I am – Hercules!!
A dark, funny western expertly disguised as a contemporary cop show, “Justified” is crazy great, up there with “Get Shorty,” “Jackie Brown” and “Out of Sight” as one of the best adaptations of an Elmore Leonard story ever. (Which is saying something.) Flying bullets and car chases and sudden violent death complement its dry wit and platoon of embraceable characters, and it should attract quite a few viewers who followed FX’s “The Shield” and “Sons of Anarchy” every week, and I suspect quite a few viewers who are not fans of those shows. Three episodes in, I think it may be the best current TV drama not titled “Mad Men.” Adapted by screenwriter Graham Yost (“Speed,” “Boomtown”), it offers in its central character, deputy U.S. marshal Raylan Givens (“Deadwood” vet Tim Olyphant), one of television’s most entertaining presences and one of its all-time biggest badasses, one surrounded by wealth of equally amusing characters, a lot of them highly likeable, all of them highly watchable. The Stetson-sporting Givens may look like “Deadwood” lawman Seth Bullock, but he’s a whole lot more fun. In fact, you might have to go all the way back to “Twin Peaks” and FBI special agent Dale Cooper to find a TV cop as fun as Givens. (I almost want to call “Justified” the best cop show since “Twin Peaks,” but HBO’s “The Wire” gets in the way.) The series begins in Givens’ home base of sunny Miami, where, amid a sea of bikinis, he manages to find some non-frontier justice that does not sit well with his superiors. As punishment, he’s reassigned to Lexington, Ky., the place from whence he came and a place to which he clearly does not wish to return. The reassignment puts Givens in proximity of deadly local hillbilly white-supremacist criminal mastermind Boyd Crowder (“The Sheild” vet Walton Goggins), who mined coal next to Givens before they both went on to bigger things. The two enjoy a relationship that reminds me more than a little of De Niro and Pacino in “Heat.” I won’t give away here how their encounter in the pilot ends, but I will say the fallout will likely follow Givens at least to the end of its first season. The second episode, also scripted by Yost but not based on a Leonard story, contains a nod to the events depicted in the pilot but is mostly its own thing, and just as good. A third episode, not written by Yost but starring Yost’s old “Speed” associate Alan Ruck, takes Givens out west to Los Angeles and feels like a really good R-rated episode of “The Rockford Files.” I love that the bad guys Givens chases are seldom purely louts, and some of them are actually pretty swell. In the pilot I particularly liked Givens’ murderous ex-neighbor Ava (Joelle Carter), whose introduction is both wonderfully revealing and hilarious, like something out of a Tarantino movie. Happily we’ll be seeing more of her as the series soldiers on. As soon as the previews for next week’s “Lost” leave your screen, I implore you to ignore that hour-long “FlashForward” clip package and just flip over to FX. “Justified” is some arresting television. Time Magazine says:

… terrific new drama … Dark streaks aside, Justified is also, as you'd expect from Leonard (and writer Graham Yost, formerly of Boomtown), a funny show, with taut dialogue and a distinct sense of place. Its supporting characters are a riot of wiseass agents, sardonic thieves and big- and small-time hustlers. …

Entertainment Weekly says:

… I knew from this moment on that I'd kinda fallen in love with a new TV show. … in the end, it comes down to hard stares and that combination of drawled amusement and sudden violence that make him so cool yet exciting. As Boyd says to our hero, ''I know you like to shoot bad people.'' And damned if you don't want to watch Raylan do that.

TV Guide says:

… a fantastically entertaining instant classic. … This is the best new series, network or cable, of the midseason. An immediately addictive brew of action, suspense and wry humor, the show is grounded in Olyphant’s low-key but high-impact star-making performance, the work of a confident and cunning leading man who’s always good company. Edgy and adult, yet considerably less dark (as in gloomy) and twisted than many of FX’s breakout shows, Justified could be the network’s most broadly accessible entertainment yet. Having seen three of the first four episodes, I am hooked on this must-see series. There’s no justification for missing it.

The New York Times says:

… The dialogue sometimes has a snap that’s rare, or let’s just say nonexistent, in prime time. … the funny parts are worth waiting for, like the guest appearance by Clarence Williams III — who played a bad guy in one of the better Leonard adaptations, “52 Pick-Up” — as an ornery Vietnam vet who delivers a wickedly offensive tirade to two young male cops. …

The Los Angeles Times says:

… as played by Timothy Olyphant, Givens is a charmer, no doubt about that. And if the damaged antihero is beginning to wear out his welcome, Olyphant makes "Justified," which premieres Tuesday, a fine and upstanding addition to FX's gallery of mangled mavericks. …

The Chicago Tribune says:

… This deeply enjoyable show arrives fully formed and well aware of where its many strengths lie. The shaggily delightful dialogue, the deft pacing, the authentic sense of place, the rock-solid supporting cast and the feeling that you are in the hands of writers, actors and directors who really know what they're doing -- all of these are worthy reasons to watch "Justified," which I suppose is a drama, but it seems wrong to hang that weighty word on this wry, supple show. …

The Washington Post says:

… Givens does look darn good in his jeans and his spotless, cocky cowboy hat. He walks the walk, all right, but he talks way too much of the talk, as do most of the other characters in the mannered and self-conscious series premiere. Although the marshal is a crack shot, he seems more interested in talking varmints to death than in fillin' 'em full of lead. …

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… "Justified" as a whole really delivers, from the explosive pilot to a couple of other, less adrenaline-filled but no less superb episodes that add humor and nuanced storytelling to the mix. … Olyphant's iconic look and portrayal of Raylan Givens recalls every badass good guy in Western lore, and you find yourself liking him more every time he pulls the trigger. That alone would be enough to make "Justified" appointment television, but it's clear there's a lot more depth yet to be mined as Yost and his writers (who had bracelets made that say WWED - "What would Elmore do?") reinvent the modern-day lawman.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

… the best new series premiere so far in 2010. … Attention to character, particularly among the criminals of the week, exemplify what's unique about "Justified." On most shows, these guest characters have pretty generic traits that amount to "bad" or "crazy." On "Justified," the antagonists are colorful and rooted in specificity. Next week, Givens tracks a folksy prison escapee who previously robbed a bank and was jailed when another robber died during the robbery under "foreseeable circumstances." … Violence erupts unexpectedly but so do comic moments. …

The Newark Star Ledger says:

… It’s in that clash between Givens’ need for simple justice and the modern world’s more complicated rules that "Justified" finds much of its tension, and comedy. Givens is a character who originally appeared in several books by legendary crime author Elmore Leonard ("Out of Sight," "Get Shorty"), and "Justified" has the kind of muscular confidence and style that makes it both a worthy Leonard adaptation and a good match for FX …

The Boston Globe says:

… Raylan is a full-on cowboy, despite the fact that it’s 2010, and he is the mesmerizing hero of FX’s terrific new series, “Justified.’’…

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… Credit some clever dialogue by Graham Yost and the riveting acting of guest star Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder, the ultra-nationalist leader (and former best friend of Raylan) for keeping this from becoming a two-dimensional morality play. …

Variety says:

… a wonderfully old-fashioned drama … Olyphant delivers an unabashed star turn in this one. … distinguished by a wry sense of humor -- characteristic of Leonard's work -- that permeates the three episodes made available. …

10 p.m. Tuesday. FX. Follow Herc on Twitter!! Follow Evil Herc on Twitter!!

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