Last episode for season was not quite as good as the lead-up episodes... Loved the Constable. That said, I think Justified is probably the best-written show on TV right now and that is a legacy of Elmore Leonard. From Get Shorty to Justified, he has proven to be able to create some of the best dialogue on screen, including some of the really great stuff done by Pulp Fiction and Dusk 'Til Dawn director Quentin Tarentino.
I like action... I like a good gunfight. But my litmus test is amazing dialogue and some irrepressable irony. Michael Mann pioneered that with some of the early Miami Vice Episodes... Magnum P.I. introduced some of it in an episode called "Did you see the Sunrise?" back c. 1983 in what may have been one of the best moments on TV ever...
Yeah, Justified has it down. At one level, a good shoot-em-up. At another level, it is moving into visual literature, as good as it gets.
Can't wait for the next season. I could care less about what characters return, as long as they don't lose any writers.
Cheers,
Sirhr