Support NeoGAF

[Cornballer]

Really like the setup for the last season. And a nice version of You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive too.

Yup yup. I'll have to think it over some, but this season was solid if a little disappointing at times for me. However, things are in place for a good final run.

EDIT: Here's the Ruby Friedman version of You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive that played over the credits.

 

[Niraj]

Season started poorly, but ended strongly. Overall kind of a muddled season, but I think the setup for next season is really promising. Only 13 episodes left

 

[Haloid1177]

I am really excited and sad to watch the final season. The finale was pretty good, but I felt that it will seem better after seeing season six.

Season 3 is still my fave.

 

[Cornballer]

- Sepinwall on the finale
- Sepinwall interviews Yost on S5

 

[Neko Godot]

I think the season worked as a really strong series of individual scenes and moments, but looking at the big picture it was kind of a mess. The only storyline that really worked was the rift between Raylan and Art. Ava's prison storyline's payoff had nothing to do with all the machinations happening inside the prison.

 

[ConfusingJazz]

Do not fuck with Tim.

Just.... don't.

I mean, Raylan will kill you, but at least he will be a gentleman about it.

Tim will teabag your corpse.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

meh, I hope next season is a return to form.

 

[Sanke__]

Well....next season should be good.

Dexter ran on for like 3 more seasons after it went to shit.

I have high hopes that justified will get it right.
Honestly, the set-up for the final season is better than I ever could have imagined.

 

[Niraj]

Since I'm reading it, Onion A.V. Club's review

 

[Fei]

I think the writing team just was not strong with writing a two season story arc. Next season should be a return to the focused show we're more accustomed to.

That said, the season was not awful, just never really hit it's stride.

 

[firehawk12]

I love Justified, but I'm also so tired of Boyd having plot armor. What was once clever is now just contrived - so all they can do is just hurt him (but not really, since he's too bad ass to even shed a tear), because he needs to last until the final season.

Also the whole Ava thing ended up ultimately being so pointless. I'm sure they wanted to show how desperate she would have to be until she would decide to turn on Boyd, but doing it twice? We already knew she was ready to sell him out, so why go through that whole final arc with her at all?

Still, I'm looking forward to seeing how this all raps up, but this season felt so much like a stand-by season where they had to keep everything static more than anything else... and to make up for it, they upped the bodycount of all the minor characters to mask that fact.

 

[The Artful Dodger]

Finished It. Hot damn.

Alot of people shat on this season. It wasn't terrible, it's just wasn't up to the standards we've come to expect from this show. I loved it, and enjoyed most moments (some of the storylines I could've done without. But nevertheless, I really do love this show.

That being said, I'm really sad next season is the final season, but excited to see it go down.

 

[Sanke__]

Watching it again and the absolutely fantastic set-up for the final season definitely makes up for the lackluster season.

 

[The Artful Dodger]

Also, the version of You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive from the finale.

You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive by Ruby Friedman Orchestra

 

[firehawk12]

Also, the version of You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive from the finale.

You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive by Ruby Friedman Orchestra

This was a great version of the song.

 

[KingKong]

The whole Crowe plotline felt like a major letdown, especially compared to the shows other villains

 

[jett]

Well there it is. Next season will be a back to basics Raylan vs. Boyd shenanigans...hopefully without any tangential, barely related to the main plot subplots.

 

[lazybones18]

I hope Ava gets hers next season

 

[Sheroking]

So the series finale is definitely going to mirror the pilot. Boyd and Ava at odds with Raylan between them.

At this point I don't see Boyd as a credible threat to Raylan. Boyd's biggest asset is his mouth and Raylan takes no shit from anybody. He's too much man for Boyd to handle.

 

[inm8num2]

Say 'Auf wiedersehen' to your balls.

 

[Cornballer]

- EW: 'Justified' season finale postmortem: EP Graham Yost dissects 'Restitution,' looks ahead to final year

 

[devilhawk]

That one on one with Kendall was marvelous. Amazing.

 

[StopMakingSense]

Some clunky plot threads this season, but those last few episodes were GREAT. Very excited with the setup for the next season.

Mary Steenburgen as a big bad makes me very happy.

 

[firehawk12]

It occurred to me that Daryl and Wendy are sort of surrogate versions of Boyd and Ava, and one could see what happened to them as foreshadowing what could happen at the end of the series. I wonder if that was ultimately the point of season 5.

 

[Quote]

I mean it's great and all that were going back to the Rayland vs Boyd stuff, but is this Boyd anywhere near the villain he was in the first season? I guess it doesn't matter, or I just have stockholm syndrom. He's also been swinging and wiffing in his criminal activities for awhile now. Hopefully the bank robbery stuff will be some big time shenanigans.

