‘Justified’ and Raylan Givens Enter a New Era of Policing
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In the first episode of the new miniseries Justified: City Primeval, our old friend Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) — the quick-drawing, fast-talking, Stetson-wearing U.S. marshal from Harlan, Kentucky — is called to testify about a fugitive he brought back to Detroit. Defense attorney Carolyn Wilder (Aunjanue Ellis) calls him out for having threatened to put her client in the trunk of a car if he didn’t behave. This is the kind of stunt Raylan pulled all the time during the original run of Justified, and we found it charming as all get-out back then. But it’s been eight years since we last saw him, and public attitudes about cops — particularly cops who like to bend the law to their own whims — have changed a whole lot over that time. So here is Raylan, being questioned by a Black lawyer, in front of a Black judge (played by the great character actor Keith David), regarding his treatment of a Black suspect, and suddenly his familiar shenanigans don’t feel quite so cute, do they?
Most TV revivals fail creatively because great shows are a product of a particular moment in time for both the characters and the audience. The few that work (like The Conners) do so because they acknowledge how the passage of time has changed the people onscreen, and those of us watching them. City Primeval very smartly does this, finding ways to recontextualize Raylan’s behavior, while still managing to tell an entertaining yarn about him and a colorful collection of supporting characters.
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The new show is adapted from a 1980 novel by Raylan’s creator, Elmore Leonard, though the print version of City Primeval featured a different hero. Set primarily in the Motor City, it finds Raylan pursuing Clement Mansell (Boyd Holbrook from Narcos), the self-styled “Oklahoma Wildman” who keeps getting away with various murders through a combination of luck, force of will, and Carolyn’s legal gifts. For the moment, the series has swapped one Boyd (Walton Goggins as Raylan’s archnemesis Boyd Crowder) for another, and Holbrook’s swagger proves an excellent match for Olyphant’s, without seeming like a ripoff of Goggins. Mansell is more vicious than your average Justified baddie, but as his girlfriend Sandy (Adelaide Clemens) acknowledges, “He’s fun.”
Years ago, Raylan was introduced maneuvering a bad guy into a situation where he could legally get away with using lethal force. And the original run provided many other opportunities for him to play judge, jury, and executioner. But his sensibilities have evolved and relaxed with age; when a Detroit cop (Norbert Leo Butz) suggests arranging for the local Albanian mob to take out Mansell, Raylan is indignant, insisting the goal should be to put their target into a tiny prison cell for a very long time. His famous temper still lurks, though, especially when Mansell approaches Raylan’s daughter Willa (played by Olyphant’s own daughter Vivian). The difference this time is that other people call him out on it. Carolyn acknowledges he’s right to be mad, but he’s also a middle-aged white man with a badge and a gun. “Everybody doesn’t get to be angry the way you do,” she reminds him.
With the old supporting cast left behind in Kentucky, original series vets Dave Andron and Michael Dinner have assembled an impressive new ensemble to flank Olyphant and Holbrook. Ellis makes Carolyn into one of the best foils Raylan has ever had, Clemens makes you understand why Sandy is both attracted to and terrified of Mansell, and Vondie Curtis-Hall is incredibly charismatic and poignant as Sweety, a musician turned bar owner whose criminal past leaves him unfortunately tied to Mansell. In her first screen role, Vivian Olyphant is uneven, though her awkward weirdness feels very true for a teenager in almost any circumstance, let alone one who’s been dragged along to a strange city while her father leads a manhunt. She and her father unsurprisingly have great chemistry, and she brings out a lighter side of Raylan that’s not always there when he’s interacting with all these strangers.
City Primeval is based on a 43-year-old story, and some of the artifacts of that can feel clunky, like Mansell’s fixation on cassette tapes. But it also feels very of the moment in a way that, well, justifies bringing back such a beloved, complex character many years later. Late in the story, Raylan makes a choice that exasperates one of his new friends. “Goddammit, Raylan,” Carolyn exclaims. “Yeah,” he admits, “I get that a lot.”
The first two episodes of Justified: City Primeval premiere July 18 on FX, streaming the next day on Hulu, with additional episodes releasing weekly. I’ve seen all eight episodes.
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