Godless

I already have too many good shows to watch and now Netflix has released the first seven episode season of Godless. I have been wanting some good Wild West programming and this one is delivering in spades. It's a great idea for a drama and I know HBO is probably kicking themselves for not coming up with it first. It's unbelievably tense because you never know when Jeff Daniels (yes THAT Jeff Daniels) will show up and scare the ever-loving shit out of you with his casual brutality. When you see what he and his gang did to one town you will shiver too. I can't wait for this guy to eat a bullet but I know that is not coming for another five episodes. Finally someone in North America has figured out what the British learned a long time ago. Short seasons are the way to go. All story NO filler. I wish those superhero shows on the CW would go that route because those long seasons caused me to drop out of those long before I should have.

People are making a big deal about how this is a 'woman' centered western. Women do have some strong parts but to actually count the number of lines said by men and women is a bit much. That's not really the way this 'drama' thing works. A writer has a concept and he tells a story. I can't believe that someone is just adding women centric plot arcs to beef up the female vibe. I don't see that here. It's just an interesting, savage story of the bad old days. There is nothing fun about this little western. It almost makes me wonder why ANYONE would chose to go to a theme park like Westworld unless you really are a bloodthirsty rapey murderous bastard deep down.

 

This really is beside the point. All the men in this production are either weak, or vain or crazy or all three at the same time. Even the 'hero' has done some totally despicable things. The woman are clearly stronger and more capable and dealing with the realities of life as are the men but that is true no matter what time you are living in. I think this show is almost hyper-realistic in that sense. Women always the targets of male aggression and they still pick up the shattered pieces and try to put back together the totally useless men in their lives. It's good to know that some things never change.