I'm not sure when it happened but Justified has steadily become a show I always look forward to. The seasons generally do tend to have weaknesses in them, but overall they have more than enough to make for an engaging and enjoyable show. In the previous season the start was slow before sparking into life for the second half; in this fifth season we do have weaknesses but it again has sufficient strengths to cover them up. The season has quite a few plates spinning and it is the interplay of these that keeps things interesting, while the usual gritty but accessible tone is well mixed with humid heat and dry humor.
A lot happens and most of it works, although because any series of events does tend to end in a death, at times it does feel like there simply cannot be sufficient people in the county to afford to keep losing them so quickly. The excessiveness of the body count does risk it going over the top, but the tone, busy plotting and general toughness tends to give it a grounding that prevents this from getting silly. As a season I found it easily entertaining with an engaging overall plot, solid twists and turns and of course the atmosphere which I have come to enjoy it for – that toughness mixed with action and humor. I started watching the season unaware that the next one would also be the last, but of course I realized this as this season drew to a close and I do think it has set itself up nicely to bow out.
Not all of this season does work though. The prison subplot seems a bit tacked on just to keep a character busy – decent but not much more than this. The bigger problem is a bit of casting – specifically the casting of Rapaport as the villain in a show with plenty of stronger characters in bigger and smaller roles. He tries and he does okay but he never really makes it work and at times feels like there is little reason for him to be hanging around other than giving the season a core character other than Boyd. Speaking of which, Goggins is as good as ever and works well with the continually cool and watchable Olyphant. Burns, Searcy, Carter and others are given some good material and at least are better used than Tazel and Pitts – who seem to be given a couple of decent scenes as if to apologize for how little they are around. Herriman is good fun in a supporting role, always fun to have him around and he plays it very well. Production values remain high and it does get the look and feel consistently right.
Season 5 may not have been perfect but it was engaging – tending to have enough about it to prevent the bumps in the road being too noticeable.
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