One of my favorite current TV shows is Justified. Entering its fifth season this week and based on a short story by the late Elmore Leonard, the show stars Timothy Olyphant as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens. Justified often delivers a healthy dose violence -and death- along with an equally healthy dose of hilarity, a mix that when it works, it works incredibly well. The writing on the show is often razor sharp and a great cast surrounds the taciturn Marshal, who at times walks through the scenery as if he’s a mellow Grim Reaper.
Having said that, this generally negative review by Willa Paskin of the fifth season’s first two episodes had me worried:
A while back I noted a link to a story involving TV shows that had gone on “too long”. I ended the blog entry with examples of TV shows that I felt ended “right on time”, where you could see that the cast/crew/writers/directors/etc. were perhaps starting to lose interest and were beginning to release substandard episodes just before the shows were cancelled (you can read all that here).
One thing I realized belatedly when I wrote that entry was that many of the shows I felt went on “too long” -and those that ended “right on time”- seemed to fall apart around their fourth or fifth season. There seems to be something make or break -more often break– about a show reaching that magical time. As much as I adored The Simpsons, I grew bored of it around its fifth season and never bothered to watch it again. Two of the shows I listed as having ended “right on time” were the original Star Trek series (cancelled after three seasons) and The Wild Wild West (cancelled after four seasons). Thinking about it some more, Torchwood was another series that flopped toward the end, when it reached what was effectively its fifth (or would it be considered fourth?) season long story episodes.
That’s not to say that there are exceptions to this rule (Doctor Who) and, I would hastily note I’m speaking for myself here, but it is curious how I tend to reach my fill with series after a while.
So after reading the review I sat down and, with great trepidation, watched the fifth season premiere of Justified.
Was the negative review…justified?
I can only give a very ambivalent answer here: Yes and no.
The episode was certainly watchable, but the body count in that first hour (I have yet to see the second episode which the reviewer has) was beyond ridiculous. There were somewhere in the neighborhood of ten people killed within that one hour of time (I actually lost track!) and I couldn’t help but think the writers simply wanted to shock us with all that violence.
However, for a kickstarter for a season, the story itself was surprisingly…small. Not a whole lot happened here from a story standpoint, certainly not enough to clue you in on where this season will go. Other seasons have grabbed you by the throat and not let go until the end. This episode felt almost like filler/backstory despite the incredibly high body count.
In the end, I have to agree with Ms. Paskin’s review. While still quite watchable, I hope this episode isn’t a sign of things to come but an anomaly, a “let’s catch the viewers up” type of deal meant for newbies more than those who have been around the previous four seasons.
I still have a great deal of interest in Justified and sincerely hope it once again reaches the levels it has in the past. But this opening episode didn’t do all that much for me.