Justified: Season Two

Season One of "Justified" is a darn good show. It has all the best elements of an Elmore Leonard story: a cool protagonist, plenty of oddball characters, a believable world and slick dialogue. Its pilot contains a fantastic story that gets U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant, "Deadwood") dragged back home to Harlan County, Kentucky. Then, for too many episodes, it felt like it was stalling before jumping into its larger story of feuding families on the brink of bloodshed.

Then the standalone episodes were pushed to the side, and "Justified" became a great show. With the way cable series work, the audience has grown to expect that in a show’s 13 episodes, each one will move the plot forward. Season Two realized that and made an even better series.

Part of "Justified's" success is recognizing the strengths of its world. Sure, Olyphant's charisma and his outrageous cowboy hat are the obvious draw, yet he can’t match up the power of Walton Goggins (“The Shield”) as Boyd Crowder, the villain of the first season. Understated and menacing, Boyd feels more dangerous when it looks like he’s actually on the path toward the good side of the law because it’s harder to tell what he’s thinking.

They could have easily put Boyd back in the position of the "Big Bad," but the writers instead introduced a new family — the pot-dealing Bennetts led by Margo Martindale and her two sons Jeremy Davies and Brad William Henke (both of “LOST”). Boyd was threatening because he was the sort of guy who would use a bazooka on a church because he believed it the right thing to do. As Mags Bennett, Martindale is way smarter and more ruthless. For once, the Emmys actually rewarded one of the year's best performance; this is a career-changer for Martindale.

Drama builds with perfect pacing and subplots as engaging as the main arc; Raylan dealing with his ex-wife stealing government money was one of the season's highlights. There have been a number of Leonard adaptations, most of them forgettable messes. "Justified" surpasses them all as a quintessential interpretation of his world. Season Three has a lot to live up to, but rewatching some of these makes me more than ready to return to Kentucky.

The bonus features include some outtakes and deleted scenes as well as a few good feaurettes. The best one is a Blu-ray exclusive of a roundtable discussion led by showrunner Graham Yost.

Season: 4.5 Yaps Extras: 4 Yaps