Justified: City Primeval Episode 3 Tears At The Cracks In Willa And Raylan's Relationship
This post contains spoilers for the latest episode of "Justified: City Primeval."
Raylan Givens wants to be a good dad. The neo-Western hero played by Timothy Olyphant spent much of the original run of "Justified" grappling with his own daddy issues, and while the revival series doesn't mention them outright, they still loom large over his relationship with his daughter Willa (Vivian Olyphant, Timothy's own daughter). In this week's episode, they came to a head when, after too-trusting Willa had a close call with murderer Clement Manzel (Boyd Holbrook), Raylan decided to put her on a plane home despite her protests. The hour ended on a bitter note as Raylan stepped away to take a phone call at the airport, only to see Willa walk off to board the plane without saying goodbye.
On a plot level, I'm glad to see Willa out of the picture, as her boredom and teen angst seemed like a recipe for disaster when it came to Raylan's dangerous work. Plus, she deserves to have a good summer, and Raylan is clearly drawn into his work so much that he's not able to adequately support her or pay attention to her. The pair have a really cute relationship (I love the fake nose ring moment, and that his name in her phone is "Marshal Daddi-o"), but Raylan makes a tough choice in sending Willa home, one that feels like one of those "You'll understand when you're older" moments.
The thrill of the chase
Viewers who watched all six seasons of "Justified" totally get it now, though. We haven't seen Willa's mom Winona (Natalie Zea) this season, but it's hard to forget how fiercely protective of her family she is. Even from the series' earliest days, before the couple were parents, she continually insisted that Raylan should give up his job for his safety and her own. His near-pathological need to be the good guy stopped him from doing that, up until the series finale when he finally found some peace and quiet and was able to hang out and eat ice cream with his daughter without getting into a shootout.
There's an unspoken pull on the U.S. Marshal in the new season, and it seems to be at least two-fold. First, there's his drive to catch Manzel, an obsession with seeing justice done in a city that's rife with corruption. Part of this is just classic Western hero ethos, but part of it also feels like he's chasing the high of a previous face-off. After all, didn't he just spend 6 seasons playing a game of cat-and-mouse with another s***-talking Southern guy who has a comparatively innocent blonde girlfriend and a penchant for getting away with murder? Manzel is a whole lot simpler and stupider than Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins), but it's hard not to think of Raylan's criminal other half at a time like this. He's got tunnel vision, and that's unfair to Willa, so it's a good thing he snapped out of it long enough to choose to get her out of harm's way.
Raylan has a complicated relationship with fatherhood
Wrestling with that drive is another impulse that, while unspoken, has always been a huge part of Raylan's DNA. His own father, Arlo (Raymond Barry), was a criminal, an abuser, and an all-around jerk. Much of Raylan's career has always felt like his attempt to make up for not being able to protect himself and his late mother, catching as many bad guys as possible to make up for the one who seemed too domineering to face when he was young. The new show doesn't mention Arlo, and it's unclear how much Willa knows about her dad's past, though she does mention wanting to visit Harlan to understand more about him and their family.
All of this baggage creates a complicated catch-22 for the character. To be present with his daughter means to give up the chase, which feels like letting go of the parts of himself that he sees as righting the wrongs of his own father. Yet his attempts to protect Willa also led to him exposing her (albeit just as a witness) to his violent streak, in a scenario that probably feels like an echo of his own childhood. To keep her safe, he has to break her heart, knowing full well that it's a direct result of the type of danger-chasing behavior he swore to give up for her years ago. Raylan repeatedly tells Willa he's almost done with the case, but it sounds like a smoker saying they're going to quit after one more cigarette.
Willa's safe, but Raylan can't say the same for himself
It's a testament to Olyphant's acting and the show's writing that all of this character work is going on beneath the surface, but longtime fans can still read it all on his face. Meanwhile, newcomers to the series can still engage with the story even if they don't know about Raylan's long history of fretting over fatherhood, his family's safety, and his own compulsive need to always get his guy. It's hard to see Willa step onto a plane away from her dad, but maybe it really is for the best. She's upset, but at least she's safe – though we can't say the same for him.
"Justified: City Primeval" drops new episodes Tuesdays on FX.