What I’m Watching: Justified

Justified: Season 1, Episode 5 “The Lord of War and Thunder” (B+)

It’s pretty wild to see where Raylan comes from, and just how memorable his father is. Raymond J. Barry, an actor who played influential senators on both “Alias” and “The X-Files,” is quite a tour de force as the most vicious senior citizen since Clint Eastwood in “Gran Torino.” The exchanges between Raylan, Arlo, and Helen are so coarse and interesting. The conversation between Raylan and his father about the fact that, in all the years that he has been pulling jobs and committing crimes, he never shot anyone. This show does a great job of taking innocent, nebbishy actors and turning them into seedy bad guys, starting with David Eigenberg two weeks ago and now with Eddie Jemison, of “Ocean’s Eleven” and “Hung” fame. Raylan was especially impressive in this episode, pulling double duty taking care of his family stuff and posing as a gardener to catch another criminal at the same time. The ex-wife pointing a shotgun at Raylan while he had him handcuffed on the floor was an extremely tense scene, and I’m always particularly blown away by the way that he reacts so perfectly and nonchalantly to the tension. Raylan’s willingness to literally “play ball” in order to get the answers he needed was fun, and it’s nice how this show continually evokes the Old West and unconventional, less than modern ways of executing the law. I was so excited at the opportunity to see Ava and Winona in the same room, and I loved how both of them reacted, with Ava smiling and Winona embarrassedly asking to be quietly excused from the case. I hope to see them have contact more in the future, because that would be fantastic.