Lawmen try to save hometowns in ‘Chicago Code,”Justified’

Illinois and Kentucky are separated only by the Ohio River, and the area around that border is largely indistinguishable for at least a good hour in either direction.

But the Windy City of the new cops-and-corruption drama "The Chicago Code" (9 p.m. Monday, KVVU-TV, Channel 5) and the Harlan County depicted in the Bluegrass-based "Justified" (10 p.m. Wednesday, FX)? Well, that's like comparing apples and ... slower, simpler apples more likely than not to be cooking meth or growing weed on guv'ment land.

Still, the shows feel somewhat intertwined.

They're both about lawmen -- detective Jarek Wysocki (Jason Clarke) in Chicago and deputy U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) in tiny Harlan, Ky. -- trying to clean up their hometowns.

They share a supporting actor in Brad William Henke, who plays a combative cop in "The Chicago Code" and a dim-bulb pot farmer in "Justified."

And they're brought to you by master storytellers: "The Chicago Code" is Shawn Ryan's follow-up to "The Shield," while Graham Yost ("Boomtown," "Band of Brothers") and novelist Elmore Leonard are behind "Justified."

But what really drives the connection home is the presence of the great Walton Goggins, who feels like the metaphorical quality-drama torch being passed down to "Justified."

Best known as the doomed Shane Vendrell in "The Shield," Goggins nearly steals the show as domestic-terrorist-turned-preacher-turned-loose-cannon Boyd Crowder. He's clearly tortured and sparks like a downed power line in the too few scenes he's given. And Boyd's more than up to the task of being either Raylan's chief antagonist or uneasy ally, depending on his mood at that particular moment.

The second season picks up shortly after the violent standoff in last year's finale that cemented "Justified's" standing as one of TV's best. And this year feels weightier with the addition of the sadistic marijuana magnates the Bennett clan, another entry in "Justified's" almanac of colorful mountain folk. To put it in "Buffy" terms, they're shaping up to be this season's Big Bad and, like most of the drama's cast of characters, they're a complex, multidimensional lot.

But "Justified" is and always will be Raylan's show. With his ever-present Stetson and a casual verbosity that tends to tie bad guys in mental knots, he's nearly as much a curiosity in the hollers near his home as he was in his previous gig, bringing down gun thugs in Miami.

"Justified" is a must for fans of good stories and gunplay -- Raylan tends to leave a trail of cadavers and paperwork in his wake -- but its greatest asset is its precisely chosen words. The scripts contain a certain flourish, rural poetry if you will, that presents some of TV's most taxing verbal gymnastics since Olyphant's previous series, "Deadwood."

Then there's the dialogue that seems ripped from a country song -- one of the good ones, from back in the day when you could be beat-with-a-stick ugly and still have a record deal.

"I tell ya," Raylan confides in Boyd, recalling the mine they once worked in, "I'm not afraid of heights, snakes or red-headed women, but I am afraid of that."

"The Chicago Code," meanwhile, traffics more in prose.

Detective Wysocki is a local legend, a "living, breathing fast pass to the top" for anyone who can survive his revolving door of partners for more than a couple of months.

That certainly was true of one-time partner Teresa Colvin (Jennifer Beals), the city's embattled new police superintendent, who offers Wysocki a free pass to tackle citywide corruption. And most of that malfeasance flows through the office of Alderman Ronin Gibbons (Delroy Lindo), who just happens to control Colvin's purse strings.

Wysocki's a tough guy to get to know, but he does open up a bit in church. "I'm divorced, but we're still sleeping together. Got a 27-year-old fiancee (who) doesn't know. Sixteen-year-old boy who I don't understand. I finish my shift, and I go straight to where the beer flows. That's my Monday through Saturday."

He may have found a kindred spirit, though, in Caleb Evers ("Friday Night Lights' " Matt Lauria), a talkative young detective for whom he develops a grudging respect.

You could make a strong argument that there are too many cop shows out there. But, like ABC's soon-to-be-missed "Detroit 1-8-7," at least this one doesn't feel like it rolled off an assembly line. And at times, it even gives off a faint whiff of "The Untouchables."

"The Chicago Code" is dripping with quality, just don't go into it expecting "The Shield." The newcomer isn't nearly as gritty, but then it couldn't be. Not on network TV. At least not for another decade or so.

Stylistically, it's as far removed from its legendary predecessor as, well, Chicago and Harlan.

Christopher Lawrence's Life on the Couch column appears on Sundays. E-mail him at clawrence@ reviewjournal.com.