User reviews

This series is a spinoff of the 2010 television show Justified, and follows titular character, U. S. Marshal Raylan Givens, who has been living in Florida, but after a road incident, he is reassigned to Detroit and while there must fight against corruption, take care of his rebellious 15 year-old daughter, build relationships, and hunt down a new dangerous serial killer. Overall due, to its signature comedy, action- packed shootouts/fights, and nostalgic moments, this show was a great return to this character and a good way to add to the story and even though there are sometimes too many side plots or characters that can take away from the main plot, it was an enjoyable experience that fans of the original show will love and hopefully eventually another full length feature can continue to build upon this short but sweet return.

Sometimes you come across a show that's just perfect, and while it must be tempting to capitalize on its success, it would probably be better to let it be. Because how do you compete with perfection ?

I never bothered to watch "El Camino", because I didn't feel that "Breaking bad" needed a sequel, so maybe it was good or maybe not. I don't know and I'm never gonna find out.

But here we are. A new chapter in the Raylan Givens story.

As expected it doesn't in any way come close to the original. The strenght of "Justified" was grounded in the multitude of great characters surrounding Oliphant and Goggins, and that it took a cop show and turned it into an epic rural saga.

Goggins made his villain a man you despised and loved at the same time. A bad guy with a multilayered personality.

Sadly Damsell is no Boyd Crowder. He's just a bad guy to the bone, and "City Primeval" is just another regular " catch a killer" cop show.

That being said it's not bad. Raylan is still a cool guy and I actually couldn't help myself enjoying it.

But while I rated the original 10, this deserves only a 7.

Worth a watch though.

Considering Justified is one of my favorite shows ever I've really been looking forward to Justified: City Primeval ever since I first heard about it. Then when I saw the trailers my expectations grew even more. Well, it's finally here and I can say without hesitation that this series not only met those expectations but surpassed them in every way. Timothy Olyphant returns as Raylan Givens. If there's ever been an actor perfect for a role it's Olyphant as Givens. This role was made for him. This series brings everything you loved about the original but also with a fresh take. I really can't recommend this show enough. Whether you're a fan of the original Justified or not, this is a must watch.

*"Justified: City Primeval" (2023)* is a limited series that serves as a revival of the original "Justified" series, bringing back Timothy Olyphant as the iconic U. S. Marshal Raylan Givens. Streaming on Hulu, this series takes a fresh approach by adapting Elmore Leonard's novel "City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit," shifting the action from the familiar Kentucky setting to the gritty streets of Detroit.

**Plot:** The story follows Raylan Givens as he navigates life as a single father while being drawn into a case in Detroit. The series is packed with intense confrontations, sharp dialogue, and the same dark humor that fans of the original series loved. Raylan is pitted against a new antagonist, Clement Mansell (played by Boyd Holbrook), a dangerous sociopath known as "The Oklahoma Wildman." The cat-and-mouse game between Raylan and Mansell is a key driver of the show's tension and drama.

**Performances:** Timothy Olyphant effortlessly slips back into his role as Raylan, delivering the cool, confident, and morally complex character that made him a fan favorite. Boyd Holbrook also shines as the unpredictable and menacing Mansell, offering a formidable counterpoint to Raylan's calm demeanor. The supporting cast, including Aunjanue Ellis and Adelaide Clemens, adds depth and texture to the series.

**Tone and Style:** The series maintains the distinctive tone of the original *Justified*, with its blend of western tropes and crime drama, but the change in setting to Detroit adds a fresh layer of urban grit. The dialogue is as sharp as ever, full of wit and tension, with the writing staying true to the spirit of Elmore Leonard's work. The show also delves into more modern themes, reflecting on Raylan's aging and the evolving landscape of law enforcement.

**Critics' Reception:** *Justified: City Primeval* has been generally well-received by critics, with praise for its strong performances, particularly Olyphant's return as Raylan. The series has been noted for staying true to the original while successfully reinventing itself for a new storyline. Some critics have pointed out that the pacing can be uneven at times, but the show's high points are compelling enough to overshadow these moments.

