I don't agree with it not concerning itself with "moral questions, sociological perspectives, with deep character studies…"
It is loaded with them, but it does not wear them on its sleeves. The is pedophilia, drug abuse, prostitution, domestic violence etc, and all are put in context. For example when Ava is…

This is a great piece, and one that does not only affect television output, but the standards, as you say, we as viewers, critics and scholars apply to legitimizing what we watch.
Why oh why have I just seen this now? I am currently working on a piece on Justified, to be published in March that addresses just this…