Hello everyone! So the Emmys were on last week and me being an avid TV watcher, tuned in. There were many shows nominated that I hadn't seen but they have been added to the list to watch. One of these shows was the Netflix limited series, Godless. It won a couple of awards for acting and piqued my interest. I had also just finished my annual Downton Abbey watch and was still in that mindset but I realized Lady Mary herself, Michelle Dockery was in Godless so I had to check it out. So long story short that's what I'll be reviewing today so I hope you enjoy. LET'S GET STARTED.
PLOT:
After a tragic mining accident all the men of La Belle, New Mexico died with the exception of just a few. The town is now completely run by women. Outlaw Roy Goode (Jack O'Connell) comes into town, trying to outrun the murderous gang leader, Frank Griffin (Jeff Daniels). Roy rides in at night to a farm on the outskirts of town. This farm belongs to Alice Fletcher (Michelle Dockery) who shoots him in the neck for trespassing on her land. He falls unconscious to the ground. She and her mother-in-law, Iyovi (Tantoo Cardinal) go over to him and patch him up. When he wakes up Alice makes him a deal. She says that if he can help her break in her horses he can stay and when he's done he can have the strongest horse for himself. He agrees, not telling her the full story of who he is. Alice along with her son, Truckee (Samuel Marty) form a close friendship with Roy.
Frank Griffin raised Roy Goode as his own son. He took him in as a young boy and taught him everything he knew. He genuinely loved Roy but when he is betrayed, he will do everything in his power to find Roy and kill him. Him and his crew of 30 men scour the West looking for him destroying any town that has a connection to Roy.
Back in La Belle, Sheriff Bill McNue (Scott McNairy) is wanting to prove himself. Often called a coward due to his resistance to use guns, he feels like he needs to do something to dispute that. He hears about Frank Griffin and his destruction and decides to pursue him. He leaves town on his quest and leaves his children and the care of the town to his sister, Mary Agnes (Merritt Wever). Mary Agnes is a tough, resourceful woman who many of the townsfolk look to for advice and guidance.
When the ladies of La Belle hear about Roy Goode and Frank Griffin's determination to find him they grow suspicious of the stranger who is staying at Alice Fletcher's farm. They will do anything they can to defend their town, including taking on Frank Griffin and his 30 men.
REVIEW:
Now I'm not usually into westerns. They aren't really my cup of tea. There are some westerns that I find fascinating and will watch but the majority of the time I usually avoid them. This show however piqued my interest. One because it has my girl Michelle Dockery in it. Another reason I wanted to watch this show was because it was doing pretty well at the Emmys, winning two acting awards. It had been on my Netflix queue for some time I just never took the chance and watched it. Boy was that a mistake. This show is actually really great.
I could see why it won those acting awards because everyone's performance is so good. Let's start with Michelle Dockery. Now I mostly know her from Downton Abbey which is one of my all-time favorite shows so I was already familiar with how great an actress she is. This performance is the complete opposite of that role and man does she crush it. Gone are her Lady Mary days. Hardly speaking the first couple of episodes we don't get to know much about her character. However, we are able to connect with her quickly due to her body language. You can see that she's very standoffish, being an outcast in the town but she also has a softness to her. You see this especially in her interactions with her son. She even shows her softer side to Roy in later episodes. We'll dive deeper into that in a moment. Her story was the most fascinating to me. Although we hardly know anything about her in the beginning, throughout the series you get to see more of her story in snippets of flashbacks. Man is it a story. I won't go into too much detail because I don't want to give too much away and want to let you experience it yourself if you decide to watch this. These flashbacks really open up her character to the audience and really lets us connect with her. Michelle's performance is so nuanced and complex. I look forward to watching more performances from her because she is amazing. Also her American accent is so good.
