James Gunn might have just introduced audiences to their new favorite superhero. David Corenswet’s Superman and Clark Kent, Rachel Brosnahan’s justice-seeking reporter, and Nicholas Hoult’s billionaire with a grudge are all likely candidates for fan favorites in Superman, and while all three are terrific, they aren’t Mister Terrific. The brainiac played by Edi Gathegi steals the show one scene after another. From a cool fight scene to saving the day, Gathegi gets a lot to do, which is a major step up from when he joined the cast of FX’s neo-Western series Justified.
Starring Timothy Olyphant as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, Justified was one of the best shows of the 2010s, following Givens as he delivered his Wild West-style justice to criminals and fugitives. Season 5, often viewed as the weakest of the six seasons, was where Gathegijoined as a fascinating supporting character named Jean Baptiste. However, rather than digging deep into the character, Gathegi’s role left him in the background until a surprise death took him out for good.
Who Did Edi Gathegi Play in ‘Justified’ Season 5?
Set mostly in Harlan County, Kentucky, Raylan Givens is forced to return to the hometown he tried to leave behind at the beginning of the series. This is where he frequently comes into conflict with his estranged father, Arlo (Raymond J. Barry), childhood friend and local criminal Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins), and Crowder’s sister-in-law, Ava (Joelle Carter), who often comes in between Givens and Crowder. Season 5 moves the story to Florida, where the Crowe family resides, led by Daryl Crowe Jr. (Michael Rapaport).
Episode 1, “A Murder of Crowes,” sets the pieces up for the crime drama of Season 5. When Givens travels to Florida to investigate the family, the episode creates a mysterious presence out of Jean Baptiste (Gathegi), a Haitian gator poacher with close ties to Daryl Crowe Jr. Unlike the grimy, aggressive Daryl, Baptiste is quiet and restrained. A gator bursts out of the water to snatch onto his bait, and Baptiste doesn’t even flinch at what would be a jump scare to anyone else. But whatever anticipation that audiences may have for the gator poacher, the show didn’t find him doing too much, other than standing in the background. Because of this, Edi Gathegi was dissatisfied with a character arc that wasn’t going anywhere, and that was a big reason why his Justified character had a shocking death.
Jean Baptiste’s Sudden Death Even Surprised the Writers of ‘Justified’
In Season 5, Episode 5, “Shot All to Hell,” there is a tense scene that culminates in a sudden death. Jean Baptiste confronts Danny Crowe (AJ Buckley), the volatile brother of Daryl, who bullies their younger sibling. Danny boasts about the 21-foot rule, where someone with a knife can kill someone with a gun before they can draw it. Jean Baptiste calls him on his bluff, but Danny seems to realize he’s playing with fire and backs down. But then, suddenly, he pulls a dirty trick and shoots Jean Baptiste without warning. The shocking death was not only unsatisfying, but it meant that we would never get to see Jean Baptiste fleshed out. On top of all of that, the death wasn’t even supposed to play out like that.
Showrunner Graham Yost revealed what was happening behind the scenes to Entertainment Weekly during the weekly “Post Mortem” segment. “Getting Edi Gathegi was a big get for us, but the character just wasn’t panning out for him,” Yost said. “Even though we were thinking that Jean Baptiste would survive until toward the end of the season, Edi wasn’t enjoying the journey.” The decision was made to kill him off in Episode 5. As Yost explained it, “We weren’t sure how we were gonna do it, and then we watched the scene between Jean Baptiste and Danny, and it became clear that there was such animosity there, that man, it could work.”
By rewriting the scene, the rest of the season focused more on the younger Crowe member who witnesses the murder and Givens’ efforts to remove him from the family. But Jean Baptiste’s absence was sorely felt in the rest of the season. He could have made for one of the more memorable villains on Justified. It doesn’t help that the Crowes in Season 5 felt like a retread of the Bennetts.
What ‘Superman’ Did Right That ‘Justified’ Didn’t
Superman makes the best of Gathegi’s talent, with Mister Terrific being one of the most interesting and intriguing characters in the film and Gathegi getting an exhilarating fight scene. It’s a very Gunn-esque set piece as Noah and the Whale’s “5 Years Time” plays; we see a 360 view of Mister Terrific defeating a horde of henchmen. He plays a crucial role in Superman, while in Justified, Jean Baptiste is never developed beyond being a member of the Crowes.
In Justified, the moment Jean Baptiste gets introduced, it feels like he might be a powerful opposing force to Givens, and it could have been a great standoff between Gathegi and Olyphant, but that’s not what happened. His shocking death ended a character with a lot of potential, and while we can’t go back and rewrite history with Jean Baptiste, it’s good to know that Gathegi is finally getting a chance to shine in the DCU.
All epsidoes of Justified can be streamed on Hulu in the U.S.
Justified
- Release Date
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2010 – 2015
- Directors
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Adam Arkin, Jon Avnet, Peter Werner, Bill Johnson, John Dahl, Michael W. Watkins, Dean Parisot, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Tony Goldwyn, Don Kurt, Michael Katleman, Billy Gierhart, Frederick King Keller, John David Coles, Lesli Linka Glatter
- Writers
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Fred Golan, Taylor Elmore, Ingrid Escajeda, VJ Boyd