**Overall:** If you enjoyed the original *Justified*, this revival is a must-watch. It offers a satisfying continuation of Raylan Givens' story while introducing new characters and a new setting that keeps the series fresh and engaging. The balance of action, character development, and sharp dialogue makes *Justified: City Primeval* a worthy addition to the franchise. One of my favorites and hopefully will get to see more of this series soon.

What used to make Justified great was the excellent and charismatic villains along with witty repartee dialogue between Raylan and said antagonists, with some good action and plot twists sprinkled in. This series has a less compelling villain who is quite obvious in his machinations and struts around in his white briefs far too often for my taste. He's hardly ever on screen with Raylan so the dialogue is minimal.

We also get some side characters who are inserted for little reason like his supposedly 15-year-old daughter Willa, played by Timothy Olyphant's real life daughter who is 20 and it shows. She can raise her voice an octave but we still have eyes. The writers do her no favors, she just plays the usual bratty and disobedient teen girl trope that is seemingly in every show now, and doesn't move the plot forward in any way but rather acts as a drag on it with distracting annoyance.

The love interest for Raylan is so far off from Ava Crowder or Winona Hawkins that it just doesn't come across as believable. Raylan is probably out of almost every woman's league but in this case it's really a bridge too far.

Neither the plot nor the dialogue are all that clever. Raylan gets in a few quips but it just seems like they stole the lines from the original Justified and repurposed them here. It's great to see Raylan on screen again and Sweety (Vondie Curtis-Hall) is also a lot of fun to watch so I still give this a 6, but when they're off screen it's a 3 or 4. Were they justified in making this show? Mostly not.

The original Justified is one of my favorite shows of all-time. I wasn't expecting Justified: City Primeval to be as good as the original (not much is) but I was hoping it would be good enough and it absolutely was. It did not disappoint. I'm excited to see where this is going to go but so far the one thing that I do know is I can't stand the daughter. Having said that, besides hating the daughter, Justified: City Primeval is one of the best new shows of the year. This takes place 15 years after the original ended and Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) is now a Marshall in Florida until a case brings him to Detroit to chase a violent sociopath (Boyd Holbrook). While no one is going to be a better adversary than Boyd Crowder (played by the amazing Walton Goggins), Boyd Holbrook is also a great actor and makes the character a worthy villain for Raylan. The writing and acting is what makes this show so special. While not as good as the original Justified, this is a worthy sequel as it's gotten nothing but great reviews by just about everyone. I read that this is only a limited series back for just this one season but with the way it ended they have to bring it back for at least another season but that ending is what everyone was waiting for. I really hope they do do another season because this show was terrific and you can't have enough Justified in my opinion.

I love that show, it made me watch the original series.

They should renew this series especially since the actors are all in on it . That being said, I wish they can get more characters of the original show in the reboot. In the original show, you had the recurring vilains that are both charismatic and attaching, with more "evil" vilains for the current season that are the "real" villains that get caught by the season end. In my opinion this is winning recipe.

The dialogs in the original series are priceless, they could improved this in the reboot. I like the combination of ironic dialogs with a funny touch, it reminds me of the Gilmore girls dialogs.

I really wanted to like this series. But three episodes in, it feels like our modern-day Matt Dillon has been worm-holed into an alternate universe of lackluster writing, uninteresting supporting characters, and stodgy direction. No Elmore Leonard vibe this time... just the sort of flaccid storytelling more typical of network cop dramas. And, as a dad with three daughters and my fair share of parental challenges, I feel the whole father-daughter thread is unconvincing. Check out Bosch for some really good writing in that vein. Most of all, this new outing needs an intriguing and likable villain. Give me Boyd Crowder!

