U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) is still working the back roads of Harlan County, getting in deeper with his ex-wife Winona (Natalie Zea) and sure sort-of friend (and most of the time adversary) Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) will be back up to no good sooner rather than later. Worse, he’s become involved with the Bennett clan, most notably matriarch Mags (Margo Martindale) and the more nefarious of her three sons Dickie (Jeremy Davies), inadvertently reigniting an old family feud that had been on the verge of finally burning itself out.

CRITIQUE

The second season of Justified finds this show inspired and based upon a character originated by the great Elmore Leonard in his novel Fire in the Hole running at full throttle. These 13 episodes represent dramatic storytelling at its finest, showrunner Graham Yost and his crack team of writers doing a bang-up job of making every moment sing like no tomorrow.

The feud between the Givens and Bennett clans is developed beautifully, in elegantly brief brushstrokes that allow the show’s main story lines to come into the light with a subtle intelligence that’s far beyond the usual television fodder. The way Raylan and Mags verbally tango, how they dance around with one another showcasing ample respect for what the other has accomplished while also not backing down from the animosities that have fueled their family battles, all of it is incredible, the two of them so in tune with what the other is doing the effect borders on magic.

Martindale and Davies are fantastic, the former in particular. The two of them have found characters they can really sink their teeth into, both ripping them to shreds with magnificent gusto. The rest of the actors portraying the Bennett’s and their cronies are all fine, doing some solid work, but none of them rise to quite the same level this pair does, and from the very first episode you can’t wait to discover what either of the noted character actors are going to do next.

Side plots aren’t as convoluted as they appear on the surface, most of them involving Mags relationship with Raylan’s father and aunt and between Boyd and Ava (Joelle Carter), the latter finding herself becoming far more receptive to her one-time brother-in-laws flirtations with going back to his bad boy ways than she ever thought she would be. All work in tandem with the central threads, only a rather annoying one involving Raylan, Winona and her money troubles going a bit off-center and not working in a way that is remotely believable.

Overall, though, the second season of Justified borders on incredible. Olyphant continues to impress as Givens, while Yost and company have done a stunning job of crafting a modern day Western in the style of Leonard’s iconic prose. A great show, one that only gets better and better as each episode flies by, this Blu-ray release is one fans will want to add to their personal libraries immediately.

THE VIDEO

Justified – Season 2 is presented on three dual-layer 50GB Blu-rays MPEG-4 AVC Video with 1.78:1/1080p transfers.

THE AUDIO

These Blu-rays feature English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio tracks and include optional English SDH and French subtitles.

THE EXTRAS

Extras here include:

·         Deleted Scenes – There are some short extra scenes on seven of the episodes, the best ones attached to “The Moonshine War” and “Bloody Harlan.”

·         On the Set of Justified (19:03, Disc Once) – Solid, if typical, featurette focusing on production designer Dave Blass and many of the signature locations found in season two of the series.

·         Clans, Feuds & Apple Pie (24:26, Disc Two) – Great featurette focusing on the show’s villains; a must watch for fans.

·         Outtakes (2:32, Disc Three) – Ugh. Outtake reel. Good times.

·         Talking Shop: Roundtable Discussion (24:05, Disc Three) – Great featurette focusing on a discussion between the show’s producers, most notable author Elmore Leonard, that talks about the characters, themes and story arcs found in both seasons one and two of the show.

All the extras are fairly solid, but a series of this quality just feels like it needs a bit more. There’s not a ton of depth to these special features, and while fans will be pleased by the majority of it personally I was hoping for more in the way of depth and substance.

The set includes a handful of trailers for other Sony releases and comes BD-Live enabled.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The second season of Justified improves upon the already excellent first one, easily cementing itself as one of the best programs on television. Highly recommended.