Timothy Olyphant's 97% RT Crime Series Deserves Credit For Blending The West Wing And Deadwood

Published Oct 28, 2026, 9:30 AM EDT

Casey Duby is an avid TV writer, watcher, and reviewer. She graduated from Emerson College in 2021 with a focus in Writing for Film and Television, where she wrote several pilots and watched countless more. She's been working in television ever since.

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Olyphant's Raylan Givens was a modern law enforcement officer within an urban office and robust professional hierarchy, while the criminal enterprises of Walton Goggins' Boyd Crowder were akin to the likes of Breaking Bad's Walter White or The Wire's Avon Barksdale. Yet something about Justified's Harlan and the intimate tension between Raylan and Boyd created a distinctly Western atmosphere.

At the same time that it built out its world of small-town, largely uneducated criminals and lawmen, Justified's writing endowed those characters with dialogue so striking and poetic that the show crackled with an intelligence that its own characters didn't realize they possessed.

With its striking dialogue and emotional performances, Justified's dialogue managed to capture the borderline musical wit of the West Wing, while its setting embodied the gritty lawlessness of Deadwood.

Justified's Dialogue Is Practically Poetic

Image via MovieStillsDB

Despite their shared blue-collar origins, much of the allure of Justified is in watching Raylan and Boyd go toe to toe both physically and mentally. Boyd's unique way of speaking stands out among his backwoods criminal community, something he seemed to take pride in. He had no shred of embarrassment when he said, "I've been accused of being a lot of things... inarticulate ain't one of 'em."

Boyd's tendency to "use 40 words where four will do" often left people speechless, but Raylan was not one of those people. When Boyd put on a show of welcoming an unexpected and inconvenient visit from Raylan, an unfazed Raylan gave the deadpan reply: "Allow me a minute to collect my wits such to reply. I'm overcome tryin' to factor how many weapons you're armed with."

Just as entertaining as Olyphant and Goggins' exchanges, though, were the words of some of Harlan's less intellectually endowed. Much like Aaron Sorkin's writing in The West Wing, Justified often punctuated impressive, sprawling lines with blunt, abrupt ones. These lines typically came from Harlan's dumber criminals, most notably Dewey Crowe, who was once convinced he'd had both his kidneys removed.

Dewey had his own memorable way of speaking, as he often referred to himself in the third person and misused common expressions. In one of his most memorable scenes, Dewey, upon getting arrested, asked Raylan if he had "any final words for Dewey Crowe." Raylan, poised as ever, replied, "My advice? Stop talking about yourself in the third person. Makes you sound like a fool."

Where Boyd would have had a witty and lengthy reply, Dewey was puzzled. He looked between Raylan and the other person in earshot and asked, "Third person? What, this guy? Man, I don't understand you."

Justified Is An Intimate Western Set In The Present Day

Justified's dialogue did more than entertain. The uniqueness of it created an intimacy between Raylan and Boyd that radiated out to the show's viewers. Despite having the full force of U.S. Marshals and, often, the FBI behind him, Raylan felt almost as much like a lone wolf as Boyd, giving their dynamic a small-town cat-and-mouse feel typically associated with Western sheriff-and-bandit stories.

Like the town of Deadwood, Justified's Harlan County maintained a Western-esque sense of lawlessness throughout the show's run. While Boyd and other criminals certainly attempted to pull off heists, the crime still felt almost quaint, with both the crimes and their punishments largely remaining on a local level.

Acts like Raylan being dangled from a tree by his foot and Boyd using explosives to steal 10 million dollars in cash are quintessential Western crimes that feel almost dated by today's standards, yet they fit right into the world created by Justified's unique takes on justice, crime, and freedom.

Release Date 2010 - 2015-00-00

Directors Adam Arkin, Jon Avnet, Peter Werner, Bill Johnson, John Dahl, Michael W. Watkins, Dean Parisot, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Tony Goldwyn, Don Kurt, Michael Katleman, Billy Gierhart, Frederick King Keller, John David Coles, Lesli Linka Glatter

Writers Fred Golan, Taylor Elmore, Ingrid Escajeda, VJ Boyd

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  Timothy Olyphant

  Raylan Givens

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