickly and shoot without looking?) but it actually works really well. They do not get ridiculous with it. All of the quick draw situations Raylan finds himself in are believable. There are no high noon shootouts on Main Street.The show has a great cast of characters. The first season follows a story arc based around the Crowder family. The Crowder family are a bunch of criminals from Raylan's hometown and they make excellent and really interesting villains. Boyd Crowler, in particular, is a really interesting character, and the actor, Walton Goggins, does a superb job playing him. Raylan's father is also a very interesting character. There is a very strained relationship between Raylan and his father and the show handles it well. Usually shows like this run into problems dealing with strained family relationships. They wind up manufacturing a bunch of repetitive drama (the same arguments over and over) and then get very sentimental with it (the emotional blowup and reunion). This show avoids all of that. There were no cringe worthy scenes in this show, the kind that often feel like they come straight out of an introductory psychology textbook. That is surprisingly rare. Even some of my favorite shows have cringe worthy scenes here and there. This show, at least in the first season, which is all I have watched so far, had none.The show also has really well written dialogue. I watch a lot of procedurals and the dialogue on procedurals usually leaves a lot to be desired. A lot of shows, I think, wind up sacrificing quality for quantity. Shows that put out 24 episodes a season always feel a bit like they were made in a factory to me. The same scenes, with minor variations, show up in every episode. The dialogue is extremely repetitive (the same arguments over and over), a lot of the dialogue is just exposition ("so, here we are, at the gangsters hideout"), or filler. I am not sure if it is because they only have 13 episodes a season, or if they are using some of Leonard's original dialogue, or if they just have really talented screenwriter's, but the dialogue in this first season was really good.Another thing I appreciate about the show is that it often goes against cliches. I will just give one example of what I mean. There is a scene in one of the episodes where Raylan is drinking in the bar. We are far enough into the show to know that Raylan knows how to handle himself. There are two guys in the bar talking real loud, making crude remarks about some woman, and Raylan decides to confront them. This is a really familiar trope and most people, including me, immediately have certain expectations about where things are heading. The situation escalates and they decide to take things outside. This is where the two guys realize they picked a fight with the wrong person, right? Wrong. The show totally surprised me by having the two guys win the fight. Raylan gets beat up.That might seem like a really minor thing but very few shows would have been willing to have their hero lose a fight like that. You are never supposed to perceive any weakness in the hero. Not only is that unrealistic but it is boring. I really appreciated that this show was willing to frustrate the viewer's expectations. That was just one scene, and it was not all that important for the overall plot, but it was, to me, a great example of why I think this show is a cut above most of the television shows I watch. The show avoids cliche. The characters are not cliche, the dialogue is not cliche, and the stories are not cliche. I am not sure how this show slipped by me for four seasons, but I am glad I found it eventually.

couldn't stop watching

My wife wanted to watch. After first episode I was hooked and we watched the whole series.

"Justified" is an altogether outstanding and somewhat offbeat crime drama that aired on the FX network for six seasons, from January 2010 through April 2015. This is a tale about a Deputy United States Marshal who returns to the area of eastern Kentucky where he was born and reared, and finds out the truth of the Thomas Wolfe's admonition: "you can't go home again...""Justified" is based upon two novels and a short story written by the late novelist Elmore Leonard. The show was originally developed for TV by Graham Yost, who also was one of the executive producers, writers, and directors of "Band of Brothers," "Boomtown," and "The Pacific." "Justified" stars Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, a modern-day Deputy United States Marshal whose behavior is more akin to that of a 19th century Western lawman than that of the 21st century law enforcement officer that he is. Like those legendary Marshals of the Old West, Raylan dispenses his own style of hard-nosed justice that frequently gets him into hot water with his superiors in the U.S. Marshals Service, and puts him into the crosshairs of many of the criminals he is pursuing.I now have added each season of "Justified" to my Blu-ray disc collection. As Season 1 of "Justified" opens, Raylan is working in the Marshals Service Miami office. He gets himself into big trouble after he very publicly shoots and kills a notorious drug cartel "gun thug." The shooting is justified (hence the series title), but it's also an embarrassment to the Marshals Service, which immediately reassigns Raylan to its office in eastern Kentucky. This is where Raylan was born and raised; although he absolutely does not want to go there, he reluctantly takes the assignment anyway.Very soon, Raylan manages to get himself into more trouble in his new assignment. An old friend of his from Harlan, Kentucky is the prime suspect in a series of violent and bloody hate crimes; a young woman he knew from high school days has just shot and killed her abusive husband; and Raylan's estranged father may be once again involved in criminal activities of his own...All this (and much more) makes for a captivating, suspense-filled first season of one of the best and most original series I've seen in a long time. Everything about Justified - the acting by a superb ensemble cast that includes Olyphant, Walton Goggins, Joelle Carter, Nick Searcy, and Natalie Zea, is superb, as is the writing. "Justified" Season 1 is television entertainment at its very best! Don't miss it!