 

[ReturnOfTheRAT]

That's my Justified. It all worked out in the end. Even when I was confused about where plot lines were going, the show through all its production issues, successfully delivered on a season finale. It wrapped up what needed to be done and we shall be getting the showdown we've been waiting for. Raylan vs. Boyd: The 6th and final season.

 

[Dominican Power]

Just leave Raylan. It's going to end badly for him.

 

[firehawk12]

Just leave Raylan. It's going to end badly for him.

It feels like something bad has to happen to both of them at this point.

 

[Net_Wrecker]

Solid finale to a solid season. Even when the show's not at it's best, it's still a ton of fun to watch, and I could listen to the characters with this writing forever.


Season 6 should just be Heat: Kentucky Edition

 

[Nydius]

Alot of people shat on this season. It wasn't terrible, it's just wasn't up to the standards we've come to expect from this show.

I'd say a good 75% of it was terrible. The last 3 episodes were the only shining points of the season. The primary antagonists of the season - the Crowes - were easily dispatched by their own incompetence or contrived plot devices. The cartel angle never felt threatening. For the Boyd arc, the Crowes were little more than a MacGuffin delivery device for the heroin that ultimately led to the focus on Boyd at the end. Ava's line was so ridiculous: She sabotaged the heroin trade in the prison, then tried to save her skin by involving Boyd, but never once did she restore the heroin deliveries - yet she managed to stay alive episode after episode?

This season really had very poor writing and very poor focus. They hyped up the Crowes in every pre-season promo and the Crowes were comically bad villains. Even the end of Darryl Crowe, Jr. was a hurried joke. Overall, the entire season felt like little more than a filler season to stretch out the series until the inevitable final conflict between Boyd and Raylan.

 

[Linius]

Well that's a great finale to an okay season. It's below Justifieds own standard but still a solid season of TV for me. Daryl was in balls deep and ended up on the losing side, great scene that. Boyd played the Mexicans and looks to be back in his element next season. And Ratsky's woman turns out to be the ultimate snitch. Looking forward to the final season.

 

[metsallica]

Good enough finale, though I wish they hadn't wasted an entire season on an awful prison arc and ineffectual crime family just to set up Raylan vs Boyd. Was there ever any doubt that's how this show would end?

Rare mediocre season from Justified but they created these ultra-high expectations in us. Hope they go out on top because back to back weak seasons may sour the show's rep as a whole which could put off latecomers. The first four seasons will always be pretty remarkable in my mind.

 

[Vert boil]

Oh Ava, you are such an Ava.

http://www.abload.de/gallery.php?key=s0p8dwRc

Boyd: Reacting to Jimmy being shot #1, #2, Smiling at the end, Now you want to put me out of my misery? How about you stop running your god damn mouth... and do whatever it is you got to do

Darryl: Zoom zoom zooming away (smaller version), Bloody nut hands

Jimmy: Being shot

Raylan: Kneeling down, Didn't I tell ya you were going to wish I'd killed you? Well, Don't ya?, Something that has never been said about Ava

Tim: Smiling (Forwards/backwards), I'll keep that in mind, and when I say I'll keep that in mind what I mean is stop talking to me

Wendy: Irked at Raylan, Shooting Darryl

Mexicans laughing at Boyd

Red: You must be using your own product 'cause you're saying some crazy shit

 

[The Artful Dodger]

I just wonder what was planned in regards to Jean-Baptiste's story before he left.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

Decent enough finish to the season, definitely felt like they devoted time to settings things up for the final season, which I was pleased with. In hindsight a lot of the storylines this year just didn't really work or go anywhere. And the Crowes just didn't work as villains. They never really felt that threatening at any point.

Interested to see were they're going with the bank robbing for next year. Boyd is going to have to assemble a new crew, so we might get some interesting new characters out of that.

I don't think you'll hear any Justified fan say this was their favorite season. But now we have some nice pieces in place for Season 6.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Very nice return to form, elevated a lot of the wacker parts of the season since it all led to this.

 

[Niraj]

I just wonder what was planned in regards to Jean-Baptiste's story before he left.

How much did Edi Gathegi's abrupt departure change the plan? What was Jean Baptiste's role going to be had he stuck around?

