Justified may have been the title of a TV series but Raylan
Givens played by the awesome Timothy Olyphant, was the show’s heart and soul. He
was also a man of little words so I shall be quick and to the point…
Raylan was born to a loving
mother who died when he was still a boy. He grew up and as soon as he was old
enough he got himself out of the dark and dirty coal mines of Kentucky. To the
distain of his criminal and hate-filled father, Arlo played by Raymond J. Barry, Raylan became a U.S. Marshall and
worked mainly in Florida until he got into trouble and was sent back to his
home town. It was back in Harlan where Raylan came face to with his
ex-girlfriend Ava Crowder played by
Joelle Carter and old friend/resident bad guy Boyd Crowder played by the amazing Walton Goggins. Raylan
and Boyd grew up working in the mine together but now found themselves on
opposite sides of the law.
Throughout 6 seasons Raylan Givens had a number a foes which
added up to a larger then normal body count not making his boss, Art played by Nick Searcy very happy but
Raylan always got the job done. (The one thing I have to interject here it that
as a character Raylan, with that hat and cunning smile, was one guy who I
would have trusted with my own real life, when he said he would help and
protect you he did! For that reason alone I will always love him.) Each new season brought new headaches and
enemies, all willing to have their chance to take him down. There were the
Bennetts lead by Mags played by Margo
Martindale, who always had a drink waiting for you. There were her sons
Doyle and Coover (Joseph Lyle Taylor and
Brad William Henke) and of course Dickie played by Jeremy Davies who
spent most of his screen time in jail and a niece Loretta McCready played by Kaitlyn Dever, who wanted
nothing to do with her crazy, murderous kin. When the Bennetts were all but
wiped out enter the family Crowe. First we met Dewey played by Damon Herriman, who just wanted to be
like Boyd and would follow him around like a lost puppy. A couple of season
prior to the final we met the rest of his family, oldest brother Daryl played by Michael Rapaport who came
from Florida to make same fast cash bringing with him brothers Danny (A.J. Buckley) and Kendal (Jacob Lofland) and sister/lawyer Wendy (Alicia Witt). We round out the bad guy
cast of characters with Ellstin Limehouse played
by Mykelti Williamson, Wynn Duffy
played by Jere Burns who seemed to
have 9 lives and most recently Ty Walker played
by fellow Deadwood Alum Garret Dillahunt and Avery Markham played by the always wonderful Sam Elliott of
course there were countless others including some good guys but
it was Ava and Boyd who were there from beginning to end that kept Raylan in
Harlan and on their heels.
In the end I need to thank Graham Yost for bringing the late
Elmore Leonard’s story and characters to life. In six seasons viewers went through
a lot with the crew and cast(s) and like a giant rollercoaster at an amusement
park I do not want to get off but it was a great ride and I will never forget
my time spent in Harlan County, Kentucky.
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