5.18.11 Brewtown Andy's Family Feedbag: Justified

Remember Deadwood?  You should.  Based on the true 1870s story of the South Dakota frontier town, it starred Timothy Olyphant as Sheriff Seth Bullock.  Due to differences of opinion between series creator David Milch and HBO, Deadwood ended before its time after three seasons.  Luckily, Graham Yost took notice of Olyphant's performance as a lawman and thought he'd fit in well as Elmore Leonard's character US Deputy Marshal Raylan Givens.  He was right, and now we have Justified.

Just finished with its second season on FX, Justified is the story of US Deputy Marshal Raylan Givens.  Givens gets himself into trouble once too often with the Miami Marshal's Office and finds himself transferred to the Lexington, Kentucky office.  For most Deputy Marshals, this would keep them out of trouble, but for Givens, this was a trip home, having been raised in nearby Harlan, KY.  Givens quickly finds himself embroiled in old feuds with backwoods criminals like Boyd Crowder (played by former The Shield standout Walton Goggins), Raylan's own father, Arlo, and the Bennett clan, led by matriarch Mags Bennett.

The reason I brought up Deadwood to open this Feedbag is because the only real difference in Olyphant's potrayals of the two lawmen is that Raylan Givens is much more outgoing and friendly than Seth Bullock.  Other than that, both men have a no nonsense/always get your man attitude towards law enforcement, almost to the point where Givens starts to feel slightly behind the times in comparison to his fellow Marshals.  If you liked Deadwood and wished you could get more stories of Sheriff Bullock, then Justified is for you.

Previous Feedbags:

Week 1: Sarcastic Voyage

Week 2: Kissing Suzy Kolber

Week 3: The NHL Playoffs

Week 4: Planetary

Week 5: Sobelman's