Justified rewatch: 1x01 Fire in the Hole
Sep. 10th, 2019 10:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwynOkay, let's kick this off! Justified rewatch starting with that amazing pilot episode. I'll have a master post up with links as soon as we get more than one episode down, but in the meantime you can find out how to see the series if you want to join in by clicking the justified my love tag.
1.1 Fire in the Hole
Original air date: March 16, 2010
Written by Graham Yost
Directed by Michael Dinner
After the "justified" shooting of a Miami gangster, Deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens is reassigned to his home state of Kentucky, where he takes on a case involving an old acquaintance he once mined coal with, who has become a white supremacist and blown up an African American church.
Please share your thoughts and reactions in comments.
1.1 Fire in the Hole
Original air date: March 16, 2010
Written by Graham Yost
Directed by Michael Dinner
After the "justified" shooting of a Miami gangster, Deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens is reassigned to his home state of Kentucky, where he takes on a case involving an old acquaintance he once mined coal with, who has become a white supremacist and blown up an African American church.
Please share your thoughts and reactions in comments.
I'll kick off comments
Date: 2019-09-10 06:09 pm (UTC)I love how unapologetically Western it is--the lone gunslinger opening, except updated to include a Miami gangster who's sitting in his private outdoor table at a hotel restaurant. The dialog really showcases the Elmore Leonardness of it all.
It's funny, now, how quick the Marshals Service is to want to get rid of him and stick him in a backwater. I love meeting all his new co-workers, though, and how easily they're introduced to us--Art's exposition dump isn't even an exposition dump, and we quickly learn everything we need to know without the dreaded one character telling another character, "Oh, they're gooood."
The hyper competency of them taking on the idiot brothers who ambushed them outside the hotel was a perfect example of that--we know what we need to know about Rachel in an instant with her two guns. Art continues to be my favorite. Also my favorite moment, maybe in the whole series: When Raylan confronts Dewey Crowe outside Ava's house, and walks right up to him and grabs the shotgun because he knows he's faster than this idiot and he's sowed the seed of doubt about whether he'd racked in a load in time.
The look and feel of this is so different from the California-shot episodes, all that Pennsylvania scenery really amps up the feeling of it being set in Kentucky--it always seems like people could vanish into woods and down dirt roads and you'd never catch them. I kind of thought that nowadays, they would hit harder on Boyd's Nazi bullshit, but in this Raylan only sort of lightly mocks him. It's a great example of how far we've fallen, because in this, right after the election of our first black president, the vile rhetoric response is tossed off lightly, whereas now we have a racist administration that supports white supremacists like Boyd, and I think the show would have come down more harshly on all of it.
Loved how they introduced the iconic Ganstagrass theme song "Long Hard Times to Come" with Raylan driving up to his old town. Way before "Old Town Road," people! Justified did it first! :-D
Re: I'll kick off comments
Date: 2019-09-11 02:31 pm (UTC)Yes! I had forgotten that moment until it happened and then I was like -- oh yes, now I remember why I instantly knew I would love this show.
When Raylan confronts Dewey Crowe outside Ava's house, and walks right up to him and grabs the shotgun because he knows he's faster than this idiot and he's sowed the seed of doubt about whether he'd racked in a load in time.
I didn't mention Dewey in my comment, but pretty much each time he came on screen my reaction was "aw, Dewey," haha. I had originally found his character a tad on the tedious side in later episodes but rewatching I found him more endearing.
Re: I'll kick off comments
Date: 2019-09-15 10:09 pm (UTC)Re: I'll kick off comments
Date: 2019-09-29 10:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-11 02:27 pm (UTC)The first ten minutes have to be one of my favorites for an opening on any tv show i've ever watched. What a power move. You pretty much know everything you need to know about Raylan -- he will kill you. Right off the bat you know what kind of man he is and what kind of show you're getting yourself into. I love that.
Raylan's introduction is juxtaposed against Boyd Crowder's intro, which effectively does the same thing. In less than a minute Boyd is out of that jeep, hoisting a bazooka onto his shoulder and taking out a church. I know they didn't intend for Boyd Crowder to survive the episode so kudos to the writers and creatives who caught on what a powerhouse they had in both the actor and the character. I'm going to enjoy the crazy-ass journey Boyd takes on this show.
Whether they intended it to or not this first episode sets up the seasons long ying yang rivalry between Raylan and Boyd. Boyd is a good foil for Raylan.
In general, giving us a sense of who these characters are within one minute of their screen time is something this episode does very well, not only with Raylon and Boyd, but with the whole with the entire cast of the characters. Tim Gutterson might be the hardest to know -- though we get a good sense of who he is when he asks Art if he wants him to wing the bad guy or kill him.
Raylan saying "It was justified," which I think he said at least a couple times in the episode, also gives us the theme of this show pretty succinctly.