Can be a Lil slow, but has some really good parts

Great acting and colorful characters

Je me suis fiée aux commentaires car je ne connaissais pas du tout cette série et vraiment je la recommande très bon scénario, acteurs pour certains inoubliables enfin bref nous sommes devenus accros de Justified,,la bande son est aussi excellente

Una serie que empecé a ver sin altas expectativas y que ahora es una de mis series favoritas. Combina todo lo que me gusta en una serie: una trama, acción y intriga. La serie tiene enganche desde los primeros minutos del primer capítulo de la temporada, escena bastante impactante teniendo en cuenta que Raylan es un agente de la ley. Si le das una oportunidad no te defraudará.

nicht schon wieder eine Krimiserie nach Schema F dachte ich. Trotzdem schaut man mal ja aus Neugierde in Folge 1 und...man bleibt wirklich vor dem Bildschirm kleben und ist schlichtweg begeistert.Deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens wird wegen seiner Schießwut von Miami nach Kentucky strafversetzt. Kentucky, das ist die Provinz aus der er in jungen Jahren geflüchtet ist und in die er nie mehr zurück wollte. Ein Kuhkaff voller degenerierter Menschen und bibelverspredigender Hinterwäldler. Zu allem Unglück lebt seine Exfrau ebenfalls in diesem Kaff und er begegnet dort auch seiner Jugendfreundin Eva wieder. Eva erschießt ihren Mann mit einer Schrotflinte als dieser Raylan bedroht. Im Laufe der Serie beginnen Rylan und Eva eine Affaire miteinander, die von der Staatsanwaltschaft aber nicht gerne gesehen wird, da Eva eine Mordverdächtige ist und Raylan der einzige Zeuge ihrer Tat ist.Neben diesem roten Faden der Staffel 1 muß Raylan, wunderbar cool gespielt von Timothy Olyphant, eher skurile Verbrechen lösen, die einiges Fingerspitzengefühl erfordern. Kennt hier doch jeder jeden und sind doch alle irgendwie verschwippt und verschwägert. Eine unbedachte Aktion gegen eine Person kann die Wut einiger großen Familien auf sich ziehen. Raylan, der in diesem Umfeld groß geworden ist ist, kennt die Macken seiner Mitmenschen und schafft es in unnachahmliche Art, seine Fälle zu lösen.Sein Spruch: ich ziehe meine waffe nur, wenn ich damit auch schießen will.Was mir an dieser Serie so gut gefällt ist, dass sie anders ist alle anderen Krimiserien. Hier stürmt nich ein ganzes Einsatzkommando ein Haus, auch wenn garnicht mal klar ist ob der Verdächtige wirklich schuldig ist. Nein, hier wird höflich geklopft und angefragt, ob der Verdächtige zu Hause ist.Beispiel: Hier ist Deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens. Öffnen Sie bitte die Tür. Ansonsten sidn wir gezwungen diese einzutreten. Ss wird dann kein Schadensersatz gestellt. In Verbindung mit der ganzen Szene lacht man sich echt weg. Einfach köstlich. Und man glaubt Timothy Olyphant jedes Wort das er von sich gibt.Auch wenn er bei einer Geiselnahme mit dem Geiselnehmer verhandelt und ihm Huhn und Bourbon abietet und sich höflich entschuldigt, wenn er die Verhandlung unterbrechen muß.Schon lange hatte ich beim Ansehen einer Krimiserie nicht mehr soviel Spaß wie hier und ich bin gespannt, wie sich die serie weiter entwickelt.

This TV series is brilliant. Tis based on an Elmore Leonard story, so you know the hero is going to be super cool. Timothy Olyphant looks astonishingly cool (with hat) and plays the part of the Law Man rather well. The camera work is first class; it has a large budget (they paid Hollywood legend Timothy olyphant to play Law Man Raylan Givens and Walter Goggins from the brilliant TV series 'The Shield') and the storyline is interesting. Timothy Olyphant returns to his home in Kentucky to work as a law Man, and he gets involved with good people, bad people, drug dealers, an ex-girlfriend and an ex-wife. Oh and the dialogue is hilarious -Karl: Next time you're in Cincinnati, come by the gallery. I'll show you my collection. I think you'll be quite surprised. Raylan Givens: Honestly, I'd rather stick my d**k in a blender.Chief Art Mullen: Well, that would solve a few problems.-Boyd Crowder: What brings you to my house?Raylan Givens: Oh, this is your house now?Boyd Crowder: Why, yes, prison is my home.---Chief Art Mullen: "I tell you to do one simple thing - refrain from screwing the witness in your own shooting - and you can't even do that Raylan Givens"I'm off to watch season 2 now. And please keep `Justified' on your radar. I don't watch TV anymore (it seems to broadcast nothing more then dumb reality shows), but am so enthused by Justified, that I cannot wait for season 3.Raylan is a 2D hero similar to David Carradine's `Qwai Chan Kane'. He cleans up rural Kentucky and manages to dispatch any number of bad guys per episode. Splendid.According to the Information super highway Season 3 will be here soon.