Justified: City Primeval

Halfway thru the first episode and it feels like my foot going into an old comfortable shoe. Hoping it maintains this pacing, its like the early seasons of Justified. So far impressed with Olyphants daughters performance, she actually is working rather than being gifted a role.

I finished all 7 episodes, and loved it. I dearly hope this isn't going to be a one shot season. I'll read the thread tomorrow to get yalls viewpoints, but its damn refreshing to watch a show that has a touch of class.

Happy to hear that you've loved it. There is one more episode. I think for me, I kind of wish this hadn't been made. It feels very different than the original "Justified" series and much of what made the earlier show something I loved really is glaringly absent in this revival.

It just doesn’t work for me. The lawyer relationship, the villain, sweety…

This thing plays like a script that was already in the can that got adapted for the Raylenverse.

Well, that was just weird, anticlimactic, and ultimately pointless.

To have the "City Primeval" Detroit storyline end so abruptly and minus any emotion or satisfaction was about par for course, but to then tack on several quick CODAs with the supporting characters we wanted to see in the first place...just weird.

Oh, well.

__________________
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Yes, agree. That was an underwhelming finale. I think with the very last coda they were clearly setting up another "Justified" season, with a far more compelling character that we actually care about, so that was kind of nice in a way, but I didn't find it surprising. I think ultimately the plan to use an existing Elmore Leonard story that did not have Raylan Givens in it and converting that to a Givens storyline just didn't work, and removing him from the rural setting of "Justified" to a new setting with none of the original characters was a less than ideal way to revisit this story. Also, there was little to no character development throughout the series, and the richness of the characters and the connection that Raylan had to them and to where he grew up, and how we got to know each character and learn about them was one of the aspects of the original series that made it stand out and be appreciated. There was a duality to that, and a kind of sense that if he had made a few different choices, Raylan might also be trapped on the other side of the law, that made it a very engaging series to watch and quite unique. If they choose to do another season, I hope they have stronger writing, a more compelling story, characters we can care about rather than caricatures, and a return to the rural setting of the original series.

Sigh! Well I guess Im alone on thinking it couldn't have ended better. The showdown had a twist at the end, better than if they did the normal formula with an expected outcome.


I never compared it to the original series, other than the classy dispositions, smooth line deliveries, and Olyphants performance which was always spot-on with no inconsistencies. The daughter was a nice touch but they didn't force her down our throat, and I liked the supporting characters in this series.


All along I was picturing this as a country boy lawman in the big city, not a continuation of the original series. I liked it.

Yes, but wouldn't it have been more interesting if say...


I have been rewatching the original series the past couple weeks. Hadn't really seen anything other than clips since the finale in April of 2015. I am on the sixth and final season now. Had I not been rewatching it I wouldn't have remembered that David Koechner's character begins his reappearance in "City Primeval" with the exact same speech about his daughter that he began Season Five of "Justified" with.

But again, it just seemed a waste to bring Olyphant back for this Detroit story that didn't really go anywhere and then cram Boyd and Wynona into the CODA, which is who we really wanted to see the entire time.




But as usual, they didn't ask me. Oh, well.

I agree with Holden. His twist ending would have been more compelling, and I agree that Mansell's actions at the very end were inconsistent with his character.

I've read some interviews recently and it was very intentional that they didn't have original "Justified" characters in this series and had it set elsewhere. They felt they had ended the original series well and that that story had concluded, and they didn't want to revisit that world again. They considered this story "Act 2" of a potential three act story. I agree with them that the original series ended in a satisfying way, but since they made the decision to bring the character back, I think I just disagree with their vision. "Justified" without Boyd or Ava or Winona or many of the other quirky characters of the original series that everyone loved, just isn't "Justified" to me.

And that's fine...but then they used them, anyway. If you're going to bring them back for one or two throwaway scenes at the very end, then bring them back properly. Use them well or don't use them at all.

I would have been fine with a much more compelling, self-contained Detroit story. But that story as is was full of ho-hum characters and then they tease us by showing us characters we do care about, but only for a little bit at the very end as an afterthought. It didn't tease a possible third series for me, it just made me even more disappointed in what a waste of time "City Primeval" was.

And for the record, we found out Ava died (off camera) in the original series. Which wasn't a very satisfying send off for her, after everything she went through. Raylan goes to tell Boyd in prison, their final scene in the original series...



In a similar vein, in "Primeval" once Adelaide Clemens' character Sandy doesn't get on the plane but stays to help Rayland make that phone call set up the meeting with Mansell (where the Albanians take both of them) we do not even find out what happens to her. Was she jailed? Did the Albanians catch up with her? Was she put in Witness Protection? Did she get on that plane? One of the characters we gave the most screen time to....and, eh, she just disappears.

The entire series was that way, to me. Just...meh.

Holden, I haven't seen "Justified" since it originally aired, but I think I remember that scene and you're right, Raylan did tell Boyd that Ava died, but I don't think she actually did. I think it was made clear that he was lying to Boyd so that he'd leave her alone to live her life and be safe. Raylan knew he'd never be able to let her go, since he loved her, so to make it easier for him to do that, he told her she'd died.

Nope, incorrect. I just rewatched the last episode. It is a CODA, years after Boyd went to prison and Ava escaped, Raylan is down in Florida with Wynona and their young daughter. He finds out Ava has died and he goes to tell Boyd in person.

According to the creator of "Justified", Ava lives.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv...raylan-788476/

Going on nothing but my gut reaction, the ending was kind of a slap in the face.

“Hey there, feeling underwhelmed by what you just finished watching? Well guess what, here’s what you really wanted the whole time”