Its pitch black at night; the only light is lens flares from the headlights of the surrounding vehicles that lance the darkness. Raylan Givens, outlaw lawman, is surrounded by armed enemies, all for the sake of rescuing a young teenage girl whose continuous rebellious nature and discordant old-soul behavior have placed her in mortal danger with those same armed enemies surrounding them. Raylan tells the armed goons the story of his childhood, tragic as it was, and how his father shaped/molded him with a firm back hand and even firmer disposition for correcting the perceived weakness in his son, making him shoot a defenseless animal; and he did, his aim even at that young age sure and true. An aim and skill that only sharpens and which he expertly masters over time, a story which he uses as a warning to the men surrounding them; to paraphrase: "I was good at shootin' before I ever went to GlenCo to train for it; that place just made me a better killer, and I'll kill 4 of ya before you draw your weapon, and i'll take my chances with the last 2..."
It is this scene, and this line, from this season, that sums up Raylan Givens. I didn't quote it verbatim; you need to see it for yourself, watch Timothy Olyphant's eyes in his performance, the tone of his voice, the lilt of his stance as his hand rests on his pistol grip, to get the full effect of how effortlessly TO portrays Raylan Givens in such a way as to embody the character the way few actors can with a role. He brings such gravitas and sinistry to the character that at times, you get the feeling Raylan being surrounded by armed men ready to draw is where he is most at ease, most like himself. In watching this series, and TO's portrayal throughout it, you can easily walk away from it believeing Raylan is one incident away from crossing a line he can never walk back from legally...but that's the beauty of the character and TO's portrayal of him, because you also come away realizing being a LAWman is the thing that keeps Ralyan Givens alive. If you haven't seen any of this series, watch all 6 seasons; if you have, I urge you to buy the whole series; I just completed my purchase of all 6 seasons on blu ray, and soon I will start binge-watching them all over again; there are few episodic television shows that are iconic: Miami Vice, NYPD Blue, The Shield to name a few; Justified joins the short pantheon of seminal tv series worth investing both time/money in collecting and viewing. It's must see TV at its finest!
