A proto-Western that stretches so far for legitimacy that it tips over and breaks its own ass in the effort, “American Primeval” is the worst kind of genre slop there is. A braided narrative that’s as ugly on the inside as it is on the Dutch-angle-heavy outside, the series is held together by committed performances, amazing costuming, and even better production design. None of that is enough to overcome the truly, deeply, genuinely awful experience of having to sit through it, however, as it seems determined to disappoint at almost every turn.
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Set in 1857, Utah territory that is modern-day (southwest) Wyoming, the audience meets all the principles in the first episode as they take turns passing through or near Fort Bridger. This includes Sara (Betty Gilpin) and their son Devin (Preston Mota), who claim to be on their way to meet up with their husband/dad but seem to also be on the run from a bounty hunter looking to bring them back east. Jim Bridger (Shea Whigham) tries to get local trapper and all-around bad-ass Isaac Reed (Taylor Kitsch) to guide them, but he’s reluctant. This forces Sara to tag along with Mormon settlers Jacob (Dane DeHaan) and Abish (Saura Lightfoot-Leon), who are also traveling west to join their new congregation but are ambushed along the way by different, mean Mormons on the orders of Brigham Young (Kim Coates) himself.
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The fallout from this incident (presented as the real-life Mountain Meadows Massacre), along with the reaction of the different local native tribes, informs the rest of the story, which traces these characters and their struggle to endure what the opening title card refers to as, “a brutal war for survival.” And while the series isn’t shy about acts of violence, particularly against women, the most egregious assault is perpetrated against the viewer’s visual and ethical sensibilities. More can (and will) be said about the latter, but all of the ways “American Primeval” looks terrible deserve its own discussion.
If it had just been the color-washing to drain all of the striking gradients out of the scenes, that might have been tolerable, albeit questionable. If it had just been the strange commitment to close-up hand-held shots (eliminating the broad horizons and vistas that are associated with the genre), it would have been bearable, albeit frustrating. But both of these things combined with an obsessive compulsion for Dutch angles is a bridge too far for any viewer with reasonable sensibilities. Indeed, even if the series didn’t have problematic themes and outright incorrect history, the pure act of watching it would make it too challenging for most.
As for these themes, the series flirts with the idea of trope subversion by giving Native Americans and women the lead in several storylines, yet their place in the larger genre isn’t much different than what’s been the norm for over 150 years. Going back to the Dime Novels that gave birth to the very idea of the “Western” as a popular fiction setting, “American Primeval” is yet another in a long line of this genre’s entries that position white men as saviors of women from the dangers of the wild frontier. The ice-cold, deadly AF Natives that lurk in the shadows is often the biggest threat from scene to scene, and the fact that the series positions a few of them as good-ish guys doesn’t detract from the fact that they have just as high a kill count as the white characters (or that their first introduction features them stealing, raping, and murdering).
Likewise, Sara, Abish, and the mute Two Moons (Shawnee Pourier) take turns demonstrating a reasonable amount of female autonomy yet too often fall back on the mercy and protection of the men around them. And this is all aside from the fact that this series lands in the same trap as so many others of the genre, which is to perpetrate these fictions about the “West” as some vicious and impenetrable hell on Earth when the statistics show that the actual killers were exposure, dehydration, illness, and WASP hubris. The series also gets the dates of the actual events it portrays wrong (the ownership dispute of Fort Bridger was in 1855), as well as the geography. However, anyone paying that much attention to all of this will likely have a frustration stroke long before all of that processes.
The cast does their best to elevate the material by adding a fair amount of pathos and color to their characters, particularly Kitsch, Gilpin, and Pourier, but the script and direction of Peter Berg too often betray them. Gilpin has a particularly harrowing scene that deserves a trigger warning in episode three, marking an emotional high point for the series, but there aren’t enough of these to keep it engaging for any amount of time. The fact that Brigham Young and the Mormons are the primary villains is a fun twist and a change in the correct direction for a genre in desperate need of white bad guys, but what “American Primeval” does with its Native characters cancels this good work out.
As disposable entertainment, it’s mediocre; as history, it’s poorly researched white savior propaganda cosplaying as representation. Ugly inside and out and only passably engaging due to the valiant efforts of the cast, “American Primeval” misses its mark and then some and would serve the world best by slumping off on a ride towards the sunset, never to return. [D]
“American Primeval” debuts January 9 on Netflix.