Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
It took me all of two days to devour all ten episodes of Amazon’s thrilling new crime drama Sneaky Pete. Executive produced by Bryan Cranston and Graham Yost, the addicting new series follows Giovanni Ribisi’s Marius, a con man on the run from a nefarious gangster, Vince (Cranston), after being recently released from prison. Marius assumes the identity of his former cellmate Pete, “reunites” with Pete’s estranged family, and concocts an elaborate scheme to amass the $100,000 he needs in order to rescue his brother from Vince… all while attempting not to blow his cover with his new family. Sneaky Pete is a relentlessly beguiling con man caper that’s as captivating as it is fun. If you’re the type of person who already polished off the first season, I highly suggest you click play on the neo-western delight known as Justified.
Airing from 2010 to 2015 on FX, Justified, which is available to stream on Prime Video, stars Timothy Olyphant as quick-triggered Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens. After his old-west style shooting of a mob hitman raises more than a few eyebrows, Raylan is reassigned to Lexington, Kentucky, which just so happens to be near this childhood home in the rural coal-mining towns of Harlan County. Equipped with a large Stetson and a short temper, the laconic lawman exudes a reckless, devil-may-care confidence seemingly ripped from the pages of a dog-eared western novel of a bygone era — which makes sense considering the series is based on writer Elmore Leonard’s short story Fire in the Hole.
The similarities between Sneaky Pete and Justified are anything but coincidental.
Both programs boast TV writing virtuoso Graham Yost as their showrunner. Many of Sneaky Pete’s greatest virtues — sparkling dialogue, a morally ambiguous protagonist, an incredibly charismatic villain — were first perfected on Justified. Before Marius and Vince’s verbal sparring sessions were a twinkle in Yost’s eye, Raylan and his old coal-digging pal Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) swapped witty banter while radiating crackling chemistry.
Few relationships are as deliciously complex as the old “friends who end up on the opposite side of the law” trope. Justified knew this and handled Raylan and Boyd’s bond with nuance and restraint. They shared the screen when the show needed them to be together, not when the show wanted them to cross paths; a type of self-control not often seen on the small screen. Their realistically complicated relationship was the heartbeat of the series. I mean, Raylan shoots Boyd in the pilot! Hallmark doesn’t make a greeting card for that particular offense. From there, the two toggle between an adversarial relationship in matters of both the law and the heart while sporadically finding themselves as reluctant partners and begrudging friends.
Raylan faced many a daunting adversary during his time in Harlan County — the Bennett clan, Wynn Duffy, Robert Quarles, his own father — but none were more formidable or could match the inexhaustible charisma of Boyd Crowder.
Yost takes great care in imbuing every character he creates with depth. There’s no comically broad villain twiddling his mustache and plotting world domination on Justified. The line between right and wrong, hero and villain, and good vs. evil is pleasantly blurred. Raylan doesn’t always wear a cape; Boyd doesn’t always adorn the black hat; and damsels are often the ones putting people in distress. Each season focuses on a “big bad” while also taking the time to explore overarching themes like family, friendship, and the push and pull between who you were and who you are. It blends a suave western motif with a modern sense of humor.
Even in our current Golden Era of Peak TV, Justified is a series that deserves to be number one with a bullet on your watchlist.
