Commentary

Civilization Gives Way To Savagery In 'American Primeval' On Netflix

Meaner than “Deadwood” and more primal than “The Revenant,” “American Primeval” is less a depiction of the lawless western American territories before the Civil War than a drama series set in Hell itself.

Premiering last week on Netflix, “American Primeval” is set in 1857, starting in the tiny town of St. Joseph, Missouri.

In the show, the town is portrayed as a settlement in which tents far outnumber about a half-dozen wooden buildings representing the farthest point then reached by the transcontinental railroad still under construction.

West of this forlorn place is Utah Territory, a vast wilderness populated by bad actors.

The show begins with words posted onscreen: “Utah Territory 1857. The United States Army, Mormon Militia, Native Americans and Pioneers [are] all locked in a brutal war for survival. Caught in the bloody crossfire are every man, woman and child who dare to enter this American Primeval."

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If those words represent a promise of what is to come next, then it is a promise kept. Brutality and blood are the orders of the day.  

The factions listed above are all present and accounted for, and none of them are merciful or charitable. 

Operating in a region far beyond the oversight or control of the federal government, the members of every one of these groups is motivated by greed, hate and primal instincts.

“American Primeval” revolves mostly around a woman and her young son making their way west in the hopes of reaching a faraway settlement where, the woman assumes, her husband will be waiting for her.

She and her boy go as far as they can on the still-unbuilt railroad. From there, they must depend on the dubious skill of guides and cutthroats to journey from settlement to settlement, all of which make St. Joseph look like New York City.

On “American Primeval,” much care has evidently been taken to re-create the mean environments where the show’s violence takes place.

Whether or not the regions west of the unfinished railroad were as lawless and violent on the eve of the Civil War as this show claims them to be, the meticulous authenticity of the show makes it all seem plausible.

Credit for the show’s high quality goes to creator and writer Mark Smith, executive producer Eric Newman and director Pete Berg.

The cast includes Betty Gilpin as the lady from the East, Shea Whigham as the nominal leader of one of the show’s rough settlements, and Taylor Kitsch as guide, scout and wilderness archetype.

Watching “American Primeval” is a disorienting experience. In this show, murders come on suddenly and without warning, and the old mythical West is a killing field.

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