Justified.
I tried to curb my excitement for what on paper sounded like a “sure thing” because more often than not, those “sure things” end up being duds. But I should have let myself get excited. I mean, Graham Yost adapts an Elmore Leonard short story, damn near to the letter, for FX; a studio that can easily allow for a grittier show—but not so uncensored that anything goes. Yost chooses Timothy Olyphant to play Rayland Givens, a U.S. Marshal who has a tendency to come out of shootouts without a scratch—and the other person comes out in a body bag. What makes Olyphant a great choice is not only the fact that he’s a great actor, but his work on Deadwood showed he can play not only a likeable, but an honorable, character that has rage simmering just below the surface. Then Yost takes an actor that FX fans love (Walton Goggins) and gives him a character that is hard to love— which Goggins transforms into a character that is impossible to resist. And, finally, Yost surrounds Olyphant with actors playing characters that are fun (and funny, in some cases) to watch.
The writing and directing are great, but Olyphant owns this show. I’ve been a big fan since Deadwood, and it’s good to know his work there wasn’t an aberration. Raylan Givens, as noted before, is an angry man. He doesn’t seem like it, but look at his eyes as he deals with people he considers threats, and you can see it bubbling. But he also has a smart-aleck quality such as when dealing with people he knows he’s smarter than. His eyes dare the other character to do “something stupid”. Olyphant has the eyes and the purposeful walk that served his Deadwood character (Seth Bullock) so well. And the hat... Leonard was against Givens’ Stetson at first, but Yost overruled him as well he should have. Givens is not defined by the hat, but it adds a certain lawfulness to the character. You know who the good guy is on the show.
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