Santa Clarita Diet Review

I haven't written a review in a while, and to be honest, I'm going try to write this one in 17 minutes so this might not be that great of a review.  But I like time limits and I just finished the latest Netflix original television show, so let's give a shot.

Santa Clarita Diet is a wacky dark comedy, occasionally achieving moments of brilliance.  At worst, you get to see Timothy Olyphant be generally hilarious and Drew Barrymore isn't far behind him.  The premise of this show is somewhat insane.  Sheila becomes undead - the how is never explained and that's probably for the better honestly - and quickly comes to rely on eating people for her main source of food.  

Before she became a zombie, she lived a fairly boring life with her husband Joel.  They love her each other and sell houses.  Given their personalities, they didn't seem unhappy with their life, but there was certainly not a lot going on with their life.  When she becomes undead, she reverts to her id.  She gets what she wants when she wants it without much regard for the consequences.  She's happier the way she is a zombie than she was as a suburban mom.

If there's one thing I wish this show did, it was to show us more of what Sheila was like when she was alive.  She gets sick fairly early on and we don't see much sense of her personality beforehand.  It would have been interesting to see the contrast.  While Barrymore is charming and it's not that difficult to empathize with her, I feel I as an audience member would feel more of connection with her if I got a better sense of who she was before.  As it stands, she has little self-regard for others in getting what she wants and I can certainly see how that may be an issue for some.

Of course, the standout is Olyphant.  He's the reason I watched the show in the first place.  He plays Joel quite a bit different than any of his other characters than I've seen.  I feel like masters the intended tone of the series better than any of the other cast members.  If you go into this series because of Olyphant, I don't think you'll be disappointed with the results.

I think the weak link of the cast member is Liv Hewson, the teenager daughter.  She's fine as an actress, but something just feels slightly off about her character.  She grows into the role as the season goes on.  I do think her rebellious nature is a bit at odds with how the family appeared to be before this whole zombie thing started.  I mean it didn't seem like they had any issues with her before - and I realize this a point of the show - but she very quickly embraces the rebellious nature in a way that should have indicated that the parents had problems with her about this before.  So I guess I don't have a problem with Hewson, just how her character is generally written.  That said, this wouldn't be the first TV show to have a comedy character in the pilot be different than how they end up writing her.

Skyler Gisondo, who fills out the remainder of the main cast, is very good as the geeky, awkward teenager boy who has a crush on Abby (the daughter).  He plays it well, but he's also a hugely cliche character.  I mean read that first sentence.  Also he seems way smart in a way that only teenagers in movies and TV shows are: impossibly smart.  I have never met anybody even remotely in the same league as this guy apparently is.

For It's Always Sunny fans, Mary Elizabeth Ellis has a fairly prominent recurring role as a neighbor and she's predictably hilarious.  Her husband is a cop and the show gains some comedy out of both of their neighbors being cops.  Portia de Rossi is also excellent later in the series that kind of shocked me.  I only know her from Arrested Development - and while she's obviously good in that - I hadn't realized how good of a comedic actress she is until this role.  

Well it's been 17 minutes and that means it's time to write my concluding paragraph.  I enjoyed Santa Clarita Diet.  I don't think it's a must-see comedy, but I found it really easy to binge so it seems well-suited to being on Netflix.  It's well-acted and in a few episodes - specifically the seventh episode - it is almost perfect black comedy.  (I was laughing at the seventh episode for nearly 30 straight minutes.  It was that good.)  I'd recommend this if you have nothing else to watch.

Grade - B+

Justified S5 Review

Writing about the fifth season of Justified is a bit difficult.  On the one hand, this is pretty clearly the worst season since season one and from a personal enjoyment stance, probably even worse because I didn't have as high of expectations then.  On the other hand, it's still Justified at its core, and Justified is a fun show to watch.

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

Rewind: Justified S4

If you haven't seen Justified, I encourage you to watch the show, but don't read this review.  If you must be convinced, read my first season review devoid of spoilers.

