Before it was both one of the most fun shows to watch as well as being critically solid with good villains and few weaknesses. Now, it's almost as fun to watch as it has always been, but it's got those pesky problems. It's not quite at the level that Sons of Anarchy is - which is a show I enjoy, but at this point I have accepted its problems and accepted the show is just not as good as I once thought.
This season, Raylan is as distant as ever from the audience. It's never been clearer that he just wants to kill all the bad guys. And while that's sometimes fun to watch, it makes him infinitely less complex of a character than he used to be. Did the death of Arlo somewhat ruin Raylan as a character? Timothy Olyphant is still really good in this role, but I can't shake the feeling that's something off about Raylan in this season.
Meanwhile, the show took a bad decision and made the Crowes the season five main villain. Don't get me wrong, the Crowes are a very interesting family, but they already did that in season two with the Bennett family. And the Bennetts absolutely blow the Crowe family out of the water in every way imaginable. Daryl Crowe is nowhere near as interesting, menacing, worthy, or complex of a character as Mags Bennett was.
The weird thing is I feel like the answer was staring them directly in the face. Featured in four episodes in this season were brothers Wood and Steve Harris. They managed to be more interesting counterparts to Raylan/Boyd than the Crowes in essentially just one spotlighted episode. (They were in four, but the last one was the only real attempt to make them awesome). I would much rather have seen a season of those two than the Crowes. I hope Wood Harris will be back in next season. (As it appears Steve has died)
Let me be clear about one thing about the Crowe family. I didn't have a problem with the actors. Michael Rapaport got a LOT of flack for his weak accent. Perhaps it's because I don't care or I'm just not really that good at determining different accents, but I had no issues with it. He was fine in the role. I liked Alicia Witt a lot as Wendy Crowe. Jacob Lofland is fantastic as a child actor as Kendal Crowe (seriously, Justified knows how to pick 'em). I really couldn't care less about Danny Crowe, but he had a funny and appropriate death. None of them hold a candle to the Bennett family though.
A legitimate drag on the season was the Ava prison storyline. Talk about just not giving a shit about what happens. Probably doesn't help that it was pretty obvious she was getting out at the end of the season and the whole season just felt like wheel-turning. I never felt like she was actually going to die, and I never cared about her problems in the prison because I knew she was getting out. When Lee Paxton died early in the season, and they found an excuse to keep her in, that was just annoying. That felt like plot contrivance to me.
Lastly, Tim and Rachel were virtually ignored for large chunks of the season. Again. It's not really a problem only because this isn't a season five problem. But when there are storylines that are less than great, it's really irritating that Tim and Rachel aren't getting any screen time, since they were most likely be more interesting.
Somehow despite all of this, Justified still looks like Justified. I can't think of another show that could have as many problems and still seem like the show hasn't lost a step in being "fun to watch." But Justified managed that trick. I don't feel like the show wasted my time, or made me angry, or anything, it's just that Justified has set a high standard and season five was well below that standard.
Also, the set-up for season six has me excited. Ava betraying Boyd to Raylan because he got her out of prison? Boyd becoming a bank robber again? Mary Steenburgen in a more prominent role as a criminal badass? More Wynn Duffy? And, knock on wood, but it looks like Rachel and Tim will be more involved with bringing Boyd crowder down. So the final season of this great show is looking to go out with a big bang.
Playlist
1. "Lens Flare Lagoon" - Lone
2. "Bad MF" - Pharoahe Monch
3. "Dream" - Iration
4. "Mangrove" - Young & Sick
5. "Girls Chase Boys" - Ingrid Michaelson
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