For the sake of justice

MANILA, Philippines - Ready ‘yer guns for a quick draw this month when the latest hit-TV series Justified rides into television screens across Asia. The crime-drama series will be getting its Asian premiere on AXN.

Based upon novella Fire in the Hole by Hollywood’s finest crime novelist Elmore Leonard (Get Shorty, Out of Sight) and executive-produced by Emmy award-winning writer Graham Yost (Band of Brothers, The Pacific), Justified is the story of Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, set in the hill country of eastern Kentucky. Timothy Olyphant (A Perfect Getaway, Deadwood, Damages) shines in the lead role as Raylan, oozing laid-back cowboy charm and completing the persona with a gunman’s swagger, topped with his signature look — a Stetson hat.

Raylan carries his sidearm in a hip holster — a weapon he only draws when he has to, and when he does, he shoots to kill. Like all US Marshals, Raylan has to chase down fugitives, protect witnesses and transport prisoners — all for the sake of justice. His jurisdiction: Not the Wild West, but present day American South.

Once his birthplace, Harlan County, Kentucky may have been where he played ball, chased girls and dug coal but it was also where he ran from, at age 19, determined to become a US Marshal.  Now, years later, after defiantly shooting a gun thug in Miami thereby incurring the wrath of his superiors, Raylan has been sent in punishment to the one place to which he vowed he would never return — Kentucky — where old friends and foes await.

Walton Googins (The Shield) makes a stunning appearance as Boyd Crowder, a neo- Nazi and old friend of Raylan and fellow coal-miner, now fugitive bank-robber.  Olyphant and Googin’s sizzling chemistry should be a key draw for anyone to tune in. Evidently, the producers think so too, for in the pilot episode, a shot to Boyd’s chest originally meant to be fatal turns out otherwise, lending longevity to Googin’s character. Boyd makes a 180-degree metamorphosis overnight after his injury, turns over a new leaf and embarks on a spiritual journey. Is Boyd faking it just to get out of jail? You decide.    

Then there’s the enigmatic Ava Crowder, played by the talented Joelle Carter (High Fidelity, American Pie 2), the cheerleader from Raylan’s youth he always had a crush on.  Now sister-in-law to Boyd, Ava has taken the law into her hands by shooting her abusive husband dead. There’s ex-wife Winona, brought to life by the dole-faced Natalie Zea (Hung, Dirty Sexy Money), who now crosses paths with Raylan as a court room reporter.  And, looming largest of all in Raylan’s past is his career criminal father Arlo (Raymond Barry, Lost, Cold Case).