Yellowstone

Yellowstone is a solidly written drama - great characters, well-crafted - that draws it's tone from a few different modern-day masterpieces.

It has the feel and cinematography of Longmire, the plotting and grim outlook of The Sopranos, and the dramatic dynamics of shows like 'Dynasty' or any of the other network dramas similar to that.

Much respect must go to Costner and Cole Hauser - these guys bring it 100%.

I did not expect to get drawn in to this show like I did. It's well worth your time.

Let me say one thing: if you had come to me a decade ago and said that Kevin Costner's flagging career would be revived thanks to his role in a modern day western, I would probably have laughed and called you crazy.

Yet it happened. Costner's John Dutton will surely go down in the annals of TV history as one of the best characters ever.

Costner played Dutton perfectly: a doting father, a ruthless ranch owner and a man who is no stranger to violence. Unforgettable.

With "Yellowstone, Taylor Sheridan has done something quite difficult: he made us care immensely about a bunch of characters of dubious moral standing.

For example, Kelly Reilly's Beth Dutton was, for the most part, a horrible person, yet you cared about what happened for her, cheered on her successes and commiserated her failures, even when said successes might have been on the wrong side of what's right.

That's because Reilly is a brilliant actress, and because she was given top-notch material to work with.

Cole Hauser, Luke Grimes, Kelsey Asbille, Wes Bentley...all brilliant.

Sheridan is a genius.

What a show. We won't see it's like again, that's for sure.

I live in Darby, MT where most of this is filmed - just yesterday they filmed right across the street from me in a field with a few horse and cattle. I believe the show is pretty solid story, and in the niche where Costner does his best. One thing I did notice about the first season, given my half Native American side, is it leaves you wondering who the good guys and bad guys are - perhaps both sides are both good and bad.

I will admit it is neat to see them filming while here, the ranch is just down the road from me and I pass nearly daily on the way to fish in the Bitterroot River

(Review is only for the first two seasons)

I came into this show not expecting to like it but the storyline, acting, and cinematography is superb. Basically it's Mafia Wars in Montana with intermittent giant doses of testosterone (cowboys with guns on horses while fishing)! Costner is a master actor as lead of the Duttons. The show is at its finest when it shows the chessboard moves the Duttons and their enemies engage in.

The show gets gummed early in the second season but starts rolling again midway through. Kelsey Asbille is the weakest link as Monica and plays a poor hand badly, the storyline jettisons awkwardly out and the acting just misses the mark.

I think Cole Hauser as Rip may be the strongest acting (sans Costner himself) and looked forward to all the scenes Rip was in. Thomas Rainwater is great too. The storyline hums and the scenery is beautiful.

Just as Cormac McCarthy's "All The Pretty Horses" was a little more raw and brutal than the title suggests, this show strikes in a similar vein. Highly recommend and wish I didn't wait so long to watch it.

'Lolita' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. Nabokov set out to write a beautiful piece of literature but on a subject that was immoral and deplorable. The reader is thrown into a state of cognitive dissonance. It's great novel but....but.....

'Yellowstone' has a similar effect. Viewers are presented with a stunning aesthetic and seduced by the cowboy myth. But the family at the centre of the story are ultimately corrupt, vile murderers. Yet we are expected to sympathise and cheer them on. It's not unlike another popular series, 'Succession', but on horseback. However, while the family in 'Succession' are more clearly ugly, the Duttons and their entourage are held up as a shining example of America as 'the land of the free and the home of the brave'. It's a terrifically manipulative series.