After weeks of being mentioned but not seen, we finally met Raylan’s father, Arlo, last night. As played with a sere twang by Raymond J. Barry, Arlo was as laconic and prone to fast action as his son, but with the charm of Raylan necessarily shaved off by age and experience, much of it in jail. In other words, he was a tough old buzzard.
Justified continued its winning ways by having Tim Olyphant’s U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens working two cases — staking out a house that he’s pretty sure contains a fugitive, and dealing with his dad, out of jail and ornery. We’ve heard enough references to the latter in previous episodes to know only that Raylan pretends he doesn’t care about his father, is abashed that the old man is a repeat offender, and that jail is, to Raylan’s way of thinking, the best place for Daddy to remain seen-and-not-heard-from. So an Arlo set free is both a civil and an emotional burden.
As usual with Justified, no one is completely innocent in any situation. That little weasel Perkins may run drugs and rough up Raylan’s stepmother, but stepmom Helen (Linda Gehringer) lied to Raylan about the rent Perkins was paying (she said he hadn’t; he had). True to Givens form, Arlo didn’t talk much about this situation. He just grabbed a bat and whaled away at a couple of Perkins’ big thugs in the middle of a diner. This was highly satisfying, as was the later scene in which Raylan used a bat himself.
After a few episodes in which it looked as though Justified might be more of a stand-alone, episodic drama than many of FX’s other drama series, this one revealed how deep the show can go when it comes to character. We clearly have a lot more to explore about Raylan’s cool surface demeanor and inner simmering boil, and about that graveyard with headstones of most members of the Givens family.
A couple of final observations:
• I have to admit, as charming as Joelle Carter’s Ava can be in her romantic byplay with Raylan, Natalie Zea really brings an electric crackle to every too-brief scene as Raylan’s ex Winona. More of her, please.
• It was good to see Brent Sexton — from NBC’s late. lamented Damian Lewis show Life — pop up as a cop here.
“The Shield” it’s not, but this series is growing on me. Olyphant is terrific. Was a little disappointed that this episode lacked the snap-crackle-pop writing of the very witty previous episode, about Raylan tracking the crazy criminal dentist with the humanitarian streak.
“Wrong kid died!”
Sorry, the moment I saw who Raylan’s dad was, I had to say it. Great episode, tho. I’ve yet to see one that wasn’t. Easily my favorite new series.
I love this show; it is funny and Olyphant is a great actor (not to mention some nice eye candy).
The show’s not great. I like the first episode but the rest of them weren’t as good. Olyphant lacks charisma as the lead, some scenes are under-acted.
Great show. This was easily the best ep so far. And saying Olyphant lacks charisma is just silly talk.
Here’s the thing… this show isn’t over the top. For a person who’s looking for constant shoot-em-ups and wise-ass remarks, Justified isn’t it. It’s understated and nuanced. The jokes are there (and they’re *funny*) but you have to pay attention, or you miss them. The action is there, and some episodes are more action0heavy than others, but isn’t that the way it should be? Some episodes for story-telling and getting to know the characters, and others for shooting people and smacking them in the face with their own guns? Too much of one and not of the other leads to either being bogged down in pathos, or shallow and repetitive. If that’s what you want, perhaps NCIS is a little more your style. Or CSI: Miami?
Lacks charisma? Under-acted? You’ve been watching too much Glee perhaps.
Lacks charisma? Who are you looking at? Goodness, this man is incredible.
You must be kidding. Olyphant is brilliant and a joy to watch. He brings Raylan Given to life and lets the viewer “feel” his every emotion. The Lord of War and Thunder was a perfect episode, we got to understand why Raylan is Raylan. Loved it from start to finish and the skin show was just icing on a decadent cake. Thank you Timothy..keep up the great work.
Yeah first episode was def the best but this is still my new favorite show. Plus Olyphant in his cowboy get-up?…HOTTT
I prefer him out his his cowboy get up…
P
No, the cowboy get-up is hottest!
It was great to finally get some real background on Raylan’s childhood. Good stuff.
Ken, I have been saying the exact thing — the last couple of episodes made it seem more like a stand-alone procedural-type show, like The Mentalist, which was disappointing to me. I love the backstory last night, and I agree that I want to see more of ex-wife Winona. When Raylan told Ava that he thought Winona was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and she made him say “up to that point” in his life, you could tell that really bothered her. There are a lot of unresolved feelings between Raylan and Winona, and a lot to do with that and Ava, especially with her dead husband’s father getting out of jail. I love this show!
Really great show. Last night’s episode was the best one since the pilot. Olyphant is great. Except for Walt Goggins, though, none of the other supporting actors have jumped out as truly vital to the show’s quality (like Fred Weller or Leslie Anne Warren on *In Plain Sight* or Fiona/Sam on *Burn Notice*). The one great addition needs would be more supporting character actors who seem memorable in their own right.
I like the show and it’s off beat sort of vibe and the fact that it is a fresh take on a cop show. As for Raylan’s daddy, I would like to see more of him in to see more of Raylans reaction to his Dad because this goes alot deeper than Raylans letting on.
Raylon sure knows how to get the job done, whatever it is. He’s got my vote.
Oh I forgot, I wanted to ask about the grave he visited in the end. Didn’t it have his name on it?
Yeah, they addressed it earlier in the show. Raylan goes to drop his dad off at home after bailing him out of jail, and is standing and looking at the headstones. Arlo wisecracks that the headstones have always weirded Raylan out, and they go on to discuss how Arlo traded stolen cattle for them when Raylan was a kid.
Thanks. I mustof been beating something with my baseball bat at that time… LOL
Love this show, it bears watching more than once to pick up all the little things.
This is the best new show on TV! My husband and I saw the first one and we’ve been hooked ever since. Great wit, just enough kick-A$$ action, and awesome eye candy….
What was that thing Aunt Helen said she was doing in the parking lot for cash? Gosh I love cable!!!
I love this series and Timothy Olyphant and this episode was the best since the pilot. It was subtle in revealing so many intimate things about Raylan. The similarity between Raylan and his father were striking–the actor playing the father looks enough like Timothy to be his Dad. Really fantastic with quite a bit of humor, as well. Please give us a second season of this show.
Did I miss an episode? What was he talking about New Orleans with Ava? What episode was that.
I was wondering about that too. Raylan also mentioned something about his shoulder hurting and other men would need morphine, but he could handle it, like he had been shot?
They’d been talking about how he spent his day doing yardwork on the stakeout, and he rolled his shoulders like they were tight, and she gave him a shoulder rub. I didn’t hear anything about New Orleans, and I re-watched it on my DVR tonight.