SPOILERS BELOW

The fourth season of Justified further cements itself as one of the premiere shows on television.  With that said, I'm apparently alone in thinking this season was somewhat of a let-down from previous seasons.  That's not to say I was disappointed by the season - far from it - but I do think it was its worst since season one.

The last three episodes very nearly absolve the season of any faults and make up for some clunky moments and way too much plot.  Too much plot was a common complaint in season three, but I thought it had never been more evident and clunky than this season.  Justified has never been a realistic show, but I've never found myself asking so many plausibility moments as I did throughout the first ten episodes.

However, I'm not sure the show has ever had an episode as action-packed and awesome as the eleventh episode.  Watching Boyd try to decipher where Raylan has decided to hide Drew Thompson was thrilling, exciting, and probably the reason many consider this to be the greatest season.  The show also had Tim play cat-and-mouse with Colton, which provided many great moments.

The last three episodes provide the height of what this show can be, but I do consider grading this season as a whole and not just the end.  I don't want to mislead you though.  I loved this season.  Claiming this season was a bit of a let-down in quality is purely a case of the standard Justified has already set for itself.

Oddly enough, this season did a lot of things that I complained about in previous reviews.  Winona was in two episodes and used expertly in the two of them.  Tim was given an actual arc this season with his mini-showdown with Colton.  And Rachel probably had more screen time she's had in the three previous seasons combined.  (I would like Rachel to get something resembling Tim's fantastic story with Colt, but her slowly becoming Raylan is interesting - Still I had no idea she was married until this season and then they act like that was a big character moment for her)

The "low points" of the season - and keep in mind with this dialogue, it's not like I'm saying it's still not a good episode - were the seventh episode when they brought back a seemingly one-off villain and the ninth episode when Raylan is allowed to transport former sheriff Mosley.  It's not like I didn't like Jody Adair, but the second time through was much less interesting and brought nothing new that Justified has already done before.  The ninth episode was the show cutting corners to get to certain plot points, something the show rarely does.  (Or at least as obviously)

This season did provide a great conclusion to Arlo's time on this show.  It's pretty clear his narrative purpose was reaching its end with him being in prison for life and I can't say I see a much better way to end his story than this.  I don't really understand why he had to kill a guy back in the first episode - for narrative purposes to raise the intrigue for the mystery, but killing that guy seemed pointless.  I know he wants no one to talk about that bag, but man that seemed to be going overboard.

Sheriff Shelby being Drew Thompson was a decent reveal - they made it pretty explicit the episode before - and somebody the audience knows is certainly more interesting than a random guy.  Shelby was about the most logical and big-name of a character to make the reveal meaningful.  Jim Beaver played his part in making the character's seemingly transformative character from his earlier days authentic and genuine.

I enjoyed Boyd's season-long arc.  A man who has seemed in control of what he's doing slowly saw everything fall apart.  At one point, he had Colton trying to hide Ellen Mae's disappearance, Johnny trying to betray him, Jimmy recovering from multiple snake bites, and Ava trying to deal with having Ellen Mae killed (or thinking she had him killed).  He was far from in control and everything seemed to go against him.  That's a much more interesting Boyd than one who gets his way all the time (although less fun if you're a Boyd fan, and who isn't a Boyd fan?)

As for the performances, Goggins and Olyphant of course deliver.  Olyphant is never better than when he has to deal with hearing about his father's death as contradicting emotions flood over him.  Goggins was on fire all season as a man who keeps finding himself caught off-guard from Duffy shooting his own man to the preacher getting bit by the snake.  I feel like a redemptive arc for Boyd will be coming, although it'll probably be too late and also not any time soon. (Also, I could be way off; his second season attempt at being good could indicate he's never going good again)

Among the supporting players, David Meunier and Joelle Carter are at their best this season.  Meunier as Johnny Crowder is a backstabbing, terrible person, but yet you feel sympathy for him with his pathetic "I love you" to Ava.  Carter has a tough job, acting-wise, to have Ava try and cross the line into "bad guy," but she can't quite do it and sleep at night.

