For reasons of badly needed diversion from other affairs I recently started YELLOWSTONE (Paramount). It’s basically Western-DALLAS with JR and Sue-Ellen wrapped into one character, Bobby split into two, and Costner a bit younger, much more troubled and ruthless Jock, fighting against two versions of Digger Barnes and the combined forces of time, age and ailment together. But without his Ellie, so he’s in the end not just fighting a lost battle, but cannot even say for whom he does it.
This sounds less appealing than the product actually is. Leading part of the show is the scenery; utterly majestic, enormous, at times forlorn and desolate. The show leaves its characters in this setting and just lets them be for great chunks of time. Nobody is in a hurry to get on with things - and yet the constellation of it all has a strange allure despite not a lot happening over several episodes. The first season would easily fit into a feature film of two hours.
Yet it’s too easy to dismiss this as NRA-pørn for John Wayne devotees. It is a modern western - but it’s also subtly subverting its western tropes. Female roles are the strongest characters; the guys most often seem trapped in their own trajectory towards personal doom. From early on we can tell things are not going to end well for most of them. As befits this American take on the Greek tragedy.
Oh there’s also some slowly unfolding (sub?)-plot of mob activity, political shenanigans, environmental conflict and a few other elements one can’t tell for sure which of will turn out to be decisive in the fall of the house of Dutton. I’m at the start of season two and so far the show seems to illustrate that buried bodies tend to turn up again…
Recommended not only for people in the market for waxed trucker jackets and Stetsons. But be aware it’s moving slowly.
I have started season 3 and I love it. Streep is once again perfect in her phrasing, her movements and gestures. Rudd is also absolutely wonderful. And the main trio is pure chemistry. I am still surprised how good Selina Gomez is, and I should not be.
Currently, at episode 6, I have suspected many and still could not be sure.
I always wonder how one could adapt this series for my home market. But without those actors, it would never ever work.
It does pick up a little in the second season - but significantly not in any as-yet-unforeseen directions. We get slices of backstory drip-fed that hold no surprises after the initial introduction of the characters. A lot of it feels more like filmed character development notes. The plot consistently refuses any attempt to accelerate, and, at least so far, the people and their relationships are exactly as they seem to be.
Perhaps that’s the real appeal of the show: it holds no nasty surprises. Once a character, a situation is drawn we instinctively can gauge where they came from and where they are headed.
Would be interesting to learn if the writers have a definite plan for the show’s progress.
Finally. Binged it, and what fun it was, all the intricacies of the murder plots and the terrific Natasha Lyonne as the human lie detector unraveling them all.
Favourite episode: Time of the Monkey.
Runner-Up: Escape from Shit Mountain.
Surprisingly, I am now nevertheless hooked by season 2. The pacing has indeed picked up, and the more episodes I watch the more I see the propulsive force of this slow moving but engrossing family drama.
„Succession“, which I adored, is kind of the flip side of „Yellowstone“, I think.
Both dramas are about dysfunctional families fighting the past and the future, but „Succession“ has much more hateful characters whose deeply ingrained cynicism is what reviewers prefer to „Yellowstone“‘s anger-filled stoicism.
I still have to get to terms with ‘Succession’. I tried some months ago, expecting some solid piece of diversion and drama. However, about 30 minutes into the first episode I found the characters so horrible I asked myself why ever I would spend more time than absolutely, unavoidably necessary with them. And since I didn’t then find a reason to justify this I switched off. I was probably bringing the wrong expectations and will give it another go later.
‘Yellowstone’ meanwhile turns out remarkably addictive. A lot that was hidden beneath the picturesque scenery in the first season is coming to the surface. And indeed, the pace picks up considerably.
I perfectly understand what you mean about „Succession“. One cannot like any of these family members (or outsiders). They all are lying, conniving, immoral schemers. One has to adopt an outside perspective on this bunch, rather observing than empathizing. It is like a Shakespearean royal tragedy, but with no redeeming qualities. Corruption on every level. The funniest aspect is the cousin who kind of fumbles his way into the business, by allowing the son-in-law to constantly unload his own frustrations on him.
It is weird to find that entertaining, but that may say something about our times, and it might arise from reality tv and cringe humour - one can feel superior to these people.
