Justified

Last night’s Justified was a terrific episode that ended with a perfect, powerful “funny/serious” moment masterfully played by actress Margo Martindale. (“Funny/serious” moments are frequent on this show, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, a few others; they are ideas or twists that have the force of comedy — in this case, a moment when someone’s mood changes on a dime, a frequent comic device — but play not as comic relief but dark, even scary moments. The more they make you laugh, the more powerful and unsettling they are.) As usual on the show, Timothy Olyphant makes a terrific straight man to the craziness going on around him; he’s more than a straight man, of course, but a lot of his job is to anchor the stories and provide a sense of authority (moral and otherwise) that keeps it grounded.