JUSTIFIED Penultimate Season Finale Review

Article first published as TV Review: 'Justified' - 'Restitution' on Blogcritics.

FX’s Justified completed its penultimate season this week with a nice wrap up of this year’s arcs, and an excellent setup for the final go-round. In all, it feels like the series is not only coming full circle, but preparing the perfect batch of endings for its motley crew of players.

The season’s antagonists have been members of the Crowe family. In “Restitution,” the season finale, Kendal Crowe (Jacob Lofland) is about to be tried as an adult for the shooting of Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Art Mullen (Nick Searcy). Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) tells Kendal’s mother, Wendy (Alicia Witt), that the case will go away if she can get her brother, Darryl (Michael Rapaport), who is actually the guilty party, to confess. Wendy does so, killing Darryl in the process.

Justified does an excellent job of creating complex family relationships. Like Margo Martindale’s brood before them, the Crowes are developed quite deeply, and the shifting alliances and positions make sense to the story. Viewers may root against these characters because they are not on the right side of the law and hurt innocents, but rarely do we see bad guys so compellingly detailed as those in this series.

The ending, Wendy taking down the leader of her clan gang, is about a mother protecting her child, but also about making up for her own past wrongs and escaping a family curse. There is so much emotion that goes into that scene, and the authentic way Witt and Rapaport play the showdown is simply amazing. Let’s hope they follow in Martindale’s footsteps of at least being nominated come award season, as they deserve it.

It’s interesting to see the Crowes clean up their own mess, Raylan stepping back and pulling the strings from the sidelines. Usually, Raylan wants to be right in the thick of things. Perhaps having a baby convinces him that he must be more careful, giving him a reason for self-preservation. With his transfer to Florida to be near his kid imminent, Raylan doesn’t want to screw up his chance at happiness.

Of course, there’s still time for Raylan to make more mistakes as he helps with AUSA Vasquez’s (Rick Gomez) new mission, likely Raylan’s last in Kentucky: bringing down Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins). Boyd is a dangerous and tempting foe, his path with Raylan inexorably entwined throughout the show. They have been friends at times, which only serves to make their animosity more intense. It makes sense for Raylan to want to be present for Boyd’s comeuppance. Yet, there’s a nagging suspicion that Raylan won’t be as triumphant as he expects, and maybe he should just get out of town while he’s ahead.

It’s cool to see Rachel (Erica Tazel), now the acting chief, and Tim (Jacob Pitts) go hard after Boyd. They’ve often been under-utilized on Justified, but with their beloved boss, Art, taken out of commission, they show their mettle in working towards justice. The Crowes and the Crowders are responsible for a great many ugly things, and Tim and Rachel definitely step it up when facing these foes.

Raylan will need his co-workers’ help because Boyd isn’t exactly acting alone. His most recent alliance is with Katherine Hale (Mary Steenburgen), whom Winn Duffy (Jere Burns) introduces Boyd to. Katherine seems nice enough on the surface, but there’s an undercurrent in her role that is edgy and scary. Boyd teaming up with her immediately makes taking on Boyd a more risky venture, sure to increase the stakes and drama in season six. Hopefully, though, they will be the only bad major bad guys, instead of splitting screen time as other years have done, allowing the stories to focus even more on them.

The marshals do have a secret weapon in Ava (Joelle Carter), whom they spring from jail. Ava likely cooperates even though she cares for Boyd because the months spent behind bars have been rough on her, and every day she spends locked up is another day she could die, having made more enemies than friends in confinement. She’s also a good choice as a weapon because Raylan knows her well and Boyd is blinded of suspicion by his love her for.

The Raylan-Ava-Boyd triangle, sure to be a centerpiece of the final season, cannot end well. Part of me is rooting for Boyd and Ava to somehow escape and find a happy ending. The other part of me knows they don’t deserve to avoid justice any longer. What is worrying is that it will be surprising if all three survive, one or two likely to be killed off along the way. The problem is, they are all too dear to go without being a huge blow to the program. We’ve spent years getting to know them, and any deaths here will be rough on fans.

