'Justified' (10PM ET Wednesday, FX) has created a big problem for itself: Its excellent second season isn't even over, but I'm already wondering how it'll create a character as compelling as Mags Bennett when it returns next year.

It's definitely a high-class problem to have, and who's to say Mags won't stick around beyond season 2? (Here's hoping.) But at least we know that 'Justified,' which won a Peabody Award and got a much-deserved renewal last week, will get a third season in which to further explore Harlan County and the life of deputy U.S. marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant).

For fans of Mags and the woman who plays her, the extraordinarily versatile Margo Martindale, Wednesday's episode of 'Justified' is a particular treat, though it'd be hard for the show to top last week's outing, which should have been titled 'And the Emmy Goes to Margo Martindale.'

I'm not going to spoil what happens in Wednesday's episode -- this is a show that places a great deal of emphasis on good manners, and giving away what goes down in Harlan would not be polite. But last week, Mags offered to throw a party, and what transpires during and after her shindig makes for an outstanding hour of television.

In addition to giving more excellent material to Martindale, who can effortlessly command an operatic scene, like last week's meeting with the coal company, and then easily transition to smaller but no less powerful confrontations, the episode masterfully pulls together many of the story lines that have been percolating all season long. Wednesday's outing almost feels like a season finale, but the show will have four more hours to fill up after this week. That's another high-class problem to have, and I have no doubt that 'Justified' will come up with creative ways to follow up one of its finest episodes.

Martindale's mischievous, cunning Mags has provided a solid anchor for the season, but one of the most satisfying things about the show is the ways in which 'Justified' has continued to build up the rich, complicated worlds in which Raylan finds himself. The tale of Mags and her sons almost constitutes a backwoods 'King Lear' (but however deep the ties of family go, she'd never trust any of her boys with the keys to her kingdom, and that may the tragedy of her life). Harlan is also home to Mags' ward, Loretta, who's played with wonderful, watchful subtlety by Kaitlyn Dever, Raylan's crotchety father and his wife (Raymond J. Barry and Linda Gehringerin), Raylan's charismatic frienemy, Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) and various miscreants from Raylan's past.

Then there's a whole other crew at Raylan's workplace in Lexington, and if I have a couple of minor gripes about the season, they have to do with the embarrassment of riches in the show's cast and a couple of episodes that appeared to have shorter-than-normal running times (I understand that once in a while, episodes come up short, but I selfishly want to spend more time in this world, not less). Between the Harlan stories, the weekly cases and the doings in Lexington (where Stephen Root as an idiosyncratic judge is always a welcome sight), there hasn't been a ton of screen time for great supporting actors such as Jeremy Davies, who plays Mags' son Dickie, and Jacob Pitts, who plays Deputy Marshal Tim Gutterson. And it seems like the show has had to stretch credibility a bit at times to keep Raylan and Boyd in each others' orbit, but I'm willing to let that slide, given how terrific the actors are together.

Goodness knows this cast can step up when called upon to do so -- Erica Tazel proved that in an episode featuring her character, Deputy Marshal Rachel Brooks. And Nick Searcy, who plays as Raylan's boss, Chief Deputy Art Mullen, is a continual treat, whether he's giving Raylan one more raised-eyebrow look or commiserating with an aging criminal who totes his oxygen tank to bank robberies.

Art understandably feels betrayed by Raylan's recent shenanigans regarding a bag of cash in the Marshals' evidence room, and though events in Harlan will no doubt continue to loom large this season (as 'Justified' creator Graham Yost indicated in this interview), Raylan's is facing some high-stakes decisions in almost every area of his life.

And that may be season 2's greatest accomplishment: It has believably ramped up the stakes Raylan faces without becoming overwrought or unbelievable. 'Justified' still has the light touch it has had since the show's pilot, but the dualities pulling at Raylan -- between sanctioning lawbreaking and catching lawbreakers, between wanting to stay in Kentucky and wanting to be anywhere else, between truth and self-preservation -- have gotten every more difficult for this basically decent character to bear.

And yet the evidence of Raylan's fraying nerves have supplied some of the show's most comically satisfying moments (Boyd, in last week's episode: "That was quite a speech you made in there." A grouchy, hung-over Raylan: "Well, thank you. I stayed up all night working on it.").

The fact is, Raylan doesn't know quite what to do: He wants to leave Harlan forever, but he can't, because the streak of orneriness that runs through that region is what made him the man he is. He can't help having a measure of respect for Mags, who is independent, fiercely loyal and unwilling to be railroaded -- just like Boyd and Raylan.

Because Raylan doesn't really know what to do with his life, I never quite know what 'Justified' will do next. I can't think of a better justification for continuing to tune in.

Note: The preview clip below is a little spoilery regarding Wednesday's episode.

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