Then of course Mike O'Malley, known for his work on Yes Dear, switches up and plays a pretty menacing figure who's a little too cocky and unpredictable.  I'll never get tired of Jere Burns and his reaction shots, which this season provided plenty of for me.  Lastly, Ron Eldrard does such a good job with his role as Colton that, even after he's brutally murdered many people, you kind of are sad when he basically commits suicide.

In all, this was a weird season for me.  The highs were the best the show has ever been and the lows were the worst the show has ever been.  I'm not really sure how exactly that evens out, but for me, it lands below the more consistent second and third seasons.  I want to emphasize how high the bar is for Justified and that's the only reason for my consternation.

Playlist - My Top 50 tracks for the year finishes; 1-10; 11-20; 21-30; 31-40)
41. "Sticks and Stones" - Arlissa
42. "Animals" - Martin Garrix
43. "Clarity" - Zedd ft. Foxes!
44. "John Doe" - B.O.B. ft. Priscilla
45. "Rip Your Heart Out" - Hopsin ft. Tech N9ne
46. "Waste of Paint" - Peace
47. "Love Game" - Eminem ft. Kendrick Lamar
48. "Contact" - Daft Punk
49. "I Sat by the Ocean" - Queens of the Stone Age
50. "Alive" - Empire of the Sun

Rewind: Justified S3

If you haven't seen Justified, I encourage you to watch the show, but don't read this review.  If you must be convinced, read my first season review devoid of spoilers.

SPOILERS BELOW

Justified continued it's abnormally long streak of great television in season three, with the exception of a single misstep.  This is ridiculously entertaining television, good enough that it's quickly making it's way onto my favorite of all-time.

The theme of this season appeared to be fathers and sons, whether in blood or in practice.  Raylan is having a kid, which I don't think we know the sex of yet, but I'd bet good money it's a boy.  Limehouse seemed to have taken over the mantle of Errol's father.  Raylan's father, Arlo, is a constant thorn in Raylan's side.  Then, a sneaky father-son type relationship occurred between Arlo and Boyd.  And lastly, Robert Quarles has a possibly imaginary connection to his surrogate father in Theo Tonin.  (Mags Bennet, while not a father, was an authority figure who certainly hovered over Dickie's actions and would fit the theme)

And I got to say, the writers of this show must have been abandoned as children, because they do not think very highly of fathers - according to this show at least.  With the exception of Arlo's protection of Boyd, every father disappoints their son.  I guess Raylan hasn't really had the chance to yet, but I'm going bet that's as surefire thing to happen as Raylan remaining trigger-happy in season four.

To replace of the towering figure that is Mags Bennet from season two, the writers went for the quantity of villains, but certainly didn't lack for quality thankfully.  There's Robert Quarles, who slowly reveals himself to be a madman.  There's Ellstin Limehouse, who slowly begins to seem like a practical man and not really a villain.  The narrative arc of these two characters, who seemed to switch positions from the beginning of the season towards the end, was an unexpected delight.

While Neal McDonough does not quite match the performance of Margo Martindale, he steals every scene he's in.  He relishes every moment he's able to be on screen and chews the scenery.  It straddles the line between caricature and real person, but I think he manages to do it quite effectively.  Mykelti Williamson, most famous for Bubba in Forrest Gump, manages to make you forget all about the shrimp business and fear his ability to burn your hand.

Justified is one of those shows that's so incredibly well-acted that I find I will have less space to praise everyone who deserves such praise.  It's a crime that I will only spend one sentence on Walton Goggins and Timothy Olyphant, but I can't really say anything new that I haven't said already about them.  Nick Searcy is criminally underrated in his role as Art Mullen.  Jeremy Davies has sometimes a little too much fun playing Dickie Bennett, nonetheless he does his Davies thing but with enough variation to separate Dickie from his Lost and Saving Private Ryan characters.  Lastly, Jere Burns as Wynn Duffy basically spent this season reacting to whatever Quarles did and created a compelling and funny character out of that.  (And his scene where Raylan plays Russian Roulette with him is hilarious)

The show also has an amazing ability to create compelling characters with so little time.  Trooper Tom Bergen had more personality than any character in the two seasons I watched of The Walking Dead.  Jim Beaver was so good in his clearly designed one-off role that they found a way to bring him back.  Hell, Desmond Harrington provided a more interesting character in one episode than his character on Dexter in 72 episodes.  And don't even get me started on the greatness of Dewey Crowe, who gets his own, glorious standalone episode in this season.

