Although somewhat reminiscent of "Hell on Wheels", this Western is a little different. The man called Edge is the kind of anti-hero-on-a-mission-of-revenge who can callously kill someone and then make a good (sometimes) joke about it. He never seems to be scared of anything, as if he figures he should have died long ago and is living on borrowed time, but living to the fullest. The Sheriff tells him, "You are evil but you got principles. I like that." The Sheriff (played by great character actor William Sadler) is evil himself, so he should know.
As bloody as the first half is, the second half of this hour-plus pilot is several times bloodier. "Gratuitously" comes to mind. The only innocent character, Benny, for example, did not deserve to die, but he does. Also, the "Epilogue" goes way over the top, set at a private men's club in St. Louis, Missouri where two prostitutes--at least one if not both male--are openly fellating two club members (not even in a back room).
Up until the final, nihilistic carnage and garishly decadent epilogue, I liked the gritty appearance of rundown farms, rundown towns and rundown people. I also liked that the women's hairstyles approximate 19th century styles more or less. (In so many Westerns, the women have unmistakably 20th century hair.)
The banter between Edge and others is funny although sometimes corny. Edge says to the Sheriff something like, "If your yapping ever comes close to making a point, wake me up." Or better--and this is approximate, too--he says to the saloon girl, "I just started my job, and I get paid $2.50 a day". She says, "I charge $5, so I'll see you tomorrow". Or even punnier, he says, "The Bible says a man turned to salt". She replies, "He should have turned to liquor, that's the cure". At the end she asks him if he has seen the "gilt box" (the story has a maguffin as well as revenge). He replies, "I've seen plenty of guilt" (pun intended) "but I haven't seen your box"--crude double entendre intended.
Amazon makes these pilot episodes and you can never tell at this point which one will become a regular series. For example, their much better series "The Man in the High Castle" was shown as a pilot over a year ago, and finally, this month, there is more than one episode with more to come in less than a week. So the jury may be out on "Edge" for a long time or a short time. It depends, allegedly, on how many viewers give Amazon positive feedback.
As bloody as the first half is, the second half of this hour-plus pilot is several times bloodier. "Gratuitously" comes to mind. The only innocent character, Benny, for example, did not deserve to die, but he does. Also, the "Epilogue" goes way over the top, set at a private men's club in St. Louis, Missouri where two prostitutes--at least one if not both male--are openly fellating two club members (not even in a back room).
Up until the final, nihilistic carnage and garishly decadent epilogue, I liked the gritty appearance of rundown farms, rundown towns and rundown people. I also liked that the women's hairstyles approximate 19th century styles more or less. (In so many Westerns, the women have unmistakably 20th century hair.)
The banter between Edge and others is funny although sometimes corny. Edge says to the Sheriff something like, "If your yapping ever comes close to making a point, wake me up." Or better--and this is approximate, too--he says to the saloon girl, "I just started my job, and I get paid $2.50 a day". She says, "I charge $5, so I'll see you tomorrow". Or even punnier, he says, "The Bible says a man turned to salt". She replies, "He should have turned to liquor, that's the cure". At the end she asks him if he has seen the "gilt box" (the story has a maguffin as well as revenge). He replies, "I've seen plenty of guilt" (pun intended) "but I haven't seen your box"--crude double entendre intended.
Amazon makes these pilot episodes and you can never tell at this point which one will become a regular series. For example, their much better series "The Man in the High Castle" was shown as a pilot over a year ago, and finally, this month, there is more than one episode with more to come in less than a week. So the jury may be out on "Edge" for a long time or a short time. It depends, allegedly, on how many viewers give Amazon positive feedback.