Timothy Olyphant

The venerable genre series’ final episode pays tribute to its literary inspiration in surprisingly bittersweet fashion.

The penultimate episode of Justified prompts some reflection on just how we got here.

The series’ third-to-last outing gets seriously gnarly.

An uncharacteristically intimate episode examines the series’ two main romantic pairings, and uncovers some sad, troubling material in the process.

Justified: finding pathos in the strangest places.

An exceptionally entertaining hour nevertheless exposes some troubling flaws.

When it comes to planned-in-advance TV endings, in general, you can do it straight, or you can do it serpentine. Do it straight (Breaking Bad, The Wire) and you guarantee a high degree of fan contentedness, though usually at the cost of spontaneity. Do it serpentine (Lost, Battlestar Galactica, The Sopranos) and you run the risk of pissing off a large percentage of the fanbase, though you’ll have the side-benefit of being debated into eternity. On occasion, a series finds a way to split the difference and reaps incredible rewards. Justified seems destined to opt for the former route. While it’s supplied some artful twists and surprise developments in the past, it’s never been a series built on narrative trickery or hifalutin thematic development. It’s always had (at least) one foot planted firmly in the realm of traditional genre storytelling.

“Noblesse Oblige” continues to do things at its own deliberate pace, even as the end looms in the distance.

A plot-thin establishing episode reasserts the series’ considerable wit.

Justified has looked and felt a little different with each new season, so it should perhaps be less surprising in retrospect that its fifth season was, once again, something new: a letdown. The series’ incredible writing team has been articulating variations on a narrow set of very old themes so gracefully for so long that, if anything, they deserve immense credit for their unlikely four-season streak of greatness. It wasn’t that the Crowe-family-centric fifth season was bad, per se – one could easily stitch together a potent highlight reel – it was more that it finally felt like the series was simply spinning its wheels for the first time. It’s the job of the series’ sixth and final season, then, to right the course and get us re-invested in Justified’s vision of Harlan County and its assortment of charismatically gifted heroes and villains. “Fate’s Right Hand” has a lot of work to do, but for the most part, it’s a smoothly paced and assured premiere, one that portends a back-to-basics approach, albeit a ruthless one.

That’s what you get for cautious optimism. Justified’s fifth season finale has a lot of heavy lifting to do: it has to convince us that our time spent with the Crowes was meaningful, that Boyd’s Mexican misadventures amount to more than a diversion, that Ava’s prison scenes weren’t just a too-sadistic sojourn into tonally misaligned territory, and that Raylan’s sense of detachment this season has been leading our perpetually behatted hero somewhere new and intriguing.

Watching a season of Justified expand and contract its narrative can be a thing of beauty, even when it feels like the show isn’t necessarily at its best. “Starvation” continues down the sullen path of Season 5, a year that’s seen Raylan grow increasingly distant amidst a particularly nasty and bleak set of circumstances, but does so in a way that honors its main character’s histories and relationships. For longtime viewers, it’s a welcome sign of things likely to come. Probably.

Justified, Season 5, Episode 11: “The Toll” Written by Benjamin Cavell Directed by Jon Avnet Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX – It’s been a pretty dark week for lovers of fine TV drama, and Justified compounds the issue with one of their grimmest episodes ever. “The Toll” doesn’t do much to clarify exactly …

Justified, Season 5, Episode 9: “Wrong Roads” Written by Dave Andron and Leonard Chang Directed by Michael Dinner Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX – Now that it’s too late for Justified‘s fifth season to rank with the restof the series – relatively speaking, there’s simply been too much chaff to make that cut …

Justified, Season 5, Episode 7: “Raw Deal” Written by VJ Boyd Directed by Bill Johnson Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX – Why does it feel like so little happens in “Raw Deal”? A relatively major character bites the dust, Boyd’s Mexican adventure appears to be imperiled nice and early, Ava makes a play …

Justified, Season 5, Episode 6: “Kill the Messenger” Written by Ingrid Escajeda Directed by Don Kurt Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET – Thank goodness; “Shot All To Hell” appears not to have been a fluke, and Season 5 is finally, officially, cooking with oil. “Kill the Messenger,” while not bucking the trend of Justified‘s almost …

Justified, Season 5, Episode 5: “Shot All To Hell” Written by Chris Provenzano Directed by Adam Arkin Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX – Ask and ye shall receive. The first four episodes of Justified‘s penultimate season were mostly fine, but felt a little compromised and slight compared to past seasons, which tended to …

Justified, Season 5, Episode 4: “Over the Mountain” Written by Taylor Elmore Directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX – In case the theme of Season 5 of Justified wasn’t already abundantly clear, “Over the Mountain,” the latest in a too-long string of set-up episodes, underlines it in felt-tip. If the …

Justified, Season 5, Episode 3: “Good Intentions” Written by Benjamin Cavell Directed by Dean Parisol Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX   As a general rule, the longer a heavily serialized series goes on, the more laborious the early episodes of seasons become, as they strain to incorporate new elements while servicing long-simmering plotlines …

Justified, Season 5, Episode 2: “The Kids Aren’t All Right” Written by Dave Andron Directed by Bill Johnson Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX – In case you missed the news, FX’s John Landgraf announced that Justified will end next year with its sixth season. This lines up with what Graham Yost and Timothy …

Justified, Season 5, Episode 1: “A Murder of Crowes” Written by Fred Golan and Graham Yost Directed by Michael Dinner Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX – When we last saw Raylan Givens, he was kicking back – sort of. Having just brushed Nicky Augustine off his shoulder by serving him up to his …

There was a hope among much of the fans lately that Marvel and Robert Downey Jr. would be able to renegotiate his contract so that he might be able to stay on as Tony Stark AKA Iron Man long past The Avengers 2. Sadly, this is not the case and, moreover, it’s looking like Marvel …

If you were hoping that “Ghosts” might hearken back to the very first Justified season finale, “Bulletville,” just because a gangster threatened to kill Raylan’s wife and unborn child last week, then it may very well have left you wanting. If, on the other hand, you value the thing Justified can dole out even better than gun battles – that is to say, potent character beats – “Ghosts” is more than happy to oblige.