„Yellowstone“ does not allow that necessarily. It has more gravitas and the viewer, at least I think so, wants them to succeed.
They’re for the most part different shades of grey, often shown oscillating from dark(er) to light(er) in a single episode or the very next. A bruiser/fixer is shown multiple times killing in cold blood (and without even the need for outright orders to do so, making us wonder…).
A little further down the tale we see he came as a kid from abusive circumstances and is taken in by the Yellowstone, planting the seed for unwavering, unquestioning loyalty far beyond the call of duty. So much so he considers himself the son Dutton doesn’t have any more and doesn’t blink when he’s called to give up his position to the lost-and-returned son.
Daughter Beth is early on shown instrumental in the accident death of her mother, a fate that must devastate the child. True enough, she’s evidently a sociopath, functional but totally antisocial and self-destructive. Yet she’s also the character one can’t help pity for her trauma, in spite of her insufferable nature and egotism. Perhaps the genius of the show to amalgamate JR and Sue Ellen from ‘Dallas’ into one Beth Dutton and make us love-hate-love-to-hate her.
For me the centre of the show, the redeeming quality in contrast to ‘Succession’, is that these characters all want something they cannot get, not for all the riches in the world: a happy life.
Perhaps I’m being unfair but my impression is characters in ‘Succession’ are only powered by greed. Everything seems to be about money, how to get more of it and see to it other get less than oneself. As such it’s a nice commentary on our times, no doubt about it. Maybe it’s the documentary nature of it that doesn’t agree with me.
Jamie kills the journalist, Rip helps him get rid of the body and tries to get rid of the worker he almost killed before, with Kaycee almost taking him to the train station (after telling his father about him killing an Iraqi family in the war).
Tough, brutal, tragic - and still I get the feeling that all these characters suffer from the consequences and the circumstances. Which makes it so involving.
The ending (with Kaycee’s son making his first kill on a hunting expedition) is a fitting ending to this episode. The show does not get recognized for really great writing, but it offers a lot of that.
Just finished the first season of 30 Coins on HBO. I was looking for something in the supernatural vein around Halloween, and this delivers. It’s somewhat reminiscent of Penny Dreadful (interestingly, the lead actress reminds me of Eva Green), but even more fantastical and gory … if you can believe it. The intro is so gruesome that I ask my husband to skip past it.
But even with that, I find the story and characters compelling, and every episode leaves me wanting to know what happens next. It’s pretty intense, though. I think I need a break before starting Season 2.
… and I am totally on the „Yellowstone“ train, burning through season 2 and 3, having started season 4 now, and I somehow can’t get enough.
This is really fabulously written, acted, shot and directed, and it is NOT a red state show but offers lots of perspectives. Everybody is right and wrong, morality becomes a shifting and unreliable hope for justice which can never be attained and still gets fought for immorally.
Yesterday wrapped up the 3 specials that marked the 60th anniversary. Instead of a traditional multi-Doctor story we get the return of David Tennant as the 14th Doctor. I was a bit apprehensive about this as I’m finding the overreliance on nostalgia a bit tiresome. But there’s a reason that Tennant is the nation’s favourite Doctor; he’s damn good in the part. He effortlessly slips back in in it was a joy to see him again.
There was a fear that RTD would be picking up where he left off and ignore the intervening years. Fortunately this wasn’t the case. Jemma Redgrave returns as UNIT boss Kate Stewart while other character and events, including the Flux and the controversial Timeless Child, are explicitly referenced.
For me the three specials represented 3 different episode styles.
Star Beast was the fun adventure.
Wild Blue Yonder was the creepy horror.
and The Giggle pitted the Doctor against a campy villain (Neil Patrick Harris gets a dance number, because of course he does!).
Overall I had a great time with the specials. However it did fall apart for me with the explanation of why Tennant was back and the resolution for that storyline. On the plus side we have a shiny new Doctor in the form of Ncuti Gatwa, I enjoyed his breif screentime and look forward to seeing more of him at Christmas and beyond.
The Night Manager was also le Carré’s most ‘Bondian/Bond-ish’ novel: Pine was brought up by an aunt after his soldier father was KIA. And went to the paras himself where he did tours in Northern Ireland’s no-go areas and picked off Provos through a night-vision sight. One might say it’s his own take on a Bond novel - although it’s also a particularly le Carré one.
