Recap of the City Primeval Series’ Justified premiere Raylan Givens was not the type of person to accept abuse or threats and turn the other cheek. When we see our man and his cowboy hat again in Justified: City Primeval, it still has the same qualities that got our favorite U.S. marshal into trouble during the show’s first six-season run by refusing to allow something — an injustice, a crime — slip. Raylan still has that inquisitive mind and that chip on his shoulder fifteen years after the pre-time-jump events of the Justified season finale “The Promise,” and he still won’t allow himself to be bullied or pushed around — at least not by criminals. But what about his 15-year-old daughter Willa (played by Olyphant’s own child Vivian)? By the end of the series opener, “City Primeval,” their tense, contentious relationships with Raylan had laid the groundwork for some of the storylines that this show will follow.
They either had Raylan’s number emotionally or legally. Giddyup! Both viewers of the first season of Justified and book readers of Elmore Leonard’s works will be aware that City Primeval is a totally new setting for Timothy Olyphant’s Raylan. The miniseries by co-creators Dave Andron and Michael Dinner (the former served as executive producer on the original, and the latter served as executive producer and director on the original) relocates Raylan to Detroit.provides the character with a different sandbox to play in since he is decades into his job as a U.S. marshal and is located far from his hometown of Harlan, Kentucky. The characters from the first season of Justified whose series-long arcs were just as significant as Raylan’s are no longer around as ghosts from his past: Boyd Crowder, played by Walton Goggins, is probably still behind bars, and Ava Crowder, played by Joelle Carter, is probably still hiding out with Boyd’s son. Also left out of the conversation are Raylan’s colleagues marshals from that office, Rachel Brooks (Erica Tazel) and Tim Gutterson (Jacob Pitts).
Instead, almost everyone here is someone Raylan is meeting for the first time, whether they are adversaries like Carolyn or allies like Detroit Police Department officers Wendell Robinson (Victor Williams), Norbert Beryl (Norbert Leo Butz), and Maureen Downey (Marin Ireland), or con man, aspiring singer, and casual murderer Clement Mansell (Boyd Holbrook). Nevertheless, are they allies? It certainly seemed shady the way Judge Guy claimed to have information the DPD wouldn’t want to make public. Furthermore, Norbert’s repeated emphasis that “that’s how we do things in Detroit” was a crucial aspect to note. Raylan has the impression of being a fish out of water as a result of all this novelty and the fact that he is the struggling father of a teenage daughter. Without a doubt, Olyphant is still endearing, and he can lean rakishly with the best of them. However, City Primeval pokes fun at his image from the outset by posing the question of whether aspects of this persona would last 15 years of change, which ones would remain the same, and which ones would withstand inspection, such as the more skeptic view of law enforcement held by Carolyn and Judge Guy. It’s unfortunate that Keith David’s character doesn’t survive this episode because his distinct brand of smugness is usually entertaining.
Let’s go back to the beginning of this. “City Primeval” begins with Raylan dropping off Willa, his daughter, with ex-wife Winona at a facility for what Willa refers to as “conversion therapy” (after the conclusion of Justified, Raylan moved to Miami to be closer to them). She appears to butt heads frequently with Winona, who is away on vacation with someone Willa refers to as “the ‘Stache,” and has her father’s shrugging attitude about violence in addition to her overall disaffected-teen emotions. She is also in problems at school for striking another girl. Willa is meant to be straightened out in this location close to the Everglades, yet this talk has a typical tone that suggests Willa is frequently difficult. (The younger Olyphant’s performance in this isn’t fully convincing, but she and her father seem to get along well.) Raylan is asked by Willa, “Why can’t I just stay with you?” by a daughter who obviously wants to spend more time with her father. Raylan is spared from addressing the question when a pickup truck driven by two convicts collides with the couple’s automobile. Could they have chosen a worse target for their carjacking attempt? They were unable. When they threaten Willa, Raylan pulls a shotgun on them, finds out they’re wanted in Detroit, and then drags them there while carrying Willa because he missed her severely mandated drop-off time at camp.
