Reel Hungry Justified - Season 4 Review

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Its the start of the day and as you go out to fetch the morning paper you can hear your missus nagging in the background, usual routine so far, you close the door and #BAAM# #SPLAT# What the hell was that? ... Well it sure shit ain't Santa Claus.

And that's how the season begins, a flashback 30 years ago, to the man from the sky and his bags of cocaine, and of course that's not the end of the matter, it would be a waste of space otherwise.

Now i'll try and do a spoiler free review for the start but to let you rednecks know what your in for here's the season 4 promo.

Now that we're acquainted  back to skid marks, we later find out there was a passenger with this tarmac stain, a Mr Drew Thompson. Wanted by the authorities and the Detroit Mafia as a priority hit. Unluckily for Mr Thompson his years of secrecy have been rumbled by recent events, leading the US Marshals to suspect that Thompson is in fact in Kentucky.

And what with this little mishap happening in the backyard of Boyd Crowder, played by Walton Goggins, and Deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens, played by Timothy Olyphant, the hunt to tag him and bag him begins.

Boyd realizing a profitable venture needs this old fart to cement a possible alliance with the Detroit Mafia, while this would be the case of the decade for Raylan with the added bonus of stomping on Boyd's plans.

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The plot in this season is very well drawn out with several mini stories knitted in to help keep the various characters connected while allowing you to summarize what sort of person they are, even for you greenhorns. As the main story drives them to beat, shoot, bribe and harass their way to capturing Drew Thompson. Each crescendo allows the audience to catch up and bask in whats going to happen next.

Plenty of stand out performances throughout and even a AK47 in the mix, lets just say every man has his limits. Just note, any scene with Boyd Crowder and Raylan Givens in the same room brings the best out of the show, hint look out for the police station scene with Sheriff Shelby as they discuss the nature of assholes.

Specifically look out for the episodes below and the actors as they really reign it in to keep the mob entertained.

Season 4 Highlights
Episode 06 - Foot Chase
Episode 08 - Outlaw
Episode 13 - Ghosts

Standout actors
Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder - He keeps getting better every season
Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens - Shows he's more than just a badass
Ron Eldard as Colton "Colt" Rhodes - Watch this emotional roller coaster unfold

#Spoilers#

Now we can get into the nitty gritty and feast on this hog roast of a season. First of Boyd Crowder, he has moves, the way he carry's himself in this season just makes you want to see him succeed.

The way he can make something out of nothing and his ability to work things into his advantage is hilarious, in fact one of his most iconic speeches was orchestrated by tricking the Detroit Mafia to send a hitman down to kill a list of possible "Drew Thompson's" when in fact they were a list of his enemies. Sadly I do not have the speech at hand, but the promo below will suffice.

Now by the end of the season his dancing with the devil catches up with him and he finds himself in a state, but walk in Wynn Duffy. Duffy's crew is one of the few criminal factions to come out of this crazy man hunt relatively unscathed and newly appointed as Sammy Tonin man east of the Mississippi. Duffy now moving onto bigger and better things, he has asked the disheveled Boyd Crowder for his services to help run the heroine operations in Kentucky, Boyd wearily accepts. Whats does this mean? Lets say with more drugs comes more money and that "high cost of living" will mean great and furious vengeance to his enemies. Naturally Raylan will do his best to stop Boyd from attaining any sense of happiness gained from ill means.

Not to steal the spotlight away from Raylan, his moments of deduction are second to none, especially the scene where a hitman, disguised as a state trooper, has Boyd in tow and Raylan walks in just before they leave the bar. Now this had me wrapped up in the suspense of how that banana bomb would go but not only that we got to see more of Raylan's concealed rage after Arlo's death, some of which snapped up throughout the rest of the season. Huge props to Timothy Olyphant for being able to visibly and subtly portray Raylan's deep seated anger, frustration and restlessness. Given that Raylan Givens now has a baby hitched to his wagon, will he be more cranky or more trigger happy in season 5? With a baby, he hasn't got time to tip toe around the bullshit anymore and I personally like to think we'll be seeing more scenes like below.

media.salon.com

I can't spoil anymore as I'd go on and on like a OAP paying for monkey nuts so I leave you with my scores and thoughts.

#Spoiler END#

Rating
Script - 9/10
Acting - 8.5/10
Pacing - 8/10
Music - 7/10
Replay Value - 8/10

OVERALL
8.2/10 
You know a TV show is good when your consistently quoting from it. Justified has easily some of best writing and characters currently on the air making for fantastic television only second to either Breaking Bad or Mad Men in that field.

Summary
Another great season by Justified that leaves you wanting more, the pacing is on the pulse as long as your a fan of the series or at least started from the beginning of the season otherwise you'll get lost in all the sub plots. 

All in all better than last season and some stand out scenes by both lead actors but missing the true villain element Season 3 had. Boyd Crowder and Raylan Givens are gold mines of memorable lines.

I bid you good day and leave you with a great quote from Season 1 to keep your whiskey smooth.

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