michalklebs

Beautiful, brutal and devastating, with some amazing characters, fantastic dialogs and one of the best depictions of "Wild West" I've ever seen. 1923 is great as well but this setting and cast is special, writing just fits so well and lands hard. There are scenes in this series that just activate new neural connections in your brain or leave a permament stamp in your memory (like Elsa playing piano while the rest of the group is crossing Brazos river). There is a deep understanding of nature filled with awe and respect but also longing for this untamed, unspoiled world being lost in all Sheridan's movies and there is a special kind of poetry, philosophy and sadness in this one.

I was excited after seeing first trailer - one of my favourite historical fiction stories getting another take after 40 years. Half way through the season and I think this is one of the best (if not THE best) historical shows I've ever seen. Sure, it is an adaptation but still: writing and dialogs are fantastic, costumes and scenohgraphy 11 out of 10 and I can't praise all actors enough. Attention to detail is unparalleled. Some scenes represent mastery of indirect storytelling, conveying more through minute facial expressions, composition, light and subtle music than lines of exposition. There is so much average TV fast food served on all platforms but this is something special. This show sets a new bar for historical accuracy and authenticity and I hope it gets all recognition it deserves.

Series started off well, quite close to the source material. I really like the atmosphere, setup and characters. Entire concept my sound silly initially but there is a lot of bits and pieces that explain context and set the rules that make this world more believable so It will reward you the more you watch it. Rebecca Ferguson and Tim Robbins are great, rest of the cast does the good job as well. Middle of the season is dull, there are unnecessary and compulsory deviations (for some reason we can't get faithful adaptations anymore as all writers need to put their ego stamp everywhere), some parts are really annoying (especially if you read the book), but some characters become actually more interesting as they get more screen time than in the book. Decent effort but it could have been much better. Last 2 episodes gave me hope for the season 2 so I'm not giving up on it.