U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens is back, with his knack of inviting trouble intact. The Kentucky-born lawman embodied for six seasons on FX’s Justified returns in an eight-episode limited series on the network (next day on Hulu), starting with a pair of episodes on Tuesday, July 18.
Smartly adapting Elmore Leonard’s novel, City Primeval starts in Florida, where Givens is helping to raise his 15-year-old daughter, Willa (played by Olyphant’s daughter, Vivian). The action soon shifts to Detroit and pits Stetson- and Glock-toting Givens against murder suspect “Oklahoma Wildman” Clement Mansell (Boyd Holbrook). Mansell is a fairly typical Justified star villain, charming in his way and clever but a total brute, acting on impulse against his own interest at times. Women in need of Givens’s protection (a standard feature) include, of course, Willa but also, intriguingly, Mansell’s super-smart lawyer, played by Carolyn Wilder as an evolving character who starts out by roasting Givens in court then later finds herself on his side in many ways.
The supporting law-enforcement cast comes mostly from Detroit police, and part of the fun is figuring out who is the best of them and who might be a bit bent. They include the sassy Marin Ireland and the feisty Norbert Lee Butz. A standout among the incidental locals is Vondie Curtis Hall as Marcus “Sweety” Sweeton, whose background as a funk bassist gives him the cred to run a very dive-ish bar of the kind Givens is frequently a frequenter. On the cameo side of the scale, David Cross makes a most welcome appearance.
As for Raylan himself, he’s still laconic and in command of most situations, but the locks have grayed (the setting is 15 years after the events of season six in 2015) and maybe lost a step. But then again, maybe not. As was said about a past Justified character, played by Patton Oswalt, you underestimate him at your peril.
