What I’m Watching: Justified

Justified: Season 1, Episode 4 “Long in the Tooth” (B+)

For a show about one lawman in particular, this series certainly excels at getting into the minds of the criminal-of-the-week and doing a magnificent job of making them seem all-important despite the fact that they’re only sticking around for one episode. Alan Ruck of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Speed” fame was a fun choice to play Roland Pike, the former mob-accountant-turned-dentist-in-hiding. Him going ballistic in the first scene and pulling out the complainer’s teeth without anesthesia was a definitive deep dive into his psyche, but the episode helped to make it more intriguingly complex as it progressed. His panicking about his girlfriend not being safe when with him because of the vengeful tooth extraction and his subsequent murder of the coyote was extremely interesting. And it’s not only about the guest characters, but the series regulars as well. That was most evident at the tail end of the episode when Rachel tried on Raylan’s cowboy hat while she was driving him home. The conversation between Raylan, Roland, and his girl in the middle of the desert was very entertaining and full of great lines. After someone started shooting at Roland, his guess of “is that your guys?” was humorously answered by Raylan: “no, it’s the bad guys.” Roland’s unwillingness to disclose his reason for becoming a dentist because Raylan might laugh was funny, and Raylan had a terrific response: “Really? That’s your biggest concern right now?” Extracting light-hearted jokes out of the most seemingly serious and dangerous moments is one of the things that makes this show awesome.