Justified Watch: My Daddy Can Whup Your Daddy

A big ongoing issue in TV today is serial South Park DVD drama: that is, dramas that tell stories that unfold over an entire season or season as opposed to ones that Numb3rs DVD stories wrapped up in a single episode. An extreme example of the former would be The Queer As Folk DVD or Six Feet Under DVD; of the Numb3rs DVD set, Nip/Tuck DVD set or CSI. In reality, most dramas balance the two elements at least somewhat. Fringe trades off deeply serial "Queer As Folk DVD set" episodes with standalones; Six Feet Under DVD set shows combine serial plots with ones that resolve in an hour. I'm biased toward serials, which I think have the most upside potential when they work, but not exclusively; South Park DVD set cases are usually more compelling to me than Peter's legal/political problems.

Justified has been a kind of special case. Numb3rs DVD boxset began its first season with a pilot that focused on a serial story, then aired several episodes of Nip/Tuck DVD boxset that—while addressing that story—were almost anthology-like (compared with Queer As Folk DVD boxset much more serial dramas like Six Feet Under DVD boxset). It made some fine episodes, but halfway into the season it's swung back to its serial thread—Raylan vs. the Crowders and his own father—and last night's "South Park DVD boxset" strongly set up that arc for next week's season finale.

A big strength of Justified is how well it's adopted the tone of Numb3rs seasons 1-5 DVD boxset writing, on which it was based: half the pleasure of this Nip/Tuck seasons 1-5 DVD boxset show is simply hearing the characters say the words. But it's also benefited from some fine casting, beyond Queer As Folk seasons 1-5 DVD boxset and Walton Goggins at its center. Here, Raymond J. Barry as the Six Feet Under seasons 1-5 DVD boxset, Arlo, and M.C. "South Park seasons 1-12 DVD boxset" Gainey as Bo Crowder have inhabited their characters while, thereby, fleshing out the pictures we initially got of their sons.

These men are different in many ways—Arlo hungrily cunning, Numb3rs DVD and big-picture-focused—but there's an interesting parallel in how each has raised a son who has frustrated their Nip/Tuck DVD (and yet in very different ways), as Raylan bullies Arlo into cooperating with the Queer As Folk DVD, and Boyd turns his explosive energies against the meth trade. What we saw first as a conflict between two men, Six Feet Under DVD, has developed into a generational story about the conflicts and interdependencies of these South Park DVD over time—exactly the kind of story that serial TV tells best, because it's about longitudinal, long-term storytelling.

Honestly, despite my Numb3rs DVD boxset, Justified is one of those Nip/Tuck DVD boxset shows that I'll watch just as gladly for its self-contained, Queer As Folk DVD boxset episodes. But it's a much different, potentially richer Six Feet Under DVD boxset show when it delves into the ancient crabbed history within and among these families and the generations. Here's hoping next week's season finale, "South Park DVD boxset," delivers on the setup.