All six seasons of Justified are currently available to stream on Hulu, as part of the streaming service’s FX on Hulu section.
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Welcome to IGN’s new recommendation series, Binge It! Movies, TV shows, books, comics, music – if you can binge it, we’re here to talk about it. In each installment of Binge It!, we’ll discuss a piece of content we’re passionate about, and why you should check it out.
If you’re a fan of great TV, chances are you already know about Justified, Graham Yost’s stylish, verbose adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s short story “Fire in the Hole,” which ran for six seasons on FX between 2010 and 2015. But whether you missed it the first time around, or you’re an early adopter and just want to revisit a whip-smart, action-packed classic with some of the best dialogue you can hope to find outside of Leonard’s pages, Justified hits the target every time.
The quick-witted (and even quicker-draw) modern-day western stars a devilishly languid Timothy Olyphant as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, an old fashioned, Miami-based lawman whose itchy trigger finger gets him into trouble with his bosses and finds him essentially banished back to Kentucky, where he grew up.
Within Raylan’s new jurisdiction is his hometown of Harlan County, a bustling hive of scum and villainy populated by an enviable rogues gallery of criminals that would put any superhero to shame – and, even better, most of them still have an ax to grind against Raylan from the prodigal lawman’s misspent youth.
Watch the delightfully retro first season trailer for Justified below:
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While a big part of Justified’s appeal is Raylan’s sardonic wit and endlessly tangled web of interpersonal relationships (he’s seemingly never met a woman who doesn’t want to shoot him shortly thereafter – and, in true Elmore Leonard fashion, the women of Justified are every bit as complex and fascinating as the men), the show’s real strength lies in its baddies. From one-off crooks of the week to slippery recurring players and season- or series-long foes, every single one is written with the same depth, humor, and instant specificity as the main characters. This is a show that has no compunction about exploring the moral ambiguity of its heroes as well as its villains, gleefully interrogating the many shades of grey that make “justice” such a loaded concept.
The series also demonstrates a deft balance between standalone episodes and serialized arcs, so that even those self-contained cases feel engaging and vital, often expanding on the backstories of Raylan’s supporting cast – who are every bit as messed up as he is. This helps each tightly-plotted 13-episode season feel focused and maintain a sense of momentum, making it an easy and surprisingly addictive binge.
Justified boasts a spectacular roster of character actors as both allies and antagonists, and every season is buoyed by the strength of its villains, from Margo Martindale’s imposing crime matriarch Mags Bennett, to Jere Burns’ capricious mobster Wynn Duffy, to the charismatic but deadly Boyd Crowder (a show-stealing Walton Goggins), who is undoubtedly the Joker to Raylan’s Batman.
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The ongoing rivalry between Raylan and Boyd fuels most of the series, complicated by old wounds, familial resentments, and, most frustratingly for them both, an undeniable (despite the fact that they’d both deny it) affection for each other based on their childhood friendship. There’s something truly Shakespearean about the duo’s conflicting trajectories, which grow more tumultuous as the show progresses, but perhaps the best recommendation for Justified is that it manages to thread the needle and deliver a truly satisfying series finale, ending on its own terms in a way that doesn’t leave you hanging. Even five years after Justified left our screens, you won’t regret a return visit to Harlan.
Source: IGN.com Binge It: Justified's Stylish Southern Gunslinging Still Hits the Target 10 Years Later