Having taken our first three looks into the FX television series Justified (2010-2015) back as early as 2019 with looks into seasons one, two and three, we resume our look today with season four of the Graham Yost created series. The fourth season originally aired from January through April of 2013, with Harlan, Kentucky being the center of our dysfunctional criminal series based in action and drama. Season four was the final season with novelist Elmore Leonard, whose story Fire in the Hole and other works provided source material for the series, still alive.
The fourth season balanced multiple storylines effectively, with series centerpieces Raylan Givens, Boyd Crowder, Ava Crowder and Art Mullen playing their parts with less prominence at points through the season. The prominence of other characters through the course of the season offered compelling storytelling while, by season’s end, delivering top notch drama including series regulars that really deliver.
Looming heavy through the season is the notion of reckoning with who characters really are. The notion starts with fallout for the murder of Delroy Baker from season three. Tangled up in this story is that of Ellen May, a prostitute with a complicated story tied to Ava and Boyd Crowder’s connection to Delroy’s death. Colton ‘Colt’ Rhodes story is heavily tied to Ellen May and the Crowders, overlapping with the past impulses of Boyd with the introduction of the ministry of Billy St. Cyr and Cassie St. Cyr. The decisive roles Tim Gutterson and Johnny Crowder offer in Colt’s story work really well on a human level. David Meunier portrayed Johnny Crowder.
Then there is the story of Drew Thompson, which in learning of of the hidden identity and the loyalty surrounding the protection of it, forms the central mystery for the season. The fates of Hunter Mosely and Arlo Givens gently weaving into this larger story, intersecting well with Raylan, lends strength to what attracted me to this season of Justified.
The Jody Adair, Randall Kusik and Lindsey Salazar introductory stories in the earlier episodes of the season, featuring Chris Chalk, Robert Baker and Jenn Lyon, respectively, set important groundwork in furthering the story of season four well. Giving us evidence that the two sides of Raylan Givens were tugging at him, with the story of being a law enforcement officer getting set against Raylan’s sense of family, professionalism, and the influences of his parents, parallels and points to a similar dynamic playing out for Ava and Boyd Crowder.
The ramping up of Ava Crowder’s involvement in Boyd’s heroin empire in Harlan brings together sense of family and loyalty, which in tying back to Ellen May, the Delroy Baker death, the church attempts of the St. Cyr siblings, and a road that brings in Ellstin Limehouse through Detroit, Michigan and the past of Drew Thompson, gives so many glorious layers of connection that I cannot help to love season four of Justified. The Michigan angle of course renews the stories of Wynn Duffy, Nicky Augustine and their sponsors in Theo and Sammy Tonin. While we do not see Alan Arkin nor William Mapother in their roles as Theo Tonin or Delroy Baker this season, we do see Max Perlich as Sammy Tonin at a crucial time in the revelation of Raylan Givens’ character.
Notably, the stories of Rachel Brooks and Art Mullen were not offered revelation through this season in the way that stories for other characters were. We did get back in contact with Winona Hawkins, as portrayed by Natalie Zea, later in the season. To say that Brooks, Mullen or Hawkins were afterthoughts for this season is perhaps an overstatement for what was a strong season of revelation and meaningful ends for characters new and old. I give season four of Justified 4.75-stars on a scale of one-to-five.
Matt – Saturday, August 26, 2023
Matt Lynn Digital 