Justified was a TV show that ran on FX for six seasons. It was based on one of the best of Elmore Leonard’s characters: Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant). Givens is someone who lives in the grey; he might be a lawman, but he doesn’t mind doing unlawful things if it helps him save someone innocent. As in all of Leonard’s stories, he was surrounded by all kinds of colorful characters, good and bad, which made this show one of the most entertaining shows of the 2010s.

Updated October 4, 2023: If you loved Justified as much as the rest of us, you will be delighted to know that this list has been updated by Anushree Banerjee to include even more great episodes from the show in honor of the conclusion to Justified: City Primeval.

In fact, with the decade's affinity to focus on morally dubious characters, which actually kept increasing even as the decade came to a close, this show still managed to keep the audience entertained. Which was as much due to the story, thanks to Leonard's writing, as it was due to Olyphant's marvelous performance. As a matter of fact, these are the reasons that still keep the show as relevant in this decade as it was during its airing. It remained so popular among fans that in 2023, a revival series titled Justified: City Primeval premiered on FX. In remembrance of that, here's a look at some of the show's greatest episodes down below.

10 S3/E5 - Thick as Mud

Leonard always loved unique, stupid, fumbling criminals, and Dewey Crowe (Damon Herriman) was the greatest homage Justified could have given him. Dewey is the stupidest, to the point that his incompetence is almost endearing. This episode is his and only his. Dewey gets broken out of prison by a prison nurse and wakes up in a bathtub with two incisions where his kidneys should be. If he wants them back, he’ll need $20,000.

Dewey never thinks that it could be a ruse (even though he can still go to the bathroom and even comments on it, thinking he might have four kidneys), so he embarks on a frustrating crime spree as he discovers that most people now buy things with card, and there’s not much cash to steal. Justified could be tense, scary, trepidatious, and sometimes hilarious. This episode is in the latter category, led by one of the worst criminals ever, someone who always gave the show its funniest lines.

9 S2/E9 - Brother's Keeper

Season 2 of Justified came in with a list full of banger episodes from start to finish. There were, however, a few stand-aparts even among them. One such is the ninth episode of the season that went on to remind people why it is not only termed as one of Leonard's best works but also one of the best TV adaptations to date. The high action and drama ratio in this particular episode successfully raised the fans' heart rates to the point that the echoes are still heard in discussions and debates all over the world.

This episode finds Carol Johnson, the coal mine executive, making a last-ditch attempt at negotiating with the Bennets over her offer while the bad blood between them threatens to spill over. Meanwhile, Loretta finally begins to make sense of what the Bennets did to her father, which led to her living situation with them. Armed with edge-of-the-seat tension and the threat of lasting consequences, Brother's Keeper makes for one of the finest TV episodes ever, with a high IMDb rank to show for it.

8 S6/E9 - Burned

With only four episodes left in the show, things got tenser and tenser with every second. In this episode, the cards start to fall into place for the big finale. This episode has tense sequences, a beautiful conversation between Raylan and Ava; surprising killings, a messy plan to blow up a vault that fails, and the return of fan-favorite, Loretta (Kaitlin Dever), who seems to be the smarter, wiser, future of Harlan’s legal weed business queen.

It also has the surprising treason (or is it?) of Wynn Duffy (Jere Burns), becoming a snitch just to survive. The Justified writers said in a television academy panel that they had decided to kill Wynn Duffy three times, but that he was too fun to have around.

7 S6/E13 - The Promise

The show's final episode gave us an almost too-western-for-itself duel between Raylan and the new, cocky, evil, and quickest shooter. What resonates most are scenes between Raylan and some of the characters we’ve been watching through six seasons. Especially the talk between him and Boyd Crowder; they’re two sides of the same coin, who choose opposites sides of the law; but they still have a connection as “they used to dig coal together.”

This episode shows why Raylan Givens is one of Timothy Olyphant’s best performances ever, as he is stoic, cocky, and has a soft side. All the emotions the actor plays to perfection. The showrunner, Graham Yost, told The Austin Chronicle why Olyphant was the perfect actor to play Raylan: “He could be cool, he could be charming, he could be sexy, he could be romantic. He could also be very serious, scary, threatening, and violent. And that's the great thing about Raylan, is that he's all those things. Tim was perfect for that.”

