Last season Raylan (Timothy Olyphant; Deadwood) all but took out the Crowder clan in a show down that resulted in Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins; The Shield) becoming one of Raylan’s strongest allies, weather or not he wants to believe Boyd has turned the corner on his old ways. Aside from various people looking to shoot Raylan dead he’s also got his more personal issues with his ex-wife (Natalie Zea; The Other Guys), girlfriend Ava (Joelle Carter; High Fidelity), his criminal father (Raymond J. Barry; Cold Case), and his boss (Nick Searcy; Moneyball), who doesn’t know weather to pat him on the back for a job well done or beg for Raylan’s transfer to anyone who will take him. Yup, season one was a busy season.

With the Crowder clan seemingly out of the picture season two brings on a new villainous clan by the name of Bennett. The clan is run by Mags Bennett (Margo Martindale; A Gifted Man), a Machiavellian type leader who controls the pot trade in the next county over and whose boys run the town with an iron fist. Doyle Bennett (Joseph Lyle Taylor; Seven Days In Utopia) is the Sheriff, taking care of the family when his two idiot brothers mess up by trying to strike out on their own. Dickie (Jeremy Davis; LOST) and Coover (Brad William Henke; LOST) are the reckless sons going on drug benders and striking out for themselves with abandon. The Bennett’s might not seem as tough as the Crowder’s, but Mags has big plans for a mining company looking to pave their way through town and with two sons off the leash you can bet violence will ensue.

I think the show falls under a real love it or hate it stance. I had first come across Raylan Givens back when I was eating up just about everything that Elmore Leonard (the author of the short which the series is based on) was and had been putting out, mainly Pronto and Riding the Rap (a term Raylan uses in season one). Back then Leonard’s writing was so amazingly complex to me, so many characters crammed into his stories that were so fleshed out and cool, you never knew what was going to happen. Later in one of my least favorite books, Tishomingo Blues, Leonard mentions the Cornbread Mafia (aka The Dixie Mafia), so when I heard about this show I had to check it out.

Its taken me awhile to get used to Timothy Olyphant, I’ve had a grudge against him since Deadwood. I always thought he made a pretty weak antagonist against Ian McShane’s fantastically portrayed Al Swearengen. That man was a shark, a monster, and Olyphant seemed incapable of creating a character that would offer up the kind of energy that matched. In any case Olyphant does a bit better here, though not by much. At times he can be completely awesome in the role (see Blaze Of Glory or Full Commitment), not exactly acting tough, but putting it across in words and mannerism that he is not a man to be taken lightly. Then there are other times when his performances are less then memorable and his mannerisms come off a bit feminine. His walk, his body language, the way he phrases things. It goes against the personality of the character in so many ways. Still, the writing team keeps you watching. It had the tendency to drag in both seasons a bit. So enough about the show, how did it look on Blu-Ray?

QUALITY:
At times the picture quality of Justified looks top notch. Unfortunately there are times in the show that dark levels wane and allow white hue to appear in backgrounds and sometimes even allow haloing on the characters. The balance between perfection and flaw runs an 80% to 20% lean. When it looks great it really looks great. Colors pop, detail is acutely present throughout the picture, and clarity allows for a full HD experience. When the picture is off its game you have grain, aliasing, irregular skintones, and occasional haloing. You’ll notice it but the balance between the two leans in the positive and your more then likely going to find that the 1080p transfer trumps DVD or even whatever you caught on your DVR. Audio seemed almost all front heavy to me. I was caught up in the show a bit but don’t recall any side or rear channel activity for a 5.1 Surround Soundtrack.

BONUS FEATURES:
~Deleted Scenes
~Outtakes
~On The Set: Kind of a dull featurette.
~Clans, Feuds & Apple Pie
~Talking Shop: Roundtable Discussion (Blu-Ray Exclusive)
~BD Live Functionality