Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kaleena Rivera | TV | July 22, 2023
(spoilers for episodes 1 and 2 of Justified: City Primeval)
When Elmore Leonard’s short story “Fire in the Hole” was brought to life in the FX series Justified, it was clear by the end of the first season that lightning was being caught in a bottle. Featuring Timothy Olyphant as the old school, cowboy hat-sporting lawman Raylan Givens, the success of the series, which ran from 2010 to 2015, fell largely on Olyphant’s marvelous blend of swagger and respect resulting in a hero that felt from another era but was most needed now. But if it was left only to Olyphant, Justified would have been little more than a simple ‘villain of the week’ shoot-‘em-up with an alluring lead. Boasting one of television’s strongest array of supporting cast members seen before or since, whether they were a series fixture (Walton Goggins), pivotal to a season arc (Character Actress Margo Martindale), or an episode guest star (Stephen Root), the already-tight plotting was elevated from entertaining to a highly-memorable Southern saga.
Eight years after the finale, the powers that be have gathered together to bring Raylan back to our tvs. But the quick draw federal marshal has been transplanted from Harlan, Kentucky to Detroit, Michigan. The sequel, a limited series granted the subtitle City Primeval after another work penned by Leonard—though the novel does not feature Raylan, its protagonist does make an appearance in the adaptation—plants the older Raylan firmly into a fish-out-of-water story, a shift in environment that may be more startling for long-time Justified fans than for our leading man.
The new series opens with Raylan, on the way to delivering his and Winona’s (played by Natalie Zea, one of the only original series’ regulars slated to reprise her role) rebellious 15-year-old daughter, Willa (Vivian Olyphant), to a camp designed to straighten out troubled teens, who’s subjected to an attempted car-jacking by two of the world’s dumbest criminals (if you hold up a man in a cowboy hat in Florida, of all places, you might not want to let him have easy access to the trunk of his car). Plans abruptly changed, Raylan, stuck with Willa still in tow, as Winona is out of the country with a mysterious new beau referred to only as “The ‘Stache,” has to testify at the hearing in Detroit. But between the highly effective defense attorney Carolyn Wilder (Aunjanue Ellis) and irascible Judge Alvin Guy (Keith David Keith David-ing it up), who Raylan only manages to piss off even further, the charges stemming from the car-jacking in Florida are dropped.
Rather than things ending there, however, Raylan finds himself wrangled into an investigation, as Judge Guy narrowly survived a car bombing at his home just that very morning. Although Raylan balks, he’s assured that he’ll be, “out of here and on your way in 24 hours.” Famous last words. Partnered with Detective Wendell Robinson (Victor Williams), Raylan joins a squad that’s rounded out by Detectives Norbert Bryl (Norbert Leo Butz, whose character will almost certainly prove to be an annoying pain in the ass) and Maureen Downey (Marin Ireland). Together (with the lion’s share of the effort done by Raylan), the squad successfully take down their primary suspect, whose motivation, it turns out, is due to Judge Guy sleeping with his all-too willing mother.
Unfortunately for Judge Guy, calamity soon befalls him anyway. Because while all of this has been going on, including the Judge bristling and ultimately threatening the department—pointedly waving around a pocket-sized leather journal it’s safe to assume is replete with naughty secrets—when the detectives point out the obvious ethical violation of having sex with the relative of a defendant, a hardened criminal by the name of Clement Mansell (Boyd Holbrook) has come back into town ready to raise hell. After linking back up with his girlfriend, Sandy (Adelaide Clemens), Clement begins to put her casino connections to work, devising a plot to rob the rich mark she’s been cozying up to. But the plan soon goes awry when Judge Guy, in a most unfortunate coincidence, blocks Clement from following Sandy and their mark, setting off a road rage incident for the ages. After shooting Judge Guy and his hapless assistant—it’s later revealed she was informing on him—Clement saunters off with the journal while leaving behind a boatload of physical evidence, all of which quickly becomes Sandy’s problem to deal with. A pity, since Sandy is a godawful liar, along with being the world’s easiest suspect to tail.
While Raylan and Wendell are quick to determine that Clement’s their man, an irritating lack of evidence linking him directly to the judge’s murder, as well as Carolyn operating as his defense attorney, leaves their hands largely tied. Clement, odd bird that he is, decides to do the non-sensible thing and go on the offense by tracking down the hotel Raylan is staying at. To no one’s surprise whatsoever, he gets his hands on Willa, a simple task considering that she’s given to taking refreshing walks down dark city tunnels. Thankfully, he doesn’t go full Snidely Whiplash, opting for the more quiet yet sinister threat by sitting calmly beside her, an arm casually draped along her shoulders. He gets a sound beating by Raylan outside of the hotel, though he leaves Clement very much alive, something Raylan will likely find himself regretting soon enough.
I admit that I’m not yet sold on this new iteration. Olyphant is good as always; his Raylan feels utterly timeless, even with the head of (lovely) silver hair. But some stylistic choices leave something to be desired—I’d greatly hoped we as a nation had left behind the perpetual blue-tinged color grading with Ozark—along with the deeply tiresome trope of the obnoxiously willful teenager who finds themselves in peril (I fear the younger Olyphant’s acting capabilities don’t assist much in this matter). More than anything, I find myself frustrated by the show’s unwillingness to open up when it comes to anyone’s motivation aside from Raylan. In the original Justified, each person’s wants were laid bare with little to no hesitation. Greed, personal sovereignty, family loyalty, are just some of the many desires that incentivize the many criminals (as well as heroes and those in-between) of Harlan.
City Primeval, on the other hand, seems bound and determined to withhold as much as possible despite the relatively short time it has to tell this story (a mere eight episodes). Why is the well-armed barkeep Sweety (Vondie Curtis-Hall) so indebted to this madman? Carolyn as well, for that matter—the defense of her ex-husband in episode one implies that, much like Sandy, Carolyn has a weakness for terrible men, a proclivity I can forgive so long as it’s limited, but if it turns out Maureen is also harboring a secret of some sort for a man, my impatience will give way to animosity. Also, while there’s many comparisons being made between Holbrook’s Clement Mansell and Neal McDonough’s Robert Quarles (the season three Justified baddie), there’s a nonsensical almost muddy quality to the former, in which he’s not dedicated enough to be a full-blown nihilist and too measured to be a psycho, but not clever enough to be a criminal mastermind (Holbrook is having so much fun that it almost doesn’t matter).
Ultimately, what made Justified great was how much it was steeped in the past its denizens struggled to survive in while Raylan sought to escape it. But City Primeval, while also set in a city that parallels both the struggles and richness (crossing fingers that the modern and historic offerings of Detroit are featured a bit more beyond the occasional music reference) of its southern counterpart, lacks insight on either the past or the future. With Raylan unmoored from his previous life in a present that seems to have no need of him—in a show that doesn’t seem to be pursuing that angle with any real gusto—he’s never felt like more of an anachronism.
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, ‘Justified: City Primeval’ wouldn’t exist.
Justified: City Primeval airs every Tuesday night on FX and is available on Hulu the following Wednesday.
Kaleena Rivera is the TV Editor for Pajiba. When she isn’t loudly cheering on the current labor strikes and unionization efforts throughout all industries, she can be found on Bluesky or Twitter.
