Justified: Season 5 [Blu-ray]

Great Tv show

(a couple of season 5 spoilers included, so please proceed with caution)Great show! These characters are so complex and layered. So dynamic. So substantial. It is usually hard to tell what they will do and many instances on this show have caught me completely by surprise, which has me hooked.The delicate relationship between Boyd and Raylan has made them my favorite frenemies on television or film by far. Olyphant's character (Raylan Givens) walks a fine line between good and bad (and sometimes even stumbles over it) and usually I want him to succeed except for the few occasions I actually want him to fail. Usually when it comes to Boyd. Oddly enough, I almost always want Boyd to win anything he does. Such a deeply conflicted character. He has certain honorable ideals, and yet he has his ALWAYS criminal lifestyle. And Boyd has come such a long way from the season one old distant almost friend coworker to Raylan, less than loyal brother, and "all around bad guy who robbed banks and was just rather second rate" to a criminal 'almost' kingpin who is deeply devoted to his longtime girlfriend (and now ex) and even pretty loyal to his frenemy and knows how to handle himself in just about any situation.The characters have alliances and friendships that may change based on the situation. Even Raylan is far from the man he was in season 1. Back then it was all about the law, with a few caveats when it came to his home town and its occupants. Now he is looking to the future and his career and his ability to care for his family. Which actually makes him less likeable in some way, though not enough to make him unlikeable. The man is still amazing.As for supporting characters, I cannot believe how incredible the supporting cast is from year to year. And not just the regular characters but the one-season ones as well. Time and again I have been shocked by the calibur of actor that has been killed off after first appearing, reminiscent of that first scene in Scream where one of the title characters just up and dies on us. Seasonally, really great actors and characters have appeared and 'exited' all while my jaw brushes the ground. All of it clearly well thought out by the writers. And the ones that stick around are pretty amazing as well. High quality, great acting.Speaking of which, this group of writers is so on point. Their dialogue is perfect. It is realistic while also being incredibly dark and sardonic, sometimes funny, sarcastic, curt, ridiculous (when appropriate for the character), and always reflective of the individual speaking. The storyline is gripping and both engaging and repellent (in the 'I am glad I am not there but I just can't stop watching' sort of way).All in all, one of the best shows ever created and continues to be great even now. I now there is one season left but my heart wants more.

I'm addicted to this show, but not because the "writing is awesome" or the "characters are awesome." In fact the writing is lame and the plot moves in fits and starts and grand leaps sideways. I watch an episode and then reconstruct it in my head during my commute the next day.The characters had potential, but so much was never developed. Here's what I want to know: At the start of the first episode of the first season the main character says to the penultimate bad guy something along the lines of: I never draw my gun unless I'm going to shoot it, and I never shoot it unless I'm going to kill what I'm shooting. He breaks that rule every 15-seconds in every successive episode.Why? If he'd stick by that rule, then every encounter would be infused with that same ironic tension. The bad guy doesn't know he's out matched, but the audience does. Is he going to pull? Maybe. Maybe not.Furthermore...although Walt Goggins is excellent and has brought so much more to Boyd than is written for the character, there is so much more potential. Take that moment when Boyd says: just because you do illegal things doesn't make you an outlaw, I'm an outlaw. Wow. But, he's not an outlaw! He's a drug dealer who is shopping for a suburban house that he thinks will make Ava happy. No. Wrong. Rewind. Boyd should have gone from preacher to politics. Or he should be leading a band of bandits, not lame drug dealers. Snooze.And what is with Raylan's ex-wifre already? If you are a grown woman with a baby who has been married twice you should learn one thing: being in love means that you accept the person you love not that you get to change the person. So, either you love the gun fighter or you move on. You are going to get the gun guy to trade his pistol for a bbq fork about as fast as you are going to get Ava in the PTA. Good grief. Kudos to Ava though, she's the real deal. She loves Boyd the faux outlaw and she exists apart from him too, or at least she did. Sadly she is being relegated to a more sexist and stereotypical role in recent episodes.One more thing...why drugs? Have any of you writers ever been to Harlan County Kentucky? Do you know why it's prominent in American folklore? Do you know why it, and other places like it, are so important right now? What about the coal mines and environmental destruction? What about the poverty and sickness and ignorance? What about the amazing musical tradition from the region? There is a reason for Boyd and Raylan. Explore it.Thanks. I love this show. I just had to vent because I have no episodes to deconstruct tonight.Anyway, I love this show.

Ended too soon

Enter from Florida the very worst of the Crowe clan (where they fed victims to the alligators). In Kentucky Boyd Crowder's crooked rackets are now under threat. Inevitable now is a fight to the death. Problems thus mount for laid-back Marshall Raylan Givens.Another strong season, sly humour and great turns of phrase much in evidence as bodies mount. As always, Raylan has unconventional ways of achieving justice, playing villains against each other a speciality. They have every reason to be wary of him, he so much on their wavelength.Heads of a strong cast, Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins are great - their Raylan and Boyd different sides of the same coin, cunning survivors both.Prepare for inter-gang warfare, betrayals, unexpected alliances and dramatic departures with much spattering of blood. Fine scripts, atmospheric music (never intrusive) add a genuine air of menace (some of the women's prison scenes uncomfortable to watch). Perhaps we should be repulsed, but throughout there is style hard to resist.13 episodes. No bonuses.Season 6 will be extra special, for all good things must come to an end.

Raylan Givens continues to try to bring arch enemy Boyd Crowder to justice while the Crowe family arrive from Florida to take over Dewey's drug business and brothel. Carrying on from where season 4 left off with excellent performances from the whole cast. While newcomers can soon catch up with the plot it's probably best if you have seen the series straight from the beginning with the trigger happy laid back U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens and the cops of Harlan county and the dumb redneck criminals along with the craftier smarter masterminds like Boyd Crowder who is fighting to keep control of crime in Harlan county while girlfriend Ava is in prison following events in season 4. The dialogue is excellent with plenty of twists and turns right up to the series finale. 13 episodes as usual with the finale setting up the 6th and final series. One of the most criminally underrated TV shows around now unbelievably hidden away on Sky Boxsets.

This is the best season yet. The main actors have grown into their characters very convincingly and it makes the whole experience more enjoyable. The plot is really good with a great combination of idiot, modern,country hick criminals being exploited by their sharper contemporaries. Then Raylan, the laid-back lawman, and ultimate cool guy, comes along to lazily puts it all to rights. Brilliant. I love all that Southern, backwoods neo-hilly billy stuff as it is such an enthralling change of environment from all the slick City backdrops of most U.S television series'. All 5 series' of Justified are so well written, and have created such wonderfully colourful characters, that it is my favourite U.S series to date, closely followed by 'Boardwalk Empire'.Eamonn

Stylish and atmospheric, US Marshal Raylan Givens saunters through the Kentucky landscape facing new villains, and his old adversary Boyd Crowder, with his usual combination of menace and condescension. Great characters with a dedicated will to lie, cheat, double-cross and most importantly - survive. This series is a classic to keep and watch at regular intervals. I hope the next series isn't the last.

The laconic Raylan Givens, Deputy Marshall, has to be the coolest law enforcer currently on screen (if not ever). The dialogue is sharp, darkly witty and all the characters are exceptionally well cast. Raylan has a moral code all his own which his boss, Art, does his best to keep on track. If you enjoy police drama with a cynical twist and a thread of black comedy running through it you will love this.