I love Raylan, but I have pretty big heart eyes for Art, Rachel and Tim (especially Tim, okay! I love him) and I pretty much rotate between them all with how much I love them lol.
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Date: 2019-09-15 10:14 pm (UTC)I am SO glad that someone had the sense to realize what they had with Boyd Crowder and Walton Goggins. The show would not have been the same without that yin & yang, you're right.
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Date: 2019-09-15 07:46 pm (UTC)I watched ‘Justified’ for the first time this winter and wanted to share my love for this show with somebody ever since. I’m so excited you’re doing this!
First of all, to get this out of the way, I’m ESL and often struggle to express my feelings and thoughts in any coherent manner, so please forgive me for all the crimes against language I’m going to commit.
I was surprised to learn that in Leonard’s story it was Raylan’s partner who got killed (if I’m not mistaken). It’s an interesting choice to make him some random guy since him being Raylan’s partner would’ve made this first shooting a little more understandable. I like that the writers apparently weren’t too concerned about making their characters likable and palatable: this is who these people are and you can either take it or leave it. It’s very upfront. And of course, there’s Boyd. Boyd in the pilot and Boyd after the pilot; how he changes and how he doesn’t change, how his first appearance casts a shadow over his whole journey, a shadow he cannot escape – all of this is very interesting for me, both in-universe and out of it. I also like (well, like isn’t the right word, but…) how all three members of our main Harlan trio killed somebody in this episode and why they did it and how they did it tells you all you need to know about them.
Obviously, shooting all seasons in actual Kentucky was out of the realm of possibility, but sometimes I wish it wasn’t. The setting/mythology around Harlan fascinates me and is a big draw of the show. Like ‘The Wire’, it’s the US TV show about parts of US rarely shown on TV, even if ‘Justified’ is the opposite of ‘The Wire’ in many respects (despite having some similar themes).
Art is the best and immediately starts teasing Raylan <3 I wonder who told him about that thing from a rocket launcher. Was it Tim? I’m gonna headcanon it was Tim.
Ava’s line ‘Lysol is the best cleaning product you can buy’ is gold in this context. Raylan’s mother telling Ava about him becoming a marshal doesn’t work with the timeline. It should’ve been Helen. Unless I’m missing something obvious.
Marshals playing card games on a stakeout reminded me of that amazing fic, ‘Carry your man and their dead too’.
I can’t tell how many times I rewatched the scene at the table. It fully sold me on the show. One of the few things I osmosed about ‘Justified’ years ago was Raylan and Boyd’s rivalry. I remember reading somewhere that they’re one of the best pair of antagonists on TV at the moment (the moment was 2014, I think?) and they didn’t disappoint. Their complicated frenemyship (loaded with history we can only guess about) and Ava’s place in it is everything I wanted. And the relationships the three of them have with Harlan are just as interesting and complicated as the relationships they have with each other.
Raylan and Boyd are so caught up in their macho games, they forget about Ava. They keep underestimating her, even if they know by this point what she’s capable of. Not the last time they’ll make this mistake. Boyd clearly didn’t expect that Raylan will actually shoot him, I have no idea what he was thinking here. The music in this scene is beautiful. I love love love the flashback. I love that it’s the only one (at least, the only character backstory related one). It’s so simple and yet powerful.
Art indirectly asking why Raylan missed is a perfect example of why the dialogue on this show is good. Subtext, people!
Wow, so many things happened in this episode, it’s wild. You can tell this had a literary source, it feels complete.
I have a feeling I wanted to say ten other things I forgot, but it’s a start.
(I’m grandparadisedream on tumblr)
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Date: 2019-09-15 10:25 pm (UTC)I really do like that aspect of showing the characters' flaws and all--so often, on American TV, they're obsessed with making everyone so likeable that they become boring and there's no real sense of change or growth. That was one of the true strengths of the show, how complicated everyone was.
Like ‘The Wire’, it’s the US TV show about parts of US rarely shown on TV, even if ‘Justified’ is the opposite of ‘The Wire’ in many respects (despite having some similar themes).
Oh, that's a great point--and yes, there's such a sense of place, even if the place was only simulated in the following episodes.
Art is truly the best. I adore them all, though, and they make such great foils for Raylan sometimes, when he gets too full of himself.
I hadn't even thought of that, but you're right, it should have been Helen who told Ava about him becoming a Marshal!
That dinner table scene is one for the ages, man. I so rarely see this show included in great moments collections, which is a shame, because that table scene is so tense and fascinating, and there's such good acting going on--the way Raylan tracks Boyd when he's challenging Ava, the way Ava's anger boils over, Boyd's previously creepy obsession with her...it's all so delicious.
I'll have the next two episodes up on Tuesday--I figured that since the seasons are 13 episodes, I'd do the season pilot in one post, and then the other episodes in twos, just so it doesn't go too long. But if people think they'd prefer one episode a week, I can change that up, too. I'm really happy you're here!
