Justified: City Primeval Review: Timothy Olyphant’s Return as Raylan Givens Hits the Bull’s-Eye
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“There are only two kinds of guys out in the street chasing bad guys at your age — ones who got passed over for ‘the big chair,’ and the ones who just love it so much they’re gonna have to be dragged off. Only question is will they be breathing when it happens.”
That observation-slash-threat comes courtesy of Raylan Givens’ latest formidable foe, Clement Mansell aka “The Oklahoma Wildman,” in the FX limited series Justified: City Primeval. But it also speaks to the fact that the steely-eyed U.S. Marshal indeed cannot seem to stop doing that thing he does so well.
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In fact, when the eight-episode revival opens, Raylan (played again by Timothy Olyphant) is simply driving daughter Willa to a summer camp “time out” when his instincts as a lawman kick in, effectively detouring father and teen to Detroit, where all kinds of unexpected mayhem await.
Inspired by the late Elmore Leonard’s crime novel City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit and premiering Tuesday, July 18 with its first two episodes, Justified: City Primeval essentially replaces the book’s protagonist, homicide detective Raymond Cruz, with Raylan — though the former is glimpsed in a flashback to a mass shooting that years ago landed the ruthless Clement behind bars. Remarkably, Clement wound up dodging that multiple-homicide charge and now has returned to Motor City (“played” here by Chicago) at probably the worst time ever, seeing as Raylan Givens happens to be passing through.
Just how devil-may-care is “The Oklahoma Wildman”? Clement is asked at one point, “What do you think you’re doing?” The fact that he cooly replies, “Anything I want!” tells you a lot about the cocksure and volatile villain with whom Raylan will have to lock horns.
Relocating Raylan from Kentucky’s uber-quaint Harlan County to the largest city in Michigan demands an adjustment for the longtime Justified viewer, yet Michael Dinner (co-showrunner with fellow Justified vet Dave Andron), as director of the early outings, finds ways to make it feel like Raylan and Clement are two large fish circling each other in a small pond. And one inciting incident occurs at a home that would not be out of place in a holler.
The inclusion of a 15-year-old Willa — who was last seen at about age 4, in Justified‘s April 2015 series finale — surprisingly feels seamless, less an intrusion on lone wolf Raylan’s oft-dangerous endeavors but an added, sweet-voiced consideration. And the banter that the Olyphants get to engage in during their unplanned stop in Detroit is clearly well-served by the duo’s off-camera bond. (Willa, having fallen not far at all from the tree, is fearless in calling things as she sees them. And a midseason heart-to-heart about how she does or doesn’t fit into her Dad’s life, such as when her mother Winona is away on vacation, is quite moving.)
Timothy Olyphant has lost not even a half-step as Raylan, which isn’t surprising since in recent years he found all kinds of ways (The Good Place, The Mandalorian…) to channel his inner gunslinger. Even when Raylan is still in the processing of getting your number, he has a way of making you feel like he already has you dead to rights. And as evidenced by the fight scene glimpsed in the trailer, Olyphant and Holbrook (who can be seen playing a far more inept baddie in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny) enjoy an adversarial chemistry that is combustible.
One of the great pleasures of the Detroit setting is bouncing Raylan off any combo of new characters. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always be happy to return to Harlan, but witnessing the variety of dynamics between Olyphant and, say, Tony Award winner Norbert Leo Butz (as an accidentally amusing Detroit cop), Rectify standout Adelaide Clemens (as Clement’s not-entirely-savvy moll), or The Affair‘s Victor Williams (as Raylan’s short-term partner of sorts) is all kinds of fun.
The casting of the new faces is pretty terrific, across-the-board — especially Aunjanue Ellis (Lovecraft Country) as Clement’s razor-sharp attorney, Carolyn Wilder, who struggles with putting the charming Raylan in his place while knowing that she is defending a deplorable killer. Similarly, Vondie Curtis-Hall (For the People) imbues Sweety, a storied bar owner, with great depth, and Marin Ireland (Sneaky Pete), as Butz’s colleague, is a perfect buffer to his eyeroll-worthy swagger.
Justified: City Primeval may at times leave you longing for the dingy folksiness and familiar faces of Harlan County. But it’s a welcome, tightly wound, eight-episode reunion with Raylan Givens nonetheless.
THE TVLINE BOTTOM LINE: FX’s Justified: City Primeval puts a familiar face in a new place, and the result is a very good time.
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