Jack O'Connell who plays Roy Goode is really our eyes for the story. We follow him throughout the series and spend the most time with him. His character, like Michelle's, is very reserved and we don't know too much about him at the beginning. Throughout the series we also get to see snippets of his story and really discover who his character is. The more we learn about him, the more we connect and care about him. His and Michelle's chemistry really sold the show to me. Them along with Jeff Daniels are really our main characters. If their chemistry didn't work, the story probably wouldn't have worked as well as it did. They're both very standoffish people who don't give anything about themselves away. However, when they're together they feel a connection, a kindred spirit and they are able to open up. Their scenes were my favorite part of the show because we got to dive deep into their characters and discover who each of them are.
Two more performances I really enjoyed were Jeff Daniels' performance as Frank Griffin and Merritt Wever's performance as Mary Agnes. We'll start with Jeff Daniels. Although he plays your typical baddie in a western, out for revenge, destroying everything in sight, he has a soul to him. He genuinely loves Roy and thinks of him like a son. He doesn't want to kill him, he really just wants to get him to return to the gang. However, he knows Roy will never do that so he knows he has to kill him. He has really human moments throughout the series which you don't often see from villains in movies or shows. He doesn't necessarily look to kill people, he really only kills them if they're a threat or pose a threat to him personally. I found his character fascinating and I thought Jeff Daniels did an excellent job of taking a somewhat cliche character and making it his own and adding layers to him. Merritt Wever who plays Mary Agnes was one of my favorite characters. After the death of her husband she takes on the more masculine role. She starts to wear pants rather than skirts and always carries around a gun. Although she is judged by the other women in town for acting this way, she is also respected because she's taking charge of her life and helping to take care of the town. I would have loved to get more of her story and background because I thought she was a really interesting character.
Although I talked a lot about the ladies I do have one critique of an otherwise great show. For a show that is about a town that is almost entirely inhabited by women only, the show really does focus more on the men. Sure Roy is the main character because he's the catalyst of the show. Everything that happens, happens as a result of him. I just would have loved to have spent more time with the ladies, get more of their stories. There were some really great, interesting women supporting characters that we really didn't get to spend much time with. I wanted to know their stories and where they came from. Although we do get to see all of them kick some major butt and you know I'm not going to complain about that. I won't go into too much detail but I'll just say there's a pretty epic battle scene that the women get to participate in and man oh man is it cool!
A couple of more things I'll mention because I realize this review is getting a little long winded. I don't really ever talk about the score but the score for this show was so beautiful. It really made the show. The usage of it really amplified the story and added depth and emotion to scenes. Not to mention it's also really pretty and I would love to own the soundtrack. The cinematography was also really beautiful. They used a lot of establishing shots that just showed off the landscape and it truly was gorgeous. It really captured the openness of the American West and set the tone for the story. Not only was it a great show to listen to, it was a great show to look at.
Overall I highly recommend this show. It has some really fascinating, strong female characters along with great male characters. And it's only 7 episodes so it's a breeze to get through. You can watch it in one weekend. Although some parts did drag a bit, it was never enough to disengage me from the story. This story is so fascinating and told really well, it even made a girl like me who doesn't really like westerns want to keep on watching.
PARENT'S GUIDE:
There is some nudity in this show and there is a rape scene that could be disturbing to some viewers. There is quite a bit of violence and cussing as well. Although it doesn't have an official rating because it's a Netflix show I probably wouldn't let kiddos watch it. It's definitely a show for adults.
OVERALL RATING:
For this show I will give it a...
Godless: 7/10
I gave it this rating because like I said it does drag in some parts. I also would have liked it more if it focused more on the women rather than the men. I also could have done without some of the nudity.
CONCLUSION:
Well, well, well it looks like we've come to the end of this little spiel of mine. I hope you enjoyed this review and I really do hope you check out this show. Like I said, it's a quick watch and it is a really interesting story. Even if you don't like westerns too much, like me, I think you'll enjoy this one. As always please be sure to leave me a comment or suggestion. Tell your friends! Until next time!
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