6 S3/E8 - Watching the Detectives

This episode shows somewhat of a juxtaposition of Raylan's character, which elevates not only the complexity of the man he has become but also the episode itself tenfold in its intensity. Throughout the runtime of the series, he has always appeared as this brooding and collected person who is almost entirely unshakable.

As a result, watching him have to confront his past actions and deal with their consequences is just as fascinating as it sounds. Combining that with his excellent gunfight skills gives him that razor-sharp edge he is known for. It highlights once again his uncompromising and ruthless personality, portraying him as a character who leaves no stone unturned to achieve his goals. Moreover, this episode goes on to show why Timothy Olyphant was the perfect Raylan for the series and what a mastery if his craft he has achieved.

5 S4/E11 - Decoy

After three seasons with “big bad” villains, season four decided to do a mystery instead. One unresolved for thirty years: who was Drew Thompson? In the last episode, it was discovered that the culprit was the sheriff, and he was hiding in plain sight all this time. Now, Raylan and company must take him away from Harlan, as all the evil characters from the season want him dead. This episode is pure tension from start to finish. From the trap to stop the convoy that becomes a match between the Marshals and the bad guys to the torture scene of Constable Bob (Patton Oswalt) to the standoff between Raylan and Boyd.

Leonard also wrote “3:10 to Yuma”, and you can see some influence of that story here, as all the scenes keep one-upping each other, creating more and more pressure for our heroes. Nobody would fault us for stopping breathing during the duration of this episode, as it's as tense as it is thrilling.

4 S1/E1 - Fire in the Hole

Not many pilot episodes are as fully formed and sure of themselves as this one. Although, not many pilot episodes are based on Elmore Leonard’s stories (Fire in the Hole). The show already knew itself well enough to set the tone and ideas it would follow for the next six seasons. On this first outing, Raylan had a “justified” shooting in Miami, and came back home to Harlan, Kentucky, to find an old friend, Boyd Crowder, as the town's worst drug dealer. In the original story, Boyd dies at the end of his confrontation with Raylan, but Walton Goggins was so good that not only did they decide not to kill him, he became a series regular in what was the best decision the creative team could have done, as the dance between the two ex-pals is one of the most important themes of the whole show.

3 S2/E7 - Save My Love

"Save My Love" once again highlights the very essence of the show in its highly action-packed, dramatic runtime. Starting from an explosive confrontation between Raylan and his ex-wife, Winona, following his failure to retrieve her counterfeit $100 bill from the robbery scheme, it goes on to show the lengths Raylan is ready to go to protect the one person he has ever supposedly loved. The inevitable involvement of the FBI and Secret Service trying to figure out the origin of said bill brings about the hindrance and puts a spin on their plans until all hell breaks loose, turning the episode into one of the best the season had to offer.

2 S3/E13 - Slaughterhouse

Justified always knew how to do season endings. The moment when all the dominos fell, and all the different stories became one. This episode is no different. In the slaughterhouse that gives the episode its title, we find out what happens with all the evil characters this episode has shown us, especially Robert Quarles (Neal McDonough), the Detroit mob, Limehouse, and Wynn Duffy. Quarles started as the season’s most professional killer, but after some time in Harlan, and once his plans were derailed, he became a pill-popping psychopath who hates Raylan. What could go wrong?

The final confrontation is spectacular, as every character has their own motivations and interests. The episode also gives Raylan some personal stakes, as he understands that his father tried to kill him, and although he says it in passing, you can hear in his voice all the pain he’s hiding.

1 S1/E13 - Bloody Harlan

Justified was one of Elmore Leonard's best TV and cinema adaptations, and it is in episodes like this one where it shows. The Bennett family appeared in one of Leonard’s final books about Raylan, and the TV show gave them a lot more depth, making Mags Bennett one of the best villains in a TV show ever. The incredible performance of Margo Martindale (who won an Emmy for the role) also helped to give this unique character all the villainess, love, and smarts this motherly figure has. Loretta appears looking for vengeance for his father's death, and Raylan must stop her before she does something that will change her life forever.

The title is more than suitable as everyone is at war for the heart of Harlan, and many might die. Including Mags in an incredible final scene, full of regret but dignified as she poisons herself with her “Apple Pie” moonshine. It was Justified' 's best episode ever. Or at least until the revival can do something even more incredible. We can only hope, as that would mean an incredible, thrilling, fun, and unique television episode.