If there's a weakness to this show, it's that Winona is kind of an awful character (not person).  It's the show's lone character who is terribly written.  One moment she's in support of Raylan, the next she leaves the house without a moment's notice.  She is literally unpredictable, but not in any way that makes sense to the character.  It seems they are basically writing her out of this show, which is fine by me.  And it's not really a female problem either because Joelle Carter as Ava really steps up as a character in this season.  (Also, Helen was well-written and Lindsay in her one or two episodes is a character I want to see again hopefully)

The other weakness, but it seems unfair to call it a weakness, is that they still don't really give Tim or Rachel anything to do.  It's unfair to call it a weakness, because when they get things to do, they are awesome.  Tim's sarcastic one-liners plus general annoyance with Raylan are always a highlight.  Rachel's a little less well-defined, but she's far from a drag on the series.  I sort of hope they find a more prominent way to integrate them into the story, but if they keep doing what they have been, I won't be too bothered by it.

I mentioned above that this season has a single misstep and that misstep is "Coalition," the twelfth episode of this season.  First, Boyd leaves Quarles to be guarded by two low-life hookers and a single, dim-witted bodyguard while keeping him so loosely tied up that it was hardly a surprise when he got free.  Then Boyd leaves Errol and Dickie with a wheelchair-bound Johnny.  It was an uncharacteristically unrealistic episode that was purely to move the plot along.

Otherwise, Justified hit on every other episode.  Whether it was a standalone plot that was extremely satisfying such as "Thick of Mud" with Dewey Crowe, a plot-moving episode such as "Measure," or an episode that pays off your patience such as "Slaughterhouse," they all at the least were immensely entertaining.

Even on episodes designed to get the pieces moving for a later date, the dialogue crackles with such spark that it's impossible not to be enraptured at the screen every minute.  This is the best-written dialogue of any show ever.  I've never been as entertained watching two people talking to each other as I am when Boyd and Raylan have a conversation.  Olyphant and Goggins have so much chemistry, there's a semi-plausible way they could get the two characters to start fucking.  (If both weren't clearly heterosexuals, I'd say it'd be downright likely)

Overall, if you aren't watching Justified, you are really missing out on a great show.  (Actually if you aren't watching it and have read it this far, what the hell is wrong with you?  Stop reading spoilers and watch the show!)

Playlist (Part of my Top 50 tracks for year; no particular order; 1-10 are here)

11. "Hurricane" - MS MR
12. "Indian Summer" - Stereophonics
13. "Burn" - Ellie Goulding
14. "400 Lux" - Lorde
15. "Timber" Ke$ha ft. Pitbull (Guilty pleasure)
16. "Pompeii" - Bastille
17. "Soothe My Soul" - Depeche Mode
18. "Kemosabe" - Everything Everything
19. "Needle" - Born Ruffians
20. "Lost that Easy" - Cold War Kids

Rewind: Justified S2

The second season of Justified elevates what was already a pretty great show.  I find it hard to imagine a show like this ever becoming bad because when you take amazing dialogue and great actors, it will always be interesting to watch at the least.

The star of this season - and anyone who has seen this season has to agree - is Margo Martindale as Mags Bennett.  I don't want to be hyperbolic, but she possibly has the greatest performance in any season of any television show I've ever seen.  She is simultaneously terrifying, loving, motherly, sympathetic, crime lord, conniving, and just about every contradictory adjective you can imagine.  Somehow, none of those ring false and the audience is with her every step of the way.  She won a well-deserved Emmy for this role.

The season kicks off with a child molester hired by the Bennetts trying to reach his next prey in Loretta McCready.  But Loretta's a smart girl and she also has the fortune of having Raylan Givens trying to help her.  Mags then kills her father for calling the police and then the chain of events that led to this season's conclusion happens.  I like how ultimately her decision to kill him - which was rather pointless - was her direct downfall.

