I love westerns and this one was fantastic. I just finished the last episode of this 7 episode limited series and I was blown away. And I almost didn't watch it. On the trailer I watched, it seemed like it was being toted as being about a town full only of women and I assumed the show was going to be a bunch of feminist mumbo jumbo hidden under the paint of a western. But really it's not the case at all. It seems not all the men are gone, but most of them are as it's a mining town and a terrible mining accident took the lives of the men (most of the men in town) who worked it. Most of the women being widowed, they are forced to try and continue life in the town of La Belle and struggle with trying to keep the town alive and prospering. Aside from a bit of a love story concerning two of the women in town, there's not really much else to make me think there was a hidden agenda of any sort concerning feminism or lesbianism, or anything along those lines other than the fact the women of La Belle are forced to become stronger women in a world dominated by men. So if all that mumbo jumbo isn't your thing, I wouldn't worry too much. It's not my thing either. I don't judge, but I don't care to see it or hear about it everywhere I go or see it in every show I watch. For those characters that were like that, I didn't mind so much because I absolutely fell in love with their characters regardless.
Now all that being said.... All of that is really just a small part of the story. The main focus of the story was actually about an orphaned child who after being raised by an outlaw, who fancies himself a preacher of sorts, grows up and turns against the outlaw band after they commit a terrible act. The outlaw preacher and his gang want revenge on the turncoat who goes into hiding on a ranch outside of town after being wounded. Now that's just setting the story up.... I could go on and on and still not get into the meat and potatoes of this western. I decided to watch the first episode just out of curiosity thinking I'd be rolling my eyes throughout it all, but was pleasantly surprised by a pretty rich and complex story that kept me coming back. And now I wish it hadn't ended! At times touching on racism, and inclusiveness, it was artfully done in a way that helped the story as opposed to making it feel like it was being pushed as so many shows do these days. And at times being dark, sad, and sometimes even a bit funny, and with some great action and fantastic scenery, I think many fans of the western genre and even those who are not would find this a show definitely worth watching.
There are at least a couple scenes showing pipe smoking, but I was so engrossed with the rest of the show that I couldn't tell you where to look for it unless I watched it again. With most episodes being well over an hour long (a couple were shorter) there's plenty of time to load up your favorite pipe for a nice long smoke during an episode.
Being pleasantly surprised by this, but wishing the series had been a few episodes longer to further build on some of the other characters and to build more on the stories of the main characters, I'm giving this one 4 out of 5 puffies.
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Now all that being said.... All of that is really just a small part of the story. The main focus of the story was actually about an orphaned child who after being raised by an outlaw, who fancies himself a preacher of sorts, grows up and turns against the outlaw band after they commit a terrible act. The outlaw preacher and his gang want revenge on the turncoat who goes into hiding on a ranch outside of town after being wounded. Now that's just setting the story up.... I could go on and on and still not get into the meat and potatoes of this western. I decided to watch the first episode just out of curiosity thinking I'd be rolling my eyes throughout it all, but was pleasantly surprised by a pretty rich and complex story that kept me coming back. And now I wish it hadn't ended! At times touching on racism, and inclusiveness, it was artfully done in a way that helped the story as opposed to making it feel like it was being pushed as so many shows do these days. And at times being dark, sad, and sometimes even a bit funny, and with some great action and fantastic scenery, I think many fans of the western genre and even those who are not would find this a show definitely worth watching.
There are at least a couple scenes showing pipe smoking, but I was so engrossed with the rest of the show that I couldn't tell you where to look for it unless I watched it again. With most episodes being well over an hour long (a couple were shorter) there's plenty of time to load up your favorite pipe for a nice long smoke during an episode.
Being pleasantly surprised by this, but wishing the series had been a few episodes longer to further build on some of the other characters and to build more on the stories of the main characters, I'm giving this one 4 out of 5 puffies.
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