When Raylan says, “If you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours,” in this episode, he is maintaining a tradition of civility and courtesy toward villains. He says, “You have my word,” and I believe him. He has a moral code that isn’t always in line with the law, but he also expects offenders to show remorse and compliance, which they frequently don’t want to do. As a result, Raylan does what he does best and stuffs the two would-be kidnappers and carjackers in the trunk. He exposes them to the sun. He travels slowly toward Detroit. And when he shows up in front of Judge Guy, defense attorney Carolyn doesn’t absolve him;This scene features some good editing as Carolyn challenges Raylan’s evidence and we alternate between his and Willa’s relaxing road ride and his time testifying. Carolyn lays out Raylan’s tough-guy shit so blatantly that Judge Guy sides with her, drops the Florida charges against her client, and throws the Givenses in jail. Judge Guy was irritated by Willa’s laughter from the audience area and shocked by Raylan’s snide comment about how there weren’t more attempts on his life.
Regarding that attempted assassination: Judge Guy’s automobile was blown up the following morning by two racist militiamen who were upset that he had slept with their mother. It’s a case that Raylan and the DPD, who he’s persuaded to assist at the judge’s request, easily solve, and it provides an opportunity to contrast the older, wiser Raylan with his DPD colleagues Norbert (a typical angry cop who is obnoxious) and Maureen (okay but not particularly thorough). Though he isn’t allowed into Judge Guy’s office when the judge tells Norbert, Maureen, and Raylan that after 30 years on the court, he has access to “things you and your bosses don’t,” Detective Wendell comes the closest to feeling like a real partner for Raylan.
We also meet Clement at this point, who is impulsive, dangerous, and — dare I say it – quite attractive. Clement is referred to as “the most dangerous man Raylan has ever faced” in the City Primeval marketing materials. The character description reminds me of Holbrook’s portrayal of the Corinthian in The Sandman, even though I’m not so sure about the former (how quickly we forget the evilness of Robert Quarles!). Clement is cunning enough to have casino waitress Sandy (Adelaide Clemens) at his beck and call and egotistical enough to sing along to his own demo tape in the car. He serves as our link between numerous storylines. Marcus “Sweety” Sweeton, a former singer and bar owner (Vondie Curtis Hall), who has his own history with Carolyn, is someone with whom he has some sort of history. Before going out with Sandy to entice the Albanian high-roller gangster she has been courting, Clement steals a gun from Sweety’s bar. This weapon, coupled with his trigger-happy nature, causes the explosive altercation between Clement, the judge, and the judge’s assistant Rose (Rae Gray).
Clement tries to follow Sandy to the Albanian’s home for a burglary, but Guy cuts in between their cars, irking the “cracker motherfucker piece of shit” Clement to the point that a high-speed chase takes place in the streets near the D-Town Casino. Of course Clement is sexist enough to shoot Rose in the face to murder her, and of course he is racist enough to not understand how Judge Guy could have money without being a drug dealer. Judge Guy had waved the brown notebook at the DPD, and Clement walks away from the killings with no remorse at all, while the task force run by the U.S. DPD and the Marshals Service are left to attempt to make sense of what the heck happened. Did they miss something when looking into Judge Guy’s vehicle bombing and was the motivation ultimately not personal? Was Rose, the aide to Judge Guy who it turns out was an informant for Maureen, the intended victim? Norbert tells his colleagues officers and Raylan, who is now staying in Detroit far longer than he had intended, “I don’t want any suspects out of a fucking file.” However, I’m confident that Clement has a respectable police record, and the events of City Primeval will just add to it.
Paying attention to or at least recalling the names of the following side characters will likely be crucial: Sandy’s mark Skender Lulgjuraj, the Albanian hot dog tycoon; Del Weems, Sandy’s second target; Carolyn’s ex-Jamal; and Skender Lulgjuraj, the Albanian hot dog tycoon, whose shady business activities appear to have buried Carolyn in a hole she’s digging herself out of by defending criminals. Who are the menacing “creditors” of Jamal?
