Vice Principals Is Further Proof That Walton Goggins Makes Everything Better

Since first making waves as corrupt cop Shane Vendrell on The Shield, Walton Goggins has added a number of remarkably complex roles to his resume, a list that reveals he's a rare actor with an unnatural ability to sink his teeth into nearly any character and completely own it, mold it and morph it into something worthy of respect and awe, even if the character he's portraying isn't necessarily worthy of admiration.

The character was supposed to die from a gunshot wound in the show's pilot, but test audiences were so charmed by Boyd that series creator Graham Yost brought him back, first as a recurring character and then as a series regular beginning with the show's incredible second season.

Vice Principals is Goggins' first major TV role since Justified signed off more than a year ago, and it's not what one might expect from the man who in the interim also stole the spotlight from co-stars Samuel L. Jackson and Kurt Russell as the deceitfully cunning Sheriff Chris Mannix in the Quentin Tarantino film The Hateful Eight.

Initially, the role looks to be a departure for the actor, for gone are the obvious moral complexities which made Boyd Crowder a charming but undeniably appealing villain and gone is the lyrical eloquence with which he spoke that made his character as dangerous with words as he was with an explosive.

All in all, Vice Principals is a good but not necessarily great comedy, but it's worth watching even if you're not a fan of McBride's typical comedic style because it's not a coincidence that of the six episodes screened for critics, the episode in which Goggins' character hardly factors at all is one of the weakest, while the episodes in which he's able to let loose are some of the best.