“What you’ll have to do now is ride the wrap, as they say, and that’s all anyone has to do.” – Raylen Givins
The Justified pilot was so well done, nearly perfect in its execution and tone and characters and action and setting (the lush hills of eastern Kentucky), that I know I’m not the only one who held his breath going into the second episode. Could it be as good? This was exacerbated by knowing that the pilot “ate up” the plot of the Elmore Leonard short story on which the series is based.
The short answer: we can all rest easy. Justified is good. Damned good. And the potential for where it can go is crazy enormous.
“Riverbrook” opens with Raylen Givens (Timothy Olyphant), a cowboy hat-wearing man with a code working as a U.S. Marshall in modern times, visiting Bowd Crowder (Walton Goggins) in a federal prison hospital. Givens had shot Crowder at the end of the pilot, and now Crowder has “seen the light” and speaks of being reborn.
The chemistry between Olyphant and Goggins as old friends now on way different paths is incredible, and it wasn’t until a few scenes later when Givens is transporting a prisoner to the federal pen that I realized that Givens really didn’t buy Crowder’s proverbial prison (hospital) “conversion.” It was Givens refusing to go visit the prisoner’s family that sealed it, Givens talking about how he has no reason to trust “his people.” Even though this is modern times, we’re looking at a clannish world, one which Givens grew up with. Maybe Givens’ boss in Miami was onto something in transferring him back home.
Another reason why Justified deserves its reputation already as one of the few (and perhaps best) TV shows or movies to capture Elmore Leonard’s world is the way in which criminals and law enforcement (embodied by Givens) interact with each other. Though Givens has a code and will not be trifled with, he has a certain respect for those who live by their own code, even if it is a criminal.
Case in point is the roadside convenience store scene with Givens and escaped convict/Big House Boys musician Cooper. It’s a pleasure to watch this kind of scene (cop gets caught up in a convenience store robbery) that we’ve seen a thousand times in a fresh and enjoyable light. And it’s also cool to see Givens not always getting his way. “Well, shit!” he spits out as he’s left locked in the dark of a utility closet.
And speaking of chemistry, things are heating up between Raylen and Ava Crowder (Joelle Carter), but since she shot and killed her abusive husband, Bowd’s brother, and Givens is mixed up in it all, their pairing is a no no in legal terms.
Even if it’s just a “story of the week,” the main event involving Cooper’s buried money, his ex-wife, and her new loser boyfriend (and, oh yeah, cousin), is very entertaining and shed’s more light on the aesthetic an d atmosphere of the show. Very promising indeed.
More thoughts on “Riverbrook”:
- When the prison guard/front desk clerk asks Givens’ prisoner if he has his “feet on backwards” when asked to stand on painted feet on the ground while awaiting transfer, everything kind of clicked for me again on the tone of this show: it’s serious, fun, quirky, and gritty kind of all at once. Quite a stew!
- “What you’ll have to do now is ride the wrap, as they say, and that’s all anyone has to do.” – Raylen Givins
- The opening theme music and credits sequence is fantastic, a strangely effective mixture of a bluegrass-infused hip hop tune playing while we see images of the Kentucky countryside.
- Speaking of music, it’s not quite my typical style but I have to say The Big House Boys are pretty darned good.
- “Hey Henry, what’s this?” That has to be embarrassing for the prison guard to remember when he wakes up from being cold cocked.
- “Well it ain’t like we first cousins or anything.” And then: “That’s Randy Rabbit, it’s a best seller.” Wow.
- “Come on, Martha Stewart, just drop that.” – Cooper to Dupree, the “it ain’t like we first cousins or nothin'” lover of his ex-wife Shirley. This show is packed with great lines, delivered naturally and on the money.
From Around the Web: Justified, “Riverbrook”
- Speakeasy: The episode ends proper, but already, threads start to dangle. When will Raylan succumb to Eva? What’s up with Boyd’s claims of being born again? And how will it be when Raylan bumps into dear old dad once more? I’ll be tuning in to find out. You will, too, am I right?
- TV Squad: As the hilarity wears off, the noir takes over, thrusting Raylan into an escaped convict case that seems a little too convenient at first (he happens upon the escapees at the very moment he receives the call) but becomes more interesting as the script rolls out before our eyes. The show felt very different from the first episode. Here, we’ve got an actual mystery on our hands as opposed to a slowly building showdown between two former mates.
Some stats and info about Justified, “Riverbrook”
TV SHOW – Justified
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 1, Episode 2
AIRED ON – March 23rd, 2010
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – FX, FXX, Hulu
GENRE – Drama, Crime Dramas
CREATED BY – Graham Yost
CAST – Timothy Olyphant, Nick Searcy, Joelle Carter, Jacob Pitts, Erica Tazel, Walton Goggins, Natalie Zea, Jere Burns, David Meunier
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.