Quick Take: Justified, "Riverbrook"
"What you'll have to do now is ride the wrap, as they say, and that's all anyone has to do." – Raylen Givins
Review: Justified, "Riverbrook"
(S0102) The Justified pilot was so well done, nearly perfect in its execution and tone and characters and action and setting (the lush hills of eastern Kentucky), that I know I'm not the only one who held his breath going into the second episode. Could it be as good? This was exacerbated by knowing that the pilot "ate up" the plot of the Elmore Leonard short story on which the series is based.
The short answer: we can all rest easy. This show is good. Damned good. And the potential for where it can go is crazy enormous.
"Riverbrook" opens with Raylen Givens (Timothy Olyphant), a cowboy hat-wearing man with a code working as a U.S. Marshall in modern times, visiting Bowd Crowder (Walton Goggins) in a federal prison hospital. Givens had shot Crowder at the end of the pilot, and now Crowder has "seen the light" and speaks of being reborn.
The chemistry between Olyphant and Goggins as old friends now on way different paths is incredible, and it wasn't until a few scenes later when Givens is transporting a prisoner to the federal pen that I realized that Givens really didn't buy Crowder's proverbial prison (hospital) "conversion." It was Givens refusing to go visit the prisoner's family that sealed it, Givens talking about how he has no reason to trust "his people." Even though this is modern times, we're looking at a clannish world, one which Givens grew up with. Maybe Givens' boss in Miami was onto something in transferring him back home.
Another reason why Justified deserves its reputation already as one of the few (and perhaps best) TV shows or movies to capture Elmore Leonard's world is the way in which criminals and law enforcement (embodied by Givens) interact with each other. Though Givens has a code and will not be trifled with, he has a certain respect for those who live by their own code, even if it is a criminal. Case in point is the roadside convenience store scene with Givens and escaped convict/Big House Boys musician Cooper. It's a pleasure to watch this kind of scene (cop gets caught up in a convenience store robbery) that we've seen a thousand times in a fresh and enjoyable light. And it's also cool to see Givens not always getting his way. "Well, shit!" he spits out as he's left locked in the dark of a utility closet.
And speaking of chemistry, things are heating up between Raylen and Ava Crowder (Joelle Carter), but since she shot and killed her abusive husband, Bowd's brother, and Givens is mixed up in it all, their pairing is a no no in legal terms.
Even if it's just a "story of the week," the main event involving Cooper's buried money, his ex-wife, and her new loser boyfriend (and, oh yeah, cousin), is very entertaining and shed's more light on the aesthetic an d atmosphere of the show. Very promising indeed.
More thoughts on "Riverbrook":
Video: Justified, "Riverbrook"
Check out this interview with Graham Yost, executive producer of Justified:
//
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));
// ]]>
//
try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-15514997-1");
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {} // ]]>
Recap: Justified, "Riverbrook"
Raylan hunts an escaped prisoner who is determined to reunite with his ex-wife...and his stashed fortune.
From Around the Web: Justified, "Riverbrook"