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Date: 2019-09-29 11:09 pm (UTC)Oh, yes. Earlier this month I saw some discussions of 'Succession' where some people were baffled that someone wants to watch a show with unlikeable characters, and those conversations always baffle me in return. I mean, I completely understand people preferring 'likeable characters', but in general, this seems very limiting.
Co-signed!
Two episodes a week are good! These particular two weeks were a little crazy and I fell behind, but I'm going to catch up soon. Sorry for being behind the schedule!
no subject
Date: 2019-10-03 10:44 pm (UTC)My background to quickly show how much I mean it: I watched the series about a year ago, but being a laser-focused kind of fan, I had to exhaust my interest in the other canon/fandom to allow a new infatuation of mine to truly blossom. This spring, I re-watched the series and have been overenthusiastically fangirling all over the place ever since and in the end even decided to create a thematic blog to be able to process all the things I can’t process simply by writing fics.
So, thank you so much for organizing this re-watch and attempting to revive the fandom. Holiday season came very early this year!
As to the pilot itself: there is so much ground to cover, and it’s really late where I am now, so, I guess I’ll have to go back to it all tomorrow or in the near future, but it would be rude not to comment on anything at all in the pilot and just vomit my rapture onto you all, lol, so, I’ll just share my thoughts on the very opening shot/first scene of the series because it’s so freaking smart and just coolly done. Also, media studies are kind of my specialty, and I tend to get wordy in my analyses because of it, haha!
“Raylan is being shot behind at a low angle, reiterating a convention prominent in spaghetti Westerns e.g. Sergio Leone‘s films, as well as revisionist works.
In a heartbeat, we realize that our protagonist is the inscrutable enigma of a cowboy, a figure larger than life. And then, we process the music, which, curiously, turns out to be some Latino beat. And then, even more curiously and incongruously, we find Raylan in a contemporary setting of sunny and affluent Miami. He is standing at the end of a swimming pool, not of a dusty town road, which in itself constitutes a subtle intertextual reference to Dirty Harry and, naturally, Clint Eastwood.
And the cultural codes continue to contradict each other: Raylan’s arrival is unnoticed by the people around him. No fear and no reverence, he is not recognized as a herald of anything. Everybody is half-naked, self-absorbed, and enjoying themselves and the sun, not paying attention to… a cop or cowboy? Cop cowboy? Another curious thing.
Although we cannot know it yet, Raylan’s outfit promises us, first, a seamless or at least very balanced, stylish blend between gangster films and Westerns. And second, because our perception is already influenced by the discrepancies between the hero and the context, our intuition is telling us that we are looking at someone who is trying to balance out his lawman instincts and his actual duties. Raylan wears his heart not on his sleeve, but on his head. And it is the cattleman’s hat that we would describe first if we had to give a description of him, right?
Just like that, we find out that Raylan suddenly is an out of place and out of time man, a walking anachronism, looking more lost than searching for somebody. Arguably, the postmodern reinvention of ‘the Western hero’ that is so typical of Justified has already started.
“You are a character,” says Tommy Bucks maybe a minute after that, reinforcing the impression.
Yeah, and the knowledge that that kind of character cannot be formed by the waves and the sea breeze of the hot Floridian coast has already started to seep into our brains.
And aren’t we secretly glad to soon find out that our cowboy is coming home, where the legend began?”
So, yeah, I hope I'm not being too excited here, and in any case, thank you so very, very much for the re-watch and this discussion opportunity, dear gwyn!
no subject
Date: 2019-10-04 08:11 pm (UTC)That's a really great observation, about the cultural codes. A lot of people I tried to rope into the fandom back in the day were all "I hate Westerns" and so I could never convince them that they were using the imagery from Westerns to tell a very modern story. It was always kind of a bummer that I couldn't get them to watch. And that's a great point about him being lost. I kind of love that the show never really explained why Raylan started with the hat and the boots. Why he created that image, when a lot of people would see those trappings as a hilarious cliche. His only answer is deflection: "Tried it on and it fit."
At the end, we get to see through Winona that he's not as self-aware as he pretends to be, and that adds to the intrigue of just where along the lines he affected that image.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-05 06:17 pm (UTC)It’s a little bit funny, given the fact that genre mashups that include Western as their components usually tend to be great and popular films/series/video games, like Three Billboards or The Walking Dead. So, their loss, I guess!
Yes! And I think it’s actually very true to the spirit of the classical Westerns, since Western protagonists are typically mystified because that’s part of what makes them attractive to their target audience – male viewers – who can project themselves onto the image of those mavericks.
I might have conflicting feelings about Winona, but the way her character and relationship with Raylan illuminate some parts of him that wouldn’t be exposed in any other dynamic is without a doubt just wonderful.