Graham Yost: He was really supposed to be the consiglieri: the most trusted person because he's not a part of the family, like Tom hagen in "The Godfather." But also that he had a special affection for Wendy, and a protective feling towards Kendall. And it was going to be a question of how far would he go to defend the Crowes, who aren't his blood, and where we could go with that. And Edi wasn't happy, we understood that. It can be hard to take a gamble on a season of work, and he didn't feel it was materializing at that point. So we had to get him off the show. And what happened with that is, honestly, we kind of feel that that gave us the season. When we came up with the notion, I think it was Chris Provenzano and VJ Boyd, who came in and pitched the idea that Danny would just get the shotgun and shoot Jean Baptiste with it. The additional thing there was us asking, "Is Kendal in the room or is he outside of the room?" We decided to leave him there and witness that, and that then started a whole thing for Kendal, which is his fear, his secret. He reaches out to his "Uncle Jack," who is his father, because he wants to get away. He's this kid who is trapped in this world. That gave us our eighth episode where he's on the run with Jack and Raylan helps Wendy rescue the kid, and that gave a little bond with Raylan and Kendal. We didn't have it all planned out. We were in the room working on breaking 11, the episode where Kendal says, "I did it. I shot the man." When I heard that pitch, I thought that was fantastic. It totally fits with Daryl, it puts Kendal in a really tough position, and it puts Raylan in a position where he can't go full Raylan and just kill the guy, because he needs Daryl to confess or the kid will go to prison for a long time. That gave us our last run of the season. It was one of those things where we had to just have faith that we would figure it out, and it ended up being something we hadn't anticipated, and I think it was better than what we had planned.

That's all I've seen so far (from the Sepinwall interview Cornballer posted), but I wish he was a bit more candid and specific about it.

 

[Cornballer]

- GIFs from Warming Glow

 

[The Artful Dodger]

Speculation Time!

Did anybody else notice Tim popping some pills when he was talking to Boyd?


They've hinted at him having PTSD before, and he is going to play a bigger role in this season. Do you guys think we see him unravel a bit?

 

[Linius]

I hope we get to know more about Tim. I noticed the pills too. And damn was he badass in that quick conversation outside his car with Daryl. You don't fuck with him. Even though he's half your length.

 

[Cornballer]

Speculation Time!

Did anybody else notice Tim popping some pills when he was talking to Boyd?


They've hinted at him having PTSD before, and he is going to play a bigger role in this season. Do you guys think we see him unravel a bit?

Yes, so Raylan finally responds to his texts calling for a meet at Ava’s house. Rachel and Gutterson showed up instead and we got a shootout. Handcuffed Boyd killed the guy you mentioned earlier with a cool shot behind his back.

The behind-the-back shot was me. I like coming up with that weird action stuff. And actually, I had said to Dave, “Can he be looking in a mirror, so his body would be facing one way and he’d be shooting another,” but this sort of twisted version was better. We did have another scene where Rachel and Gutterson are in the car, and they get the call from Raylan and off they go [to Ava's]. It was a great scene. The fun thing was Rachel saying, “Are you sure you’re gonna be okay?” And Gutterson says something like, “I’ll aim for the guy in the middle,” meaning he is seeing double right now from the accident [when Darryl lost the tail]. Nothing that bourbon and Ibuprofen won’t cure. So you see him later on in the aftermath scene popping a couple Ibuprofen. But we just thought it was more fun to have that Town Car pull up and then be surprised when they came out.

Presumably he also has some PTSD going on and they've alluded to it before, but this was seemingly just a matter of him being in a car accident just before the shooting.

 

[dead souls]

Great finale. I couldn't be more excited for the final season.

 

[The Artful Dodger]

Presumably he also has some PTSD going on and they've alluded to it before, but this was seemingly just a matter of him being in a car accident just before the shooting.

Hahha. I'm sorta relieved and disappointed.

I didn't want him to go into a meltdown like Colt

 

[The Outsider]

Solid finale. Last few episodes definitely upped the quality of the season. Still probably the second weakest season for me thus far. Crowes didn't really work for me (except for Wendy, because Alicia Witt) and Ava storyline was just the worst. I mean, just terrible. I'm in disbelief that the Justified writers came up with that garbage.

Oh, is this where we do season rankings? I'm going with...

2 > 4 > 3 > 5 > 1.

 

[Can Crusher]

I hope Boyd gets away. Fuck the police.

 

[Cornballer]

- Warming Glow with a few thoughts on last night's finale

 

[Poofynamanama]

Solid finale. Last few episodes definitely upped the quality of the season. Still probably the second weakest season for me thus far. Crowes didn't really work for me (except for Wendy, because Alicia Witt) and Ava storyline was just the worst. I mean, just terrible. I'm in disbelief that the Justified writers came up with that garbage.

Oh, is this where we do season rankings? I'm going with...

2 > 4 > 3 > 5 > 1.

that's exactly my ranking

nothing will beat the Bennett family.

 

[Gaogaogao]

I hope Boyd gets away. Fuck the police.

how many chances does he deserve? he doesnt want to get away, just get into trouble.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

I hope Boyd gets away. Fuck the police.

I kinda hope Boyd gets capped while giving one of his loquacious speeches.

 

[bobbyrawlins]

Pretty good finale to a ho-hum season. I liked all the parts getting moved into their places for the finale season. The smile on Boyd's face after bank-robbing is mentioned was great.

One thing...I really feel like this show doesn't have a happy ending for Raylan.