This prequel to Yellowstone (If you haven't watched Yellowstone, watch it, or shame on you...) does what I thought was impossible: It follows perfectly in the footsteps of Lonesome Dove. (If you haven't watched that or read the book, shame on you...) It is not Yellowstone. It doesn't try to be Yellowstone. It tries to capture the horror and hardships of a wagon train on the Oregon Trail. And, oh, does it succeed. It manages to to that and be breathtakingly beautiful at the same time. Sheridan does that by using a daring tactic for a male writer. He tells the story from the point of view of a teenage girl: Elsa Dutton the daughter of James and Margaret Dutton. For those of you who have watched Yellowstone you know that these are the ancestors of the Duttons that we've come to know so well. By taking Elsa's point of view Sheridan is able to open up his language, to express himself poetically, to use a female voice, to see this harsh but beautiful world from a female point of view. But that is difficult thing to do. Taylor Sheridan succeeds magnificently. Elsa might be one of his finest creations, superbly realized by Isabel May. She is fully and completely alive, perhaps the bravest character we are likely to meet. In lesser hands she could come off as naive or reckless but Sheridan and May give us a fully realized powerful character who drives the story and helps us see the beauty even in the most brutal things. If May doesn't turn out to be a major star I'll be very surprised. The role required somebody special. Ands she is very special. And then there are her parents played by pair of country singers, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. That could be a disaster. That should be a disaster. But I looked, I really looked for flaws in their acting, and there is none. McGraw in fact isn't just good. He's great. He never gives in to easy emotion but stays true to his character and fights the emotion with all of his might. And then there is the veteran actor Sam Elliot. God I love Sam Elliot. I loved him in The Big Lebowski. I loved him in Rush. He is an underrated and wonderful actor. He anchors this cast. We never see a false moment. And when the moment requires depth he is more than deep enough. The entire cast is great. The writing, of course, is superb. And the show as a whole never takes a false step. 1883 may, like Lonesome Dove, bring the Western back. If it does I doubt very much those that follow in its footsteps will make quite such an impression. Unless of course Taylor Caldwell continues to write other Westerns. Watch 1883. And then watch it again. It's that good.
Review of 1883
