Justified: City Primeval: Adios
August 16, 2023 7:05 PM - Season 1, Episode 6 - Subscribe
Raylan makes a play for Mansell and comes up empty, while Sweety's escape plan goes up in flames. IndieWire review.
Agreeing with this: “I wonder if anybody’s that lucky,” Raylan says. “I wonder if some combination of this dead judge and this alleged book and this particular shitbird are making people act in ways they otherwise wouldn’t. And I feel like I do when I’m being played a fool.” Also interesting when someone brings up the word "just" on Justified. Hmmmmm.
Weirdly enough, this was the only time I ever thought David Cross was looking pretty good, for him. Go figure.
Agreeing with this: “I wonder if anybody’s that lucky,” Raylan says. “I wonder if some combination of this dead judge and this alleged book and this particular shitbird are making people act in ways they otherwise wouldn’t. And I feel like I do when I’m being played a fool.” Also interesting when someone brings up the word "just" on Justified. Hmmmmm.
Weirdly enough, this was the only time I ever thought David Cross was looking pretty good, for him. Go figure.
Definitely agree that not hearing the florid language, especially Boyd's, is a big loss. In addition, I really miss the verbal back and forth between Raylan and the other marshals. Raylan isn't really part of a team in Detroit, and that's a big loss.
posted by ALeaflikeStructure at 8:43 AM on August 17, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by ALeaflikeStructure at 8:43 AM on August 17, 2023 [4 favorites]
Good call - as criminally underused as they were Tim and Rachel were a goddamned delight, and so was Raylan's relationship with Art.
I suspect another issue is the lack of a coherent bigger bad - the best seasons of Justified had a motivated, intelligent antagonist (or two! or three!) with their own logical motivations for doing what they were doing. None of them were motivated by Raylan.
Mags, for instance, wanted her family to escape the Holler, and was up against the Pikes and the Givens' and (incidentally) the law.
Season 3 gives us Quorls and Limehouse and Detroit each with their own motivations running up against each other, Season 5 is all about the Crowes trying to escape Florida.. etc. The weakest (until now) is Season 1, which has no real big bad and is much more case-of-the-week with an undercurrent of "the fuck is up with Boyd?".
J:CP doesn't have an intelligent bad. Mansell is an evil low-life who killed the judge for no particular reason, who is doing evil things cos he's evil.
posted by coriolisdave at 3:19 PM on August 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
I suspect another issue is the lack of a coherent bigger bad - the best seasons of Justified had a motivated, intelligent antagonist (or two! or three!) with their own logical motivations for doing what they were doing. None of them were motivated by Raylan.
Mags, for instance, wanted her family to escape the Holler, and was up against the Pikes and the Givens' and (incidentally) the law.
Season 3 gives us Quorls and Limehouse and Detroit each with their own motivations running up against each other, Season 5 is all about the Crowes trying to escape Florida.. etc. The weakest (until now) is Season 1, which has no real big bad and is much more case-of-the-week with an undercurrent of "the fuck is up with Boyd?".
J:CP doesn't have an intelligent bad. Mansell is an evil low-life who killed the judge for no particular reason, who is doing evil things cos he's evil.
posted by coriolisdave at 3:19 PM on August 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
I agree with the lack of an intelligent villain being the big thing missing in this series. I’ve been trying to figure out why I’m not enjoying it as much as I wanted to, and I think that’s exactly it. The main villain in this one is just kind of psychotic and not particularly bright or interesting. He’s just generically awful.
posted by eekernohan at 6:18 PM on August 17, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by eekernohan at 6:18 PM on August 17, 2023 [3 favorites]
Yeah, and as Raylan points out, how is the guy getting that lucky?
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:51 PM on August 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:51 PM on August 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
The main villain in this one is just kind of psychotic and not particularly bright or interesting. He’s just generically awful.
He's almost the crime equivalent of white mediocrity - just failing his way up.
A more interesting show might have taken the well-meaning pillar of the community Sugar and had him become the True Villian - finally get sick of being downtrodden and etc and just go full bad. Take out Mansell then go on a "justified" cleaning spree, killin' all the corrupted people in the book.
Yeah, and as Raylan points out, how is the guy getting that lucky?
Which cop is the mole? Probably the ladycop, yeah?
posted by coriolisdave at 6:57 PM on August 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
He's almost the crime equivalent of white mediocrity - just failing his way up.
A more interesting show might have taken the well-meaning pillar of the community Sugar and had him become the True Villian - finally get sick of being downtrodden and etc and just go full bad. Take out Mansell then go on a "justified" cleaning spree, killin' all the corrupted people in the book.
Yeah, and as Raylan points out, how is the guy getting that lucky?
Which cop is the mole? Probably the ladycop, yeah?
posted by coriolisdave at 6:57 PM on August 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
Man they did sweetie wrong in this one. I was hoping he would make it out of this one alive. Kentucky Raylan wouldn't let that crazy white boy pull this shit for so long.
posted by dis_integration at 6:54 AM on August 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by dis_integration at 6:54 AM on August 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
Which cop is the mole? Probably the ladycop, yeah?
I figured it was Carolyn, the defense attorney and Raylan's improbable fuck buddy. I also didn't understand the sting at all; it seemed so stupid. Who sends in the cops before they see the exchange take place? Did I miss something there? Because that was Raylan being really really dumb.
posted by mediareport at 4:49 PM on August 18, 2023
I figured it was Carolyn, the defense attorney and Raylan's improbable fuck buddy. I also didn't understand the sting at all; it seemed so stupid. Who sends in the cops before they see the exchange take place? Did I miss something there? Because that was Raylan being really really dumb.
posted by mediareport at 4:49 PM on August 18, 2023
Raylan didn't make the call to send the cops in. It was the lady cop who did that.
posted by cooker girl at 8:55 AM on August 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by cooker girl at 8:55 AM on August 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
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I reckon one of the key pieces that's gone is the florid language. Particularly evident when Boyd is unloading on Raylan, but even elsewhere the language is verbose, and colloquial, and beautiful.
That is... not the case with J:CP.
posted by coriolisdave at 8:24 PM on August 16, 2023 [5 favorites]