Justified: Ciudad salvaje

I really wanted to like this series. But three episodes in, it feels like our modern-day Matt Dillon has been worm-holed into an alternate universe of lackluster writing, uninteresting supporting characters, and stodgy direction. No Elmore Leonard vibe this time... just the sort of flaccid storytelling more typical of network cop dramas. And, as a dad with three daughters and my fair share of parental challenges, I feel the whole father-daughter thread is unconvincing. Check out Bosch for some really good writing in that vein. Most of all, this new outing needs an intriguing and likable villain. Give me Boyd Crowder!

The first few episodes were disappointing and with a repeat theme these days ---"here we go again"------- -- a single law enforcement officer with a spoiled brat teenager in tow. It seems to be the trend with crime movies these days and is getting tiresome. Once the daughter, who is a terrible actor and has no screen presence and talks like a 7 year old baby. Once she moves on the show really picked up. The actors were a bit over the top to start with but became much more believeable as the show progressed. Enjoyed the series once the daughter finally left, which should have been much earlier. The villain is a bit much and hard to believe. The writers could have fine tuned this a bit more. Overall well done and worth watching.

The original Justified is one of my favorite shows of all-time. I wasn't expecting Justified: City Primeval to be as good as the original (not much is) but I was hoping it would be good enough and it absolutely was. It did not disappoint. I'm excited to see where this is going to go but so far the one thing that I do know is I can't stand the daughter. Having said that, besides hating the daughter, Justified: City Primeval is one of the best new shows of the year. This takes place 15 years after the original ended and Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) is now a Marshall in Florida until a case brings him to Detroit to chase a violent sociopath (Boyd Holbrook). While no one is going to be a better adversary than Boyd Crowder (played by the amazing Walton Goggins), Boyd Holbrook is also a great actor and makes the character a worthy villain for Raylan. The writing and acting is what makes this show so special. While not as good as the original Justified, this is a worthy sequel as it's gotten nothing but great reviews by just about everyone. I read that this is only a limited series back for just this one season but with the way it ended they have to bring it back for at least another season but that ending is what everyone was waiting for. I really hope they do do another season because this show was terrific and you can't have enough Justified in my opinion.

What used to make Justified great was the excellent and charismatic villains along with witty repartee dialogue between Raylan and said antagonists, with some good action and plot twists sprinkled in. This series has a less compelling villain who is quite obvious in his machinations and struts around in his white briefs far too often for my taste. He's hardly ever on screen with Raylan so the dialogue is minimal.

We also get some side characters who are inserted for little reason like his supposedly 15-year-old daughter Willa, played by Timothy Olyphant's real life daughter who is 20 and it shows. She can raise her voice an octave but we still have eyes. The writers do her no favors, she just plays the usual bratty and disobedient teen girl trope that is seemingly in every show now, and doesn't move the plot forward in any way but rather acts as a drag on it with distracting annoyance.

The love interest for Raylan is so far off from Ava Crowder or Winona Hawkins that it just doesn't come across as believable. Raylan is probably out of almost every woman's league but in this case it's really a bridge too far.

Neither the plot nor the dialogue are all that clever. Raylan gets in a few quips but it just seems like they stole the lines from the original Justified and repurposed them here. It's great to see Raylan on screen again and Sweety (Vondie Curtis-Hall) is also a lot of fun to watch so I still give this a 6, but when they're off screen it's a 3 or 4. Were they justified in making this show? Mostly not.

This series is a spinoff of the 2010 television show Justified, and follows titular character, U. S. Marshal Raylan Givens, who has been living in Florida, but after a road incident, he is reassigned to Detroit and while there must fight against corruption, take care of his rebellious 15 year-old daughter, build relationships, and hunt down a new dangerous serial killer. Overall due, to its signature comedy, action- packed shootouts/fights, and nostalgic moments, this show was a great return to this character and a good way to add to the story and even though there are sometimes too many side plots or characters that can take away from the main plot, it was an enjoyable experience that fans of the original show will love and hopefully eventually another full length feature can continue to build upon this short but sweet return.