Weak Penultimate Episode Proved City Primeval's Biggest Problem Once Again

Justified: City Primeval was one of the most anticipated shows for fans of Westerns and crime dramas. As a sequel to the iconic Justified, the show was set to mark the return of everyone's favorite Deputy Marshal Raylan Givens, played by Timothy Olyphant.

Now there is only one episode left in the series, and fans are on edge — but not because of the edge-of-your-seat suspense skillfully developed through the plot. Viewers are worried that the ending will be less than satisfactory, both for themselves and the protagonist who, let's be honest, hasn't been acting as one throughout the entire sequel series.

So the prospects for the City Primeval finale are not so good, especially since the most recent penultimate episode once again demonstrated the show's biggest problem.

'I think this episode highlighted the problem with the new series. While I think overall it's been good, it's much more serialized than the original,' a fan noted on Reddit.

In the previous Episode 6, the story's main villain Mansell (Boyd Holbrook) calmly strutted around Detroit, continuing to kill and rob. The episode's main shocker was his murder of Sweetie, which raised the tension for fans as Mansell's targets were now his own former associates, including Carolyn (Aunjanue Ellis).

The narrative of the recent Episode 7, released on August 22, actively teased that we might finally see good old Raylan return to form. This was suggested by Mansell's gun falling into the protagonist's hands, so fans hoped he would finally attempt to kill him — but instead, Raylan and Mansell just chatted until they were taken by the Albanians, after which they threw the gun in the river.

That ending was completely anticlimactic, which brings out the biggest complaint fans have about City Primeval — and we must note that it's not a problem per se, but rather a different narrative approach the spin-off has taken compared to the original series.

In Justified, there were no small number of self-contained subplots, going from one episode to another. The new show, however, features only one coherent story that could have been easily wrapped up in just a couple of episodes, but instead, the writers decided to stretch it out over a whole season.

'While the original series had large overarching plots, there were also plots that were contained within the episode/a few episodes and were resolved in those episodes. That kind of [approach] gave each episode its own story and every episode felt complete,' the Redditor continued.

The only thing that could possibly save the show in the eyes of Justified fans is the return of old-school Marshal Raylan in the series' finale. In the past, Olyphant's character was never afraid to pull the trigger, knowing that the consequences would be far worse, and that's just what viewers expect him to do in City Primeval Episode 8, which will air on August 29.

Source: Reddit.