Justified: City Primeval

This series is a spinoff of the 2010 television show Justified, and follows titular character, U. S. Marshal Raylan Givens, who has been living in Florida, but after a road incident, he is reassigned to Detroit and while there must fight against corruption, take care of his rebellious 15 year-old daughter, build relationships, and hunt down a new dangerous serial killer. Overall due, to its signature comedy, action- packed shootouts/fights, and nostalgic moments, this show was a great return to this character and a good way to add to the story and even though there are sometimes too many side plots or characters that can take away from the main plot, it was an enjoyable experience that fans of the original show will love and hopefully eventually another full length feature can continue to build upon this short but sweet return.

I really wanted to like this series. But three episodes in, it feels like our modern-day Matt Dillon has been worm-holed into an alternate universe of lackluster writing, uninteresting supporting characters, and stodgy direction. No Elmore Leonard vibe this time... just the sort of flaccid storytelling more typical of network cop dramas. And, as a dad with three daughters and my fair share of parental challenges, I feel the whole father-daughter thread is unconvincing. Check out Bosch for some really good writing in that vein. Most of all, this new outing needs an intriguing and likable villain. Give me Boyd Crowder!

What used to make Justified great was the excellent and charismatic villains along with witty repartee dialogue between Raylan and said antagonists, with some good action and plot twists sprinkled in. This series has a less compelling villain who is quite obvious in his machinations and struts around in his white briefs far too often for my taste. He's hardly ever on screen with Raylan so the dialogue is minimal.

We also get some side characters who are inserted for little reason like his supposedly 15-year-old daughter Willa, played by Timothy Olyphant's real life daughter who is 20 and it shows. She can raise her voice an octave but we still have eyes. The writers do her no favors, she just plays the usual bratty and disobedient teen girl trope that is seemingly in every show now, and doesn't move the plot forward in any way but rather acts as a drag on it with distracting annoyance.

The love interest for Raylan is so far off from Ava Crowder or Winona Hawkins that it just doesn't come across as believable. Raylan is probably out of almost every woman's league but in this case it's really a bridge too far.

Neither the plot nor the dialogue are all that clever. Raylan gets in a few quips but it just seems like they stole the lines from the original Justified and repurposed them here. It's great to see Raylan on screen again and Sweety (Vondie Curtis-Hall) is also a lot of fun to watch so I still give this a 6, but when they're off screen it's a 3 or 4. Were they justified in making this show? Mostly not.

The first few episodes were disappointing and with a repeat theme these days ---"here we go again"------- -- a single law enforcement officer with a spoiled brat teenager in tow. It seems to be the trend with crime movies these days and is getting tiresome. Once the daughter, who is a terrible actor and has no screen presence and talks like a 7 year old baby. Once she moves on the show really picked up. The actors were a bit over the top to start with but became much more believeable as the show progressed. Enjoyed the series once the daughter finally left, which should have been much earlier. The villain is a bit much and hard to believe. The writers could have fine tuned this a bit more. Overall well done and worth watching.

Considering Justified is one of my favorite shows ever I've really been looking forward to Justified: City Primeval ever since I first heard about it. Then when I saw the trailers my expectations grew even more. Well, it's finally here and I can say without hesitation that this series not only met those expectations but surpassed them in every way. Timothy Olyphant returns as Raylan Givens. If there's ever been an actor perfect for a role it's Olyphant as Givens. This role was made for him. This series brings everything you loved about the original but also with a fresh take. I really can't recommend this show enough. Whether you're a fan of the original Justified or not, this is a must watch.