wait, why is Beyonce playing pool with Raylan Givens?
ALSO THIS WEEK: We have a Norwegian ski jumping scandal and a Michael Bay parkour documentary
The Five Spot is a weekly Friday roundup where I rank and riff on my five favorite things from the week. Most of the entries will be about film and TV, but there might also be ones about weird local news or sandwiches I ate or anything else, really. The opening section is free but the rest is an exclusive for paid subscribers, so if you want to read the top four entries, you can do that by upgrading…
… riiiiiiiiiiight here.
Off we go.
FIVE: [Beyonce voice] Hello, Raylan
Beyoncé is many things. She is a singer. She is an actress. She is an ageless cultural force who has been at the top tier of the A-list for so long that it’s hard to remember when she wasn’t and even harder not to take it for granted. She is basically the LeBron James of pop culture. Or maybe LeBron is the Beyonce of basketball. Someone should write a book about this. Not me, though. I’m busy discussing denim.
Which brings us to the latest thing Beyonce is: a denim peddler. She is the new spokesperson for Levi’s, probably a tie-in to her Cowboy Carter country album and embrace of her Texan roots. Which is, like, great. There was a commercial set in a laundromat a few weeks ago and now there’s another one set in a pool hall. Maybe you’ve seen it on television recently. Maybe not. Either way, here it is.
The spot isn’t so much an advertisement for “jeans” as it is a PSA for “Beyoncé looks incredible in jeans.” Which is fine. I believe Beyonce has earned the right to produce a 15-second commercial every few years to remind everyone about this. But there is something else important going on in this commercial. Something I’m not sure you noticed in the first two or three or eight viewings.
Look at who she’s playing pool against…
That’s Raylan Givens.
That’s Raylan Givens from Justified.
Beyoncé is hanging with shoot-first U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens from the hit television series Justified.
It does appear to be Raylan, the character, too, and not just the actor who plays him, Timothy Olyphant. The signature jean jacket and cowboy hat give it away, kind of like how if you saw Daniel Craig in a tuxedo with a martini in his hand you would know he was in character as James Bond. Which gets me back to my point once again…
Beyoncé is playing pool with Raylan Givens.
This realization has had my brain spinning for over a week now. Why is Beyoncé playing pool with Raylan Givens? Does this commercial take place within the Justified universe? Are they friends? Is she a fellow shoot-first marshal as her “cowboy” persona implies? Are they taking down a crime syndicate together? Is Boyd involved???
Or wait…
Is she a villain? Is that what this is? Is Beyoncé a criminal mastermind who is trying to size him up over a game of pool, possibly while exchanging loaded dialogue about putting him behind the eight ball? Is Raylan Givens going to have to try to take down Beyoncé? How freaking furious would Winona be if she saw Raylan hanging out with Beyoncé in a pool hall?
I know I’m being ridiculous here. I know this is entirely too much thought to put into the three seconds of a jeans commercial where Beyoncé’s bottom half isn’t on the screen. But I’m doing it anyway for two important reasons:
- Sometimes it’s helpful for me to try to explain that this is how my brain works all the time and this is probably the best example I’ve had in ages
- I wanted you to think about Beyoncé showing up on Justified
You’re doing it now, too. Don’t lie.
