Who is Wade?

I am a fan of Elmore Leonard. Love his books, his scripts, and his writing advice. Mr. Leonard’s death saddened me; losing the possibility of ever meeting him, and the end of his beloved writing. Sigh. My sympathy to his family and friends.  (Mr. Leonard died in 2013).

For those uninitiated in Leonard’s work, you might be aware of movies made from his stories such as Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, 3:10 to Yuma, and television such as the FX series, Justified and now Justified City Primeval. My favorite was the short lived television series - Maximum Bob, title character played by Beau Bridges.

But what does that have to do with ‘Who is Wade?’

Well,  should you be an original Justified fan from 2010- 2015, or a more recent Hulu viewer of the series, remember Boyd Crowder? He was played by the resurrecting Walton Groggins (Mr. Groggins, I am so sorry for this.) Boyd was originally supposed to die in the pilot episode, but producer, Graham Yost, pulled for the character to be a continuing part of the drama, originated and executive produced by Mr. Leonard. As a baddie goes, I love Mr. Crowder.

Not to down play Mr. Olyphant’s portrayal of the center character of Justified, Raylan Givens. The synergy of all the right people at the right time and with the right material still holds up as great fiction work all the way around. This series was based on the Givens character in one of Leonard’s short stories, Fire in the Hole.

Many fans, like me, were stunned to hear of a reboot after Mr. Leonard’s passing. Mixed feelings and questions on the latest mini series went through my mind and heart. Justified City Primeval did not disappoint. No longer in Kentucky, this series begins first in Florida and then taking a nod to Elmore Leonard’s novel City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit settled in for the ride up north before ending . . . well, don’t want to give that away. The series  was enjoyable right up to the end. Our hero Raylan and daughter Willa, played by real life father and daughter Olyphants was genius, great work Vivian! In the last episode the phone rings and the scene cuts to –––– Crowder in prison being led out by guards.

In my home watching this I am screaming “CROWDER!”  And for the life of me, don’t know where the name WADE came from but I kept calling out “WADE CROWDER!” My heart knew this was wrong, but I was so engrossed with watching, that my brain couldn’t function beyond a mild awareness that Wade was not the character’s correct name. After calming down, and a quick search online, an apology was said to the ceiling correcting myself to the character Boyd Crowder (and to Mr. Groggins).

Sometimes my mouth and brain do not function well together. I think this must be what it feels like to call out the wrong name, at the wrong time.