I have to give props to the child actress who plays Loretta.  I haven't seen her in anything else, but she can act.  She held in her own in scenes involving Martindale and Timothy Olyphant.  To put it in simple terms, a large portion of this season depended on how much you were invested in her story and she certainly succeeded in that regard.

The main story line of the second season was so incredibly invigorating that any story involving the secondary characters fell flat, whether by comparison or for some other reason.  Winona's not exactly a drag on the show, but she's very close to becoming one.  For instance, in the season finale, she begs Raylan to not go to Harlan to FIND A MISSING GIRL.  Ok, I get it, she is worried he's going to get killed.  But seriously you draw the line on this particular instance?  I'm not even saying it's bad writing, this character isn't extremely likable and a little on the insane side - like oh say stealing money from an evidence locker. (However, she is listed as "credit only" in almost half of the Season 3 episodes and is removed from the main cast for Season 4 so I shouldn't worry about this.)

Boyd Crowder's transformation from a guy wanting to be good to turning into a criminal longing to control Harlan and maybe more was the second best thing about this season.  I'm not going to lie.  I fell for him becoming a "good person."  This made a lot more sense and felt more natural.  Congratulations to Goggins for elevating his season one performance in my opinion.

Season two felt like a nice balance between episodes concerning the main plot and episodes that feature a mostly unrelated, standalone plot.  I feel they have found the secret formula to achieving 13 interesting episodes.  I really don't believe it has to be 13 consecutive episodes of just the plot that ultimately matters, because honestly if that plot is uninteresting, the whole season tends to suck.  (Season 3 of Sons of Anarchy for instance).

Another thing that was great about season two?  It deglorified Raylan's tendency to go rogue as a marshal.  When he kept abandoning Tim, he came off as pathetic more than badass.  It's always nice  to know when the show tries to show all facets of the character, even the less savory aspects.  On the other hand, Raylan is still clearly a hero.  In the age of anti-heros, he barely qualifies.  He disobeys command and shoots way too many guys, although all of them are bad guys.  It's pretty damn easy to root for him when he refuses to kill a guy for revenge (Dickie) or accept witnesses who lie.

If there's a weakness to this show, it's that it still hasn't really solved its supporting marshals problem.  Art is still as great as ever and his distrust of Raylan was one of the more affecting parts of the show.  The other two?  They became marginally more intriguing and interesting.  Tim is nearly solved with the aforementioned episode when he needs to "nanny" Raylan and gets all the good one-liners.  ("That shit gets me hard.")  Rachel?  I was honestly invested in her one plot involving her sister's killer going insane, but that was about it.  I don't mind the really slow development, but I'm still waiting for it to come.

I haven't mentioned the plot involving the coal mining company.  I don't know what really went on even though at the time it was easy to follow.  I can't say anymore due to not really remembering any specifics.  Anyway, the only important part of the plot was getting Boyd more confident (and more power) and showing the Bennetts for what they were.

Overall, I feel season two strongly improved the first season.  I always find post-season one reviews to be difficult because I talk too much about plot, and it looks like I'm guilty here as well.  Oh well I guess that's just a product of having said everything that needed to be said in my season one review.  

New Justified reviews will be coming pretty quickly as I plan to catch up to the fifth season.  I'm posting on another show next week (maybe The Simpsons fourth season?) and then I'll return to Justified the week after that.  Then probably another non-Justified week followed by Justified.  Yes, it will be after the season premiere, but DVR's exist.  Anyway thanks for reading.

Playlist
1. "Love Natural" - Crystal Fighters
2. "Two Trains" - Yo La Tenga
3. "Country Shit" - Big Krit ft. Ludacris & Bun B
4. "Sister Christian" - Night Ranger (Boogie Nights)
5. "Rap God" - Eminem

Rewind: Justified S1 Review

For anybody who has seen this show, I'll state the obvious in saying Justified is a really good show.  I came into this show with pretty high expectations, although little idea of what the show would be like.  Needless to say, the show exceeded those expectations.  This just quickly established itself as one of my favorite shows of all time in fact.  It's that good.

