From the FX network comes Justified, starring Timothy Olyphant after his works on Deadwood and Damages, along with Walton Goggins' return to the screen on a starring role after playing Shane Vendrell on The Shield.At first glance, the idea behind Justified gives you that "Oh, no, another show about a small town and a modern-day cowboy" feeling, but it vanishes as soon as you start watching this episode.
Raylan Givens (Olyphant) plays an U.S. Marshal in Miami with a little bit unorthodox methods to get his job done. Because of these methods, his bosses decide they've had enough of him and reassign him to a small town which turns up to be the place where he grew up. There, he meets again with his ex-girlfriend Ava (Joelle Carter) who's still in love with him, his former wife (Natalie Zea) and his old buddy Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins), now the bad guy in town.
Throughout the whole episode, Olyphant plays an unique character as Givens, in the line of a cowboy, protective of his own people, who does not hesitate to pull out his gun and shoot but only if needed and as a last resort. His performance is only outshined by Goggins, who seems to have found the perfect character as Crowder.The final scenes of this episode lay down the ground for the rest of the season.
Starring: Timothy Olyphant, Walton Goggins, Joelle Carter, Natalie Zea, Nick Searcy, Damon Herriman, Jacob Pitts, William Ragsdale, Kevin Rankin, Erica Tazel.
Written by: Graham Yost.
Directed by: Michael Dinner
Score: 9/10