Although it's becoming more common to show the darker side of the American frontier, I don't know if there's a genre that people are habitually more romantic about than westerns. I don't think anyone will come away from The English pining to have lived in the late 19th century. People are robbed and murdered so casually, people get sick from preventable diseases and are horribly disfigured, the law is bought and paid for etc. But The English presents it in all it's glory and there's a frankness to it that I appreciated. These characters live a world where day-to-day choices could mean the difference between life and death and it grounds the show in some pretty serious stakes. The English doesn't pull punches or paint a more rosy coloured picture of the setting and trouble lies around the corner for Cornelia and Eli in every waking moment.
Despite the shows bleak tone, I want to echo a lot of other reviewers here in saying that the cinematography, the costuming, the set dressing are all fantastic. The beauty of this harsh terrain is captured in every single frame and it's easy to be swept up in the awe of it. The open grasslands are brimming with potential if you forget about all the territorial massacres and unforgiving terrain, you can see why people still made the journey there.
The English centres around Cornelia and Eli who find themselves travelling companions after some very coincidental yet trying circumstances. Both protagonists are compelling and very well drawn. Cornelia's resiliency is inspiring, she is forced to change so drastically over the course of the series but she rises to the occasion time after time. She arrives as an unassuming aristocrat but she's barely recognizable by the time the series concludes. She's had to face so much but she is forthright and her bond with Eli is so strong that they can overcome almost anything together. Eli is just as interesting, he's a former native soldier who can't escape the preconceived biases around his race. He's been around the bend in every sense of the word and he's trying to make peace with his past when his chance encounter with Cornelia opens the door to a possible future that he might never had considered. Their partnership grows out of a mutual respect and a shared grief as they have both experienced terrible loss and hardship. It's one of the best displays of a fledgling relationship I've seen in any genre and it's another area in which The English stands out.
The show primarily revolves around Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer, you'd be surprised how many of the bigger names in the cast vanish and reappear after long stretches. Blunt is pitch perfect as Cornelia, she portrays Cornelia with all her mixed emotions. She really has to run the emotional gauntlet with this character. But she does so with aplomb, it's a performance with many layers and I think she deserves some awards consideration along with her costar. Their shared rapport is amazing, they are great together and apart and I couldn't help but root for both of their characters because of their work. Chaske is absolutely her equal, he's perfect as the strong but reserved Eli. Chaske exudes toughness and as strange as it sounds, you can believe in Eli's traumatic past through Chaske's delivery of a few but very meaningful words. I liked his character best and he never stops being magnetic even when he's having to give Emily's character some tough talk to help her realize what she has to do. The other performance I want to highlight is Rafe Spall as the villainous David Melmont. I vastly preferred Rafe's work in The English to stuff like Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, he does a marvellous job as the depraved yet calculating killer. His character would have fit perfectly in something like Red Dead Redemption right down to the hat and the moustache. This performance completely reversed my opinion of him as an actor and I look forward to seeing him in other things.
I'm not someone who seeks out a western, people tend to be almost fanatical about them and other than a few one offs (Tombstone was great), it's just an occasional viewing for me. The English is awesome in almost every category across the board and I was blown away by it. The pace can be a little methodical but it can't run at a mile a minute and it was never too slow for too long. I want to wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone that's interested and even to people who aren't. I expect it to garner some consideration and it would be well deserved. Check The English out if you have the chance.