I love all things Timothy Olyphant, the original Justified and I love the Raylan Givens character. What I can do without is the Willa character. I find her to be annoying and unnecessary. I know it's only 2 episodes in, but she's added nothing to the show at all, except teenage disobedience. This character is an obvious ploy and someone we're supposed to care about when she's abducted or otherwise harmed. Maybe the impetus for Raylan to break a law, become angrier, show vulnerability, etc. Either way she's irritating and the least the writers could've done was make her character likable. I'm still gonna watch because of Mr. Olyphant and the rest of the cast, but I really hope her character has less screen time.

The first few episodes were disappointing and with a repeat theme these days ---"here we go again"------- -- a single law enforcement officer with a spoiled brat teenager in tow. It seems to be the trend with crime movies these days and is getting tiresome. Once the daughter, who is a terrible actor and has no screen presence and talks like a 7 year old baby. Once she moves on the show really picked up. The actors were a bit over the top to start with but became much more believeable as the show progressed. Enjoyed the series once the daughter finally left, which should have been much earlier. The villain is a bit much and hard to believe. The writers could have fine tuned this a bit more. Overall well done and worth watching.

The Justified we know and love, but it was still wonderful to see Tim back as Raylan. It was 100% jarring watching Raylan in Detroit and outside of Kentucky (especially right after finishing another rewatch of the original series), but I felt it was decent. This isn't the Justified we know. Raylan is in a new element - it was almost like culture shock because I've watched the OG series so much I'm used to the Southern accents, the brightness (the color tone of CP was dark which also threw me off), and the quirkiness and wit of the villains. In CP, the villains are true villains - nothing likable or redeeming about them (though Holbrook was fantastic in his role), which is a drastic change from Justified. We all loved Boyd and rooted for him while wanting him to get caught. All of that can be credited to Walt for bringing such vitality to a character that was only supposed to be in the OG series pilot. I missed the fun banter between Raylan and the bad guys - we didn't get that here. And I get why. We weren't supposed to. This was supposed to be different. And I see why a lot of fans were less than thrilled with City Primeval. I get it and they all have valid points as to why they didn't like this iteration and I agree with them. It was slow at times but in typical Justified fashion, once everything came together it picked up fast and hard. So that being said, I enjoyed it for what it was. I knew it would be different - no Art, Rachel, Tim, Winona, Boyd, Ava, Wynn, Vasquez. I knew it wouldn't be the Justified I loved. The OG series was a perfect show start to finish for me, with the series finale being THE best finale I've seen to date. That's why I appreciated CP a bit because they weren't trying to nor did they set out to make a Justified 2.0. Yes, there were a lot of things I was less than thrilled about. Yes, the format was different and the way everything played out was a bit...not confusing per say...maybe perplexing? Yeah, perplexing is the right word. You didn't know who you could trust. You didn't know who was clean and who was dirty. The actors were great, but like a lot of people said, this iteration was based on a book by Elmore Leonard that had nothing to do with Raylan and the creators of the show put him in anyway. Which makes sense because any version of Justified without Tim/Raylan isn't Justified. But, and hopefully you're still with me, in the end it's worth it. I swear and promise you that. In regards to a second "season", I'm torn. On one hand, hell yes after that ending (just can't use City Primeval as part of the title). If you watched you know why. But on the other hand, the OG series (like I said) ended in sheer and utter perfection with "Because we dug coal together" that I don't know if we really should have a second season. Why mess with perfection? Either way, I'd be happy because I do trust the creators, writers, and Tim. I'd say give it a shot, but go in with an open mind and try not to compare the two.

It's a good thing the writers are currently on strike; that means you can get new ones when the strike is over! The way they wrote the character Willa is horrible . Please send her back to Florida or whatever.

Vivian, if you read this, please know that this is just your first gig. You have your dad's smile, but you were miscast into this role that is setting you up for a lot of criticism. I can't wait to see you in roles that actually make sense.

The good part of this show is that it still has Timothy Olyphant doing Raylan. There are also some really good supporting actors in this show. I have hope that this show will get better and "justify" itself.

