TV Series Lounge

The season two premiere of Justified set the intensity for this season. Unfortunately, I have problems with the second episode, “The Life Inside,” as it appeared to be too procedural.

When not much of the week’s story deals with the long-running plots – in this case, the Bennetts, the Crowders, etc. – one’s enjoyment can depend on who the criminals of the week are. I can think back to season one and pick out the episode with Alan Ruck as the dentist as one of my favorites because he was so engaging as Raylan’s adversary.

That didn’t happen for me this week with Jess, Jamie and the EMT.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the story itself, and there were moments when crazy pregnant Jamie got me interested, but Jess Timmons and his EMT partner were a bit boring. The scenes in the house with just the three of them left a lot to be desired… but when Raylan and Deputy Gutterson showed up, and Gutterson shot Jess straight in apricot? That was a fantastic moment.

Deputy Tim Gutterson got to spend the episode with Raylan, transporting Jamie to the doctor and then finding her and taking the aforementioned apricot shot. Boy, was I impressed with Jacob Pitts.

Like Erica Tazel, who got to shine a bit last week, Pitts was able to escape from the Olyphant shadow more than he could in the first season. The stone cold nature of both Gutterson’s sniper shooting and his personality really have me enjoying him thus far. For any The Mentalist fans, it really reminds me of how well Tim Kang works off of Simon Baker.

While the episode’s main plot didn’t work for me entirely, the bits of long-term stories that were there definitely did. Let’s start with Raylan, Winona, and their ridiculous relationship. They started the episode fighting about Raylan’s wardrobe, or coffee, or maybe it was because Winona is afraid Raylan was going to leave Kentucky again. Nevertheless, they didn’t seem like a healthy couple.

After a long day fighting crime Raylan came home and all Winona wanted to do was talk about the day, but that’s not something Raylan enjoys doing.  After getting it off his chest that he witnessed a man point a gun at a pregnant belly before getting shot in the head, Winona seemed happy with him. And Raylan might have even been happy with himself.

These two seem to be making strides in their second attempt at a relationship, even if Winona’s husband Gary is going to fight to steal her from Raylan… again. But what about Ava? Is she no longer in the picture for Raylan? And why is she taking care of Boyd?

Speaking of my favorite coal miner:What is his deal now? He claims that he just wants to do his job and that his “outlaw ways are behind [him],” but are we to take this at face value?  Can a man this crazy be content with a normal job? I’m not buying it for a second.  My question then: is he up to something really evil? Or is he just really confused about life right now?

Finally, after making a splash in the premiere, there wasn’t much of the Bennetts this week. What we did get was Mags Bennett being extremely creepy with little Loretta: I’m looking forward to our time together, Loretta. What a strange old lady.

I hope that this series will bounce back on the third episode.

What do you think?

You can check Justified Season 2 Reviews and Spoilers HERE.

Justified premiered its second season last week. So what can we expect from the rest of this season? Simple, we should all watch out for Loretta. Why? Read the spoiler below by TV Guide.

Speaking to TV Guide, executive producer Graham Yost asks viewers not to forget about Loretta, the young girl Raylan rescued on last week’s premiere. How come? She’s the “heart of the season,” Yost teases.

Viewers will be seeing a lot more of Loretta, as Mags tried to play adoptive mother to her.

“She does have a real soft spot for Loretta because she’s the mother of three boys and was the only woman in the household for many years,” Yost says. “You’ll see the depth of that bond from Mags’ point of view and what transpires because of that. There are unforeseen consequences.”

With this spoiler, what else do you expect from the second season?

You can check Justified Season 2 Reviews and Spoilers HERE.

Spoiler:

• A Resolved Feud on Season Finale
• All About Ava
• All About Loretta

Reviews:

• Episode 1
• Episode 2
• Episode 3
• Episode 4
• Episode 5
• Episode 6
• Episode 7
• Episode 8
• Episode 9
• Episode 10
• Episode 11
• Episode 12
• Episode 13 Season Finale: Bloody Harlan

Justified returns this year with the first episode of its second season, “The Moonshine War.” After watching this episode, I can say that, indeed, this is one of the best shows on US TV.

TV Fanatic: Was I then upset that Boyd was missing from about 90% of this second season premiere?  Not at all.

The writers eloquently gave us a taste of that ever so fantastic Raylan/Boyd dynamic, and then sidelined it to introduce what I assume will be the main crux of season two: The Bennetts.

Unlike its FX relative Sons of Anarchy, which inadequately spent its entire season dealing with the aftermath of the previous season’s finale, “The Moonshine War” allowed the audience to become engaged with a new set of problems for Raylan, while setting Boyd’s vengeance on the back-burner.

For better or worse, this second season of Justified has started out eerily similar to the first.  Raylan had a problem with the Miami mobsters last year, so he went back home to Kentucky, where he ran into a family of criminals that were causing trouble in Harlan.  I’m not saying this is a bad device to use in starting your season, it’s just that I’ve seen it before. If season three starts in the same fashion, I will be extremely worried.

After one episode, the Bennetts have proven to be extremely interesting/ There is already Emmy talk for Margo Martindale as Mags Bennett, the matriarch of the reefer growing crime family of Harlan.  I can see why.

She portrays the combination of a loving mother figure and a ruthless, murdering crime boss with such ease.  To watch Mags treat both little Loretta and Raylan with such kindness one minute… and then to cruelly kill Loretta’s dad Walt over a jug of hard apple cider the next, truly had me in awe.

While I don’t see Mags and Raylan having the ability to come together as friends in the end, as I do with Raylan and Boyd, the whole thing should force Raylan to take a step back at times.  And that grey area in gauging the seriousness of an enemy is something that made the first season so interesting.

Yes, Mags has three sons, but Doyle and Coover did not prove to be that interesting. I can see Doyle’s role as a police officer coming into play down the road, and Coover’s complete idiocy should work as comic relief at times, but it was brother Dickie that got me most excited.

Jeremy Davies gives off quite the care free aura of bad guy.  Much like Heath Ledger’s Joker from The Dark Knight, Dickie has that “I like to do bad things simply because they are bad things” vibe to him.  When he shot Walt in the leg at the drop of a hat, and then made him stick his leg in a bear trap, I knew we might have something with this character.

As intriguing as the Bennetts are, we are still most interested in the plight of our protagonist, and this week Raylan was willing to do just about anything to get out of the bureaucratic nonsense he was dealing with at the office after what went down in Bulletville.  So when Deputy Rachel Brooks asked him to help her on a case, he just on the opportunity.

While the Bennetts were introduced as the long-term baddies of the season, this week’s short-term problem was that perv with three first names, Jimmy Earl Dean.  If this first episode is any indication of how things will go this season, I’d say that Justified is going to be fantastic at getting a good mix of long and short run stories, making them work with each other to create great hour after great hour.

Timothy Olyphant certainly shined throughout. We had Raylan pretending that he was stealing gas, and then dousing J.E.D. with gasoline, and then getting him to give up his weapon, and finally saving Loretta. Great stuff all around.

Finally, to end the premiere, we were witness to two acts that should whet one’s appetite for the future.  First, Raylan gets with Winona again, much to the dismay of “Rava” fans (See what I did there? That’s Raylan and Ava).  Secondly, and most importantly, Boyd shows up again.  He’s blowing stuff up and repeating “Fire in the hole. Fire in the hole.”

Come on. Bring in the second episode. I’m so excited to watch the same.

So what can you say about this episode of Justified?

You can check Justified Season 2 Reviews and Spoilers HERE.