Justified (Season One)

Sex, alcohol, drugs, cowboy hats and boots, and quick draw gunfights elicit images of just about any location other than the American South.  However, these images come from just below the Mason-Dixon Line in rural Kentucky.  Rural Kentucky is about as close to the lawlessness of Appalachia that an audience can get without actually visiting the region.  What the audience really needs is a tour guide through the crime-ridden foothills of Kentucky.  Enter Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant), a native of Harlan, Kentucky, and a U.S. Marshal freshly redeployed from his long stint at the Marshal’s office in Miami, Florida.  Raylan lives life in the fast lane, and his actions are almost always justified, at least in his mind.

 

Raylan rarely takes prisoners, but he is fair.  He only fires his weapon when he feels the need to protect himself; in fact, he only shoots to kill.  Raylan is not a stone cold killer; although, many characters agree that he harbors some hostility.  Yet, Raylan always tries to give people a way to save themselves.  For example, the very first scene of the first episode of Justified features Raylan killing a gun runner after he refused to leave Miami by the deadline Raylan offered him.  This scene is the genesis of Raylan’s new journey through the foothills of Kentucky; indeed, it even gives rise to his unofficial catchphrase, “It was justified.”

If we look at Raylan’s character as a metaphor, it is possible to draw parallels to the post-9/11 foreign policies of the United States.  Raylan’s character is not a strictly shoot-first-ask-questions-later lawman.  Rather, he deliberately gives his opponents the opportunity to end their shenanigans before something bad happens.  In a sense, he tries diplomacy before resorting to violence; though, he has no qualms with putting a man down.  Similarly, the United States has on numerous occasions given foreign leaders and groups various opportunities to cease hostilities.  If diplomacy fails, then military action is taken.  For example, the United States warned Saddam Hussein to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction.  When Hussein refused, the Iraqi War resulted, which eventually lead to Hussein’s capture and execution.  In a word, Raylan and the United States are not unalike in spirit.

Basing the series in real locations like Lexington, Kentucky and Harlan, Kentucky is crucial to the success of the show.  If the setting was a fictional location, such as Mayberry from the Andy Griffith Show, then there would be little connection to the real world.  More importantly, the audience would be unable to make the connection of reality to fiction.  In a sense, the series would lose all sense of concreteness.  It would be difficult to take seriously a crime drama that occurs in a fictional location.  However, the realness of the locales in the series allows for a real world connection for the audience.  The realness of the locations allows the audience to suspend its disbelief just enough for the show to be successful, whereas a fictional location would require a greater suspension of disbelief.  The settings of Justified are real and tangible, and this characteristic helps to solidify the realness of the characters in the series.

Raylan’s character develops throughout the first season of Justified.  He makes human errors, and he learns from his mistakes.  Yet, Raylan Givens is much more than just a man.  He is the embodiment of the spirit of the United States, especially the North.  He is an “other” in his home state, a fact that is bolstered when Raylan admits to not wanting to be in Kentucky.  It would seem that not just any outsider could tame the wild Appalachian hillbillies; indeed, only a native Kentuckian returned from extended exposure to “Northern” culture could bring civility to the foothills.  Only the spirit of the United States, forged by Northern ideals, can quell the wild Southerner.  Raylan Givens is that spirit in human form.  Raylan Givens is the redeemer of the Kentucky foothills.  One could even say he is the patron saint of lost causes, if one did not already exist.  -- Michael Beaver