Top 5 Dead or Alive [TV Law Enforcement]: Raylan Givens (Justified)

Technically, Raylan Givens isn’t a cop, he’s a United States Deputy Federal Marshall, which makes him cooler than your average cop with slightly less power than an FBI agent. But who needs power when you “got yourself a gun” and are the second coming of William Munny from Unforgiven. I previously wrote a column about my struggle in embracing TV cops with the recent surge and awareness of police misconduct and brutality, but as I believe (and was pointed out) Raylan isn’t really one of those cats. He’s just an old school gunslinger who gotta be top 5 law enforcer on TV. Period. (I’m fully aware that the last season is still going and that there is some irony in doing a “dead or alive” on Raylan as we don’t know if he will survive the end or not. But I still wanted to drop this before we know that for sure as that could make this a very different write up).

1). “All through the hood I keep hearin n*÷%# sayin’ / I’m supposed to die tonight.” Inside the first 3 minutes of the show and throughout its six seasons, there is one undeniable fact: If you get into a stand-off with Raylan, “There’s gonna be a whole lot of slow singin’ and flower bringin’.” To quote Prop Joe, “That brotha got more bodies on him than a Chinese cemetery.” Don’t matter if criminals come at him with some 10 foot rule knife nonsense or if they think they’ve got him outgunned, Raylan always has the same answer for the God of death: Not today. Unlike Han Solo, Raylan is so good, he coined the phrase: He drew …