Justified Season 3: DVD Review
After being shot at the end of the second season Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) heals up just in time to encounter a new “evil” coming into town. Robert Quarles (Neal McDonough) is an exiled member of the Frankfort Mafia that has made his way to Kentucky and sees it as an easy way to take control of the areas drug running. Quarles quickly tries to recruit all of the towns criminals (some accept and some don’t) to help in his plans and the first person he goes to is Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins). Crowder quickly refuses and immediately makes an enemy of Quarles. At this point Dickie Bennett (Jeremy Davies) gets released from prison and goes to collect money from Ellstin Limehouse (Mykelti Williamson) that he was given to keep safe and we’ll just say Dickie isn’t happy with what he sees. Limehouse is the “leader” of the people of Noble’s Holler. They are a group that keep to themselves but know EVERYTHING that happens in and around town. He tries his best to keep him and his people out of everyone’s business but when he gets asked for help by Crowder, Quarles and Deputy Givens himself he ends up being pulled right in the middle of a power struggle. Givens’ main purpose now is to figure out what Quarles’ plan is and who all is in his pocket all while dealing with Crowder, Bennett, Limehouse and trying to keep his family together.
This season was an interesting one. The antagonists from the previous seasons show up to be a thorn in Raylan Givens side then add Robert Quarles and you have a tornado of crime in 13 episodes. I think the best thing about these cable shows is that a lot of them run about 13 episodes a season and that lets them get straight to the point right out of the gate instead of stringing things along that may cause people lose interest. Timothy Olyphant’s portrayal of Deputy Raylan Givens is pretty damn good. He mixes humor with the investigative work that goes into being in a position of law enforcement and it works nicely. I do feel like there were a bit too many characters running around that not enough was concentrated on Olyphant’s character. We saw his story progress a bit but not enough in my opinion. Neal McDonough brought an interesting twist to things. He played his character so polite and gentleman like that I knew that there was something intensely vicious about him and I was right. When the doors close and he’s away from the public this man becomes twisted and psychotic which brought unpredictability to this season. Walter Goggins brought a sense of simplicity to Boyd Crowder yet you quickly see that he’s way more than that. He’s a crime genius that knows exactly how to pull and tug on the strings of people around him. Although Dickie Bennett didn’t make a huge impact this season, Jeremy Davies definitely made his presence known and laid the ground work for his character to possibly cause some major problems in the upcoming fourth season (at least I hope so). Then there’s Mykelti Williamson that plays Ellstin Limehouse, he pulled no punches and was the common connection to most of the main characters this season. My only disappointment of the season was that the final showdown between Givens and Quarles was somewhat anti-climactic and I thought it would’ve been a bigger battle than it actually was. Other than that it was a solid season with very little slow down. I’m looking forward to see what is going to happen in this upcoming season as a result of what went on in the finale.
Special Features:
Crossing The Line: Making Season 3 – This feature runs about almost 20 minutes and gives you a deeper look into what the series has evolved into. They seem to be going down a darker road and the cast and crew explain more into why.
Deleted Scenes – Disc 1 and 2 have a few deleted scenes but nothing that’s too major
Ellstin’s Joint: Noble’s Holler Set Tour – An interesting look at how the crew built the set and what inspired them to create Limehouse’s property the way they did.
Outtakes – Funny as always. Funniest one was Timothy Olyphant attempting to enter a house with his gun drawn and tripping from the top step all the way into the house.
Anatomy of a Stunt – A really good step by step process of an explosive scene in the season. Interviews with the actors and stuntmen involved make this feature a neat couple of minutes to watch.
Really good show, really good season. A bit light on the features but the ones that are included are pretty good.
Justified Season 3 is available NOW on DVD and Blu-ray from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
