"Justified" is back! Yay! Weeks ago, I actually wrote on my calendar that the season three premiere was airing last night, which tells me, definitively, that "Justified" matters more to me than the Iowa caucuses.
I enjoyed "Justified" in its first season and fell in love with it in its second (excepting one particular issue). As with any show that got that good, one worries that its writers can stay at that level, or even keep getting better and better. And it's silly to make a judgment about how successfully a show's writers are doing that until at least halfway through a season. "Justified" isn't a "CSI"-type procedural; it's a novel. And you don't quit on a novel after one chapter. So, while there are things introduced in last night's premiere that make me say "YES, I want to see more of this!" and other things that made me say ".....eh..." I'm going to hold off on saying that season three is definitely this or that...for now.
Things I liked: Ava, always Ava. I could not be happier that she's apparently continuing her development into a Lady Macbeth-esque consiglieri for Boyd Crowder. Devil's lucky he got out of that meal with only a frying pan to the head, considering what happened to Ava's late husband. Speaking of the men in Ava's life, remind me never to play chess with Boyd. I mean, he did deliberately assault Raylan so he'd get sent to the same holding pen as Dickie, right? I'm not just granting Boyd Jedi powers, am I?
Here's something else I liked, surprisingly... Winona. Or, rather, the fact that Winona does in fact have a personality and we actually got to see it for a change. Too often in the show's first two seasons, Winona seemed to be there only to whine and give Raylan someone to fuss over. That's not fair to the character, and frankly it got old pretty quickly. Yes, Winona once again ended this episode in a room with a bad guy and a gun, but at least she wasn't the primary target this time. (Baby steps, writers.) And she got to make jokes! I for one think Jiffy Pop Givens is an awesome name.
But my problem is, though I like pregnant Winona, the pregnancy plotline doesn't really excite me all that much. For me, Raylan as that classic American archetype (seen in countless Westerns, and probably at least one episode of "Community") - the man that can save society but can't be a part of it - is a million times more interesting than a guy with a wife, kid and mortgage who fights crime until it's time for Jiffy Pop's soccer game. I, too, would rather Raylan just get a dog.
I'm also not too pumped about the whole Dixie Mafia story. I know, I know, it needs to play out. But Winn Duffy, et al, have just never compelled me the way the Bennetts and Crowders did. I think at least part of that is because I can relate to people who sing on the front porch and battle mining companies. I can't relate as much to skeevy guys in cheap suits who shoot each other in between one-liners. I'm probably alone here.
Anyway, quibbles aside, I'm pumped to have "Justified" in my life again. And seriously, Carla Gugino cannot get here quick enough.
Rachel sightings: four, by my count, but three were separate shots in one scene.
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