Raylan is fantastic. His dry sense of humor has returned and he's still an absolute hoot to watch. Whenever he's on screen, it feels like the Justified I used to watch.

It's almost everyone else that's the problem. The bad guy ain't anywhere near as charismatic as the bad guys from the previous seasons. The daughter is annoying at worst and boring at best. He doesn't have any fun, witty partners like Art Mullen or Tim Gutterson.

And none of this is even bothering to mention how outside of Raylan, the writing seems... off. Every two seconds someone has to say "white guy bad" or remind Raylan of his "privilege". Even his own white daughter does it, "He's not bad for a white guy".

It's embarrassing.

If this show didn't have Raylan in it, I wouldn't watch it. I'd rate it a 2/10. Not a 6.

I loved "old" Justified and so this "new" Justified is a bitter disappointment. One of the main appeals of Old Justified was the unusual (to a UK based viewer) location, and Raylans interaction with his friends and the villains. "New" Justified has basically got rid of all those features. The new version is set in Detroit so looks like any one of half a dozen other cop shows , and the scenery is pretty depressing. There are no real characters around Raylan, except the underused Wendell, for him to exchange banter with. He does have the most annoying daughter who is somewhere between brat and half wit, and you cant really see Raylan raising her that way. The villain spends too much time wandering around in white Y fronts ( who wears white y fronts anymore?) and Boyd Crowder would eat him for breakfast.

Bring back old Justified , get the old cast together, move it back to Kentucky and get some decent writers. Please!

Raylan Givens is back and he's as awesome as ever, but the show still falls down when it comes to the other characters and the overall plot.

The lack of complexity within the plot is the biggest problem. The main villain just wanders about with no real plan or central goals, and honestly he would be better as the chief henchman of a much smarter, more ambitious villain. That lack of powerful central villain, makes the lesser bad guys far less impactful then they should have been.

Carolyn and Sweety are interesting characters on their own, but their personal struggles take up screen time and don't add much to the plot. (The original Justified was great because everything connected back to Raylan, Harlan or the US Marshall service in one way or another.)

The corrupt cop storyline is also a big let down. The cop is not corrupt enough to bring any real tension to the story.

The plot needed a corrupt cop acting against the investigation throughout. I wanted to see them actively tampering with evidence, silencing witnesses through murder or threats, I wanted to see them in secret meetings with other bad guys, passing along information and taking bribes from them. Instead we see the cop clumsily trying to pin the crimes of the villain on an innocent person, and they're so bad at it, that all their colleagues instantly know what they've done.

Willa (Raylan's daughter) is another disappointment. Her "little girl voice" is grating, and she seems very naive for a 15 year old, and especially for a law enforcement officers daughter. We see her exploring the secluded graffiti laden back streets of Detroit, all by herself with zero thought for her own safety. A strange man shows up at her hotel, claiming to know her dad, and she instantly believes him. Honestly if they recast the character as a 10 year old I wouldn't know the difference.

Off the bat, they have Willa making poor choices going out in the city alone meeting with a strange man, knowing the kind of work her dad is involved in. And then they have him staying out late while she's in the hotel room and knowing she's not in the room later , but still not going back. But I do absolutely love the show, but I would think the daughter of somebody like that would have more sense. I just don't know that her acting is all that great either either, but I understand she's a kid

But I like it better than the regular justified.

I found the original justified hard to follow at times.

I would love to see a second season.

They won't be getting rid of Willa...Unreal, so there you have it. No skill, but she has bloodlines. Nepotism at it worst. Shame on Tim for making this happen. He HAS to know that she didn't test well. Didn't anybody want to stand up and say something? It's also missing the likeable characters that the original had. Harlin country was a little slow and that made for some fun and witty moments. This is a little dull. In the end this week nt last 3 seasons. I'd be surprised if it has another. They was him back (Tim) so he played out his hand. This is what we get. Too bad, I was jazzed for the reboot..