I’ve been a fan of Justified from the first scene of the show. Over five years, it has maintained a consistent high quality, if not raising the bar from time to time. This inspires confidence that season six will be quite memorable, and with the stellar fifth year finale, it’s already on the right track.

Justified will return to FX in 2015.

JUSTIFIED "A Murder of Crowes"

Article first published as JUSTIFIED Review on Seat42F.

FX’s JUSTIFIED gets a change of scenery in the season five premiere, “A Murder of Crowes.” It hasn’t left Kentucky behind, as that is where the episode begins, but the world is expanded a little as Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) travels to Florida and Boyd (Walton Goggins) and Wynn Duffy (Jere Burns, now a series regular) head to Detroit. It’s an exciting way to start the year!

Both of these trips are connected to the main story, as it has played out over the past few years. Boyd is missing some drugs he expected to be shipped in from Michigan, and so is trying to figure out what has happened. Fans of the series are familiar with the particular gang Boyd deals with (played by Dave Foley, Will Sasso, and others), and whatever happens, whether Boyd gets his supply or not, there will be implications back at home.

Boyd may be a little distracted since Ava (Joelle Carter) is still in jail and he’d like to clear her name. This cannot be done from several states away, and so it isn’t long before Boyd heads back, leading to a very tense confrontation near the end of the hour.

At the same time, Raylan goes south to find Dewey Crowe’s (Damon Herriman) family. Dewey’s brothers (Monk’s Jason Gray-Stanford and Boston Public’s Michael Rapaport) and sister (Alicia Witt, Friday Night Lights) have gotten mixed up with a Cuban (Amaury Nolasco, Prison Break) who is bad news. Partnering with Deputy Sutter (David Koechner, Anchorman 2, The Office), Raylan tries to play nice with the kin of his foe.

JUSTIFIED has never been stronger than when Raylan comes across a family of criminals. Margo Martindale headed up a fantastic clan of no-good scoundrels previously, and it looks like season five’s Crowes are poised to be just as enticing.

The casting choices for them are terrific and the story is open-ended enough to run for awhile. Plus, bringing in the Florida Crowes ties the tale to an important recurring cast member (who himself had good development this week), making it feel like a natural part of the established mythology.

Though, it’s also awesome when Boyd and Raylan clash, and that’s little in evidence in “A Murder of Crowes,” with the two on completely different paths. I assume that will come later in the season.

The other central figure in Raylan’s existence, besides Boyd, is Winona (Natalie Zea). Without giving anything away, the dynamic between the two of them has definitely shifted since the last we saw them together. It makes one wonder what kind of person Raylan is, and if he will always make the right decisions, as he usually seems to do. This, more than anything, illustrates Raylan’s flaws, Winona being a weakness for him, and that’s an interesting area to explore in our hero’s psyche.

There are already quite a few guest stars listed in the preceding paragraphs, but those are just the tip of the iceberg. In the first hour alone, besides everyone mentioned above, we get Stephen Root (King of the Hill, Boardwalk Empire), Karolina Wydra (House M.D.), Sam Anderson (Lost, ER), and more. It’s a very impressive roster, and it means we’ll have a very full year of players and plot.

You may notice that several of these names are primarily comedic actors. That doesn’t mean they are used to lighten the mood on JUSITIFIED. As done with Patton Oswalt (who will be returning) last season, the series coaxes dramatic performances out of its funny people, showing range and skill viewers may be pleasantly surprised to find.

My only complaint about all of these new faces, other than that not everyone will get the opportunity to repeat their performance, is that it leaves little room for the main cast. Boyd, Wynn, and Raylan have screen time, of course, and Art (Nick Searcy) will continue to be important every now and then, but Rachel (Erica Tazel) and Tim (Jacob Pitts) are already seen so little that this can only be bad news for them. They deserve to be a bigger part of the show, too.

JUSTIFIED remains a great series, well worth watching, and “A Murder of Crowes” is a strong start to the fifth season. JUSTIFIED premieres Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on FX.