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[nigeltde]

FX has had the two strongest new shows of the last year, Archer and Justified. Justified has a terrific sense of itself, a languid, dust-filtered pace and place with black, black shadows. It took me a while to appreciate how good Olyphant was in Deadwood; his rigid walk and gritted teeth seemed mannered until I realised that Bullock was constantly on guard against himself, was essentially living with a homicidal maniac. Raylan Givens is a much more accessible performance, a man with a resigned, dark sense of humour and a willingness to compromise but there's the same streak of fury in him that Olyphant keeps simmering underneath and those moments when it boils over are electric. Givens is a dangerous man. Dangerous in my pants, ~le sigh.

At the centre of the show sits the two father-son pairs and I love how by the end of the season you realise these pairs are not set up to contrast each other; they complement in a rather disturbing way (my god are those fathers awful fucking human beings), and the best bit of the finale is the line the show draws between Raylan and Boyd Crowder (Groggins is so fucking excellent as Boyd, he makes me want to give The Shield another go).

As it turns out that storyline carries the season but I also really enjoyed the stand-alone episodes at the start of the season. They give equal time to the criminals of the week and somehow they make their stories interesting as hell. And you know, you get actors in like Kristin Bauer and W Earl Brown and I'm there.

And I mean, you can tell just from who the clip below leads with that the show knows its central foursome is the main reason to go, and it doesn't really spend much time or effort on the blonde hotties in Raylan's life which is a big shame. Their stories ought to be more interesting. Supporting characters suffer too, except for Raylan's boss and a couple of extra Crowders.

If season 2 is anything like season 1 it is going to be completely reliable awesome, funny, subtle badassery week after week.




The Good Wife was on my radar because of Josh Charles (whose Will is not quite so tremblingly, vulnerably, amusingly dreamy as Dan Rydell) and possible lesbianism and it certainly presents serviceable cases every episode. It does take itself very seriously, which can put a damper on things, but Margulies does good work as Alicia Florrick and it's nice to see a (good) procedural carried by a female character with actual conflicts and issues, which, combined with her talent and abilities, make her so good at what she does.

What's interesting about the show is that the law firm is actually kind of nasty. It represents nasty people and is regularly on the non-righteous side. Florrick occasionally takes underhand, nasty tactics, sometimes at the prompting of her bosses; I mean, she's no Maurice Levy but I do look forward to seeing if the show will confront the firm's dodginess.

The show's got the usual roster of quirky judges and famous guest stars and the supporting cast is good. I find Archie Panjabi's Kalinda a little weak but the character is intriguing, and Titus Welliver is a regular guest star and I will follow Deadwood people anywhere.

I don't know; it's good, it passes the Bechdel test every episode, it's a well-put together legal drama with enough character work to make it worth coming back and I hear the second half picks up with the introduction of Alan Cumming so that's reason enough to stay.