There's no such thing as too much praise when it comes to talking about Timothy Olyphant as Deputy US Marshall Raylan Givens.  He's not the only reason this show is good, but he's the reason even subpar episodes are compelling.  I hadn't really watched Olyphant in much before this and now consider myself an unabashed fan of his.

Olyphant has a certain devilish charm that is probably every man's dream.  His delivery, combined with the excellent dialogue, could get me to voluntarily confess to a crime I didn't commit.  And I'd walk away feeling like he was doing me a favor.  I'm not trying to come across like he's an infallible superhero,  In fact, the facade of exterior toughness quickly reveals itself to be... well a facade.

Raylan's is a trigger-happy lawman whether he wants to admit it or not.  It may seem like he wants to resolve the conflict at hand without firing his weapon, but there's this sense that he really just wants to shoot to release his well-hidden anger.  He's a bit of a renegade, which means he connects more to criminals than his fellow cops.

One of those criminals is Boyd Crowder, a master manipulator, played by Walton Goggins.  Now I've never seen The Shield - lord knows I've heard enough about how good he was in that - but finally I get a taste of that praise.  In the first episode, he's a Neo Nazi leader, but he's a deeper character than that.  He seems more of an opportunistic criminal who has this masterful ability to lead impressionable, dumb rednecks.  This becomes more apparent as the season goes on, but really Goggins makes him interesting immediately.

Justified has probably the best dialogue of any show I've ever seen.  These characters speak in a completely different way than I've ever heard on television, and yet it's surprisingly realistic.  The way the characters choose their phrasing and weave their words together is utterly amazing.  This series is based off the short novel "Fire in the Hole" by Elmore Leonard.  They largely steal the pilot from that text, but it seems they found a way to capture his ability to parse words without seeming like a lesser imitator.

In case you're not sold on the show yet, another satisfying aspect of this show is the setting.  It's set in Lexington, Kentucky - a version that is not exactly flattering to the town.  It's basically Wild Wild West, may the best gunslinger win.  Somehow, it has that culture and applies it to modern life without seeming - well outrageously implausible.

If there's a weakness to this show, it's that the rest of Given's law enforcement team is remarkably forgettable.  The exception to this is Art Mullen's, Given's boss.  Played by Nick Searcy, he has to toe that line between friends and keeping Givens in line.  And he has to keep Givens in line a lot.  There's two other main characters, a white guy and a black girl.  They do have actual names, but really that's how I remember who they are.  I don't actually know their names.  (I could look it up and I did, but I wanted to illustrate just how forgettable they are)

But they are forgettable for a reason.  This show is incredible at casting.  There are an insane amount of great character actors whose name you can't place, but whose face you will surely recognize.  Chris Ellis, Raymond J. Berry, Brett Cullen, Ray McKinnon, M.C. Gainey, Jere Burns, W. Earl Brown, Stephen Root.  (That's not even mentioning Alan Ruck in his fantastic one episode stint or Tony Hale, who doesn't get much to do but BUSTER!)

The female characters could use some work too.  It's not that they are written badly, but there's a huge disconnect between the two main female leads on this show.... and just about every other man.  It's a bit alarming just because it's a hugely male-centric show, and the few female characters are underwhelming.

The majority of this season, with the exception of the last three episodes, was mostly procedural as well.  That's kind of a weakness, but really I can't blame them for initiating us into this world slowly.  I definitely liked the structure of this season more than Sons of Anarchy's structure, although SOA pretty much did the same thing the first season as well.  But its still worth mentioning for people who must have serialized storytelling.

Overall, if you want to watch badasses at work, there's not much shows that do it better than Justified.  If you like seeing the main protagonist take control of the situation and destroy the opponents in slick, smart ways, this show is definitely for you.

(Side note: For as good of a show as this is, the theme song to this is godawful.  It grows on you but I think that's just because I associate it with good television, not on its own merits.)

Playlist
1. "Dead Man Shoes" - The Virginmarys
2. "Stripes" - Brandy Clark (first country song I've ever had on this)
3. "Villuminati" - J. Cole
4. "Surrender" - Cheap Trick
5.  "My Iron Lung" - Radiohead