Is anyone watching this?
I'm a sucker for a decent western, and this qualifies. The opening title sequence and music by T. Bone Burnett definitely tries to set a "Deadwood" vibe. Okay, right up front it's no "Deadwood," but it's beautifully shot in the scenic vistas of New Mexico, they definitely spent some serious money building the town of LaBelle, and they've populated it with some good actors playing familiar archetypes.
It's a hoot seeing Jeff Daniels play the big baddie, obviously relishing every moment of it to show chops way beyond trying to outmug Jim Carrey. He wears a preacher collar, Santa beard, one arm gone, and is the 'godless' terrorist of the title, but with a good backstory to define his motivation for complete nihilism.
Sam Waterson (don't blink) never looked more authentic than playing a marshal in a western with a big fat mustache. I buy this persona a lot more than the brittle gay septuagenarian he played on "Grace and Frankie."
Then you've got Michelle Dockery, the upper crust snob daughter from "Downton Abbey" getting down and dirty (and finally sun-tanned) as the local hard-ass widow trying to make a go of it with her Indian son and mother-in-law. She's still a cold one, but delivers her no-nonsense lines with a decent American accent.
The two 'heroic' leads playing the local sheriff of the all-women town (the husbands all died in a mining disaster) and the nemesis of the big baddie don't make a great impact for me, but they serve their roles.
There's only seven episodes and the middle drags a bit as you settle down to learn more about each character, but that's fine as long as we're going somewhere, which we definitely are as big baddie Daniels ruthlessly filters his way across the lovely landscape heading for a showdown with his former colleague and now nemesis, Roy Good. In case you didn't know it, they spelled it out for you who you should be rooting for. If you go by the acting, I'm in for Daniels.
All aboard the stagecoach for another take on the wild wild west. The more we support 'em, the more we'll get.
Now we just have to hope and wait for that "Deadwood" movie.
I'm a sucker for a decent western, and this qualifies. The opening title sequence and music by T. Bone Burnett definitely tries to set a "Deadwood" vibe. Okay, right up front it's no "Deadwood," but it's beautifully shot in the scenic vistas of New Mexico, they definitely spent some serious money building the town of LaBelle, and they've populated it with some good actors playing familiar archetypes.
It's a hoot seeing Jeff Daniels play the big baddie, obviously relishing every moment of it to show chops way beyond trying to outmug Jim Carrey. He wears a preacher collar, Santa beard, one arm gone, and is the 'godless' terrorist of the title, but with a good backstory to define his motivation for complete nihilism.
Sam Waterson (don't blink) never looked more authentic than playing a marshal in a western with a big fat mustache. I buy this persona a lot more than the brittle gay septuagenarian he played on "Grace and Frankie."
Then you've got Michelle Dockery, the upper crust snob daughter from "Downton Abbey" getting down and dirty (and finally sun-tanned) as the local hard-ass widow trying to make a go of it with her Indian son and mother-in-law. She's still a cold one, but delivers her no-nonsense lines with a decent American accent.
The two 'heroic' leads playing the local sheriff of the all-women town (the husbands all died in a mining disaster) and the nemesis of the big baddie don't make a great impact for me, but they serve their roles.
There's only seven episodes and the middle drags a bit as you settle down to learn more about each character, but that's fine as long as we're going somewhere, which we definitely are as big baddie Daniels ruthlessly filters his way across the lovely landscape heading for a showdown with his former colleague and now nemesis, Roy Good. In case you didn't know it, they spelled it out for you who you should be rooting for. If you go by the acting, I'm in for Daniels.
All aboard the stagecoach for another take on the wild wild west. The more we support 'em, the more we'll get.
Now we just have to hope and wait for that "Deadwood" movie.
