Nov. 8, 2024

Yellowstone 1883

Show Notes
Transcript

In this episode, Joe reviews the Dutton family's perilous journey from Texas to Montana, featuring James and Margaret Dutton's leadership, Elsa's tragic story, Shea Brennan's haunted past, and the brutal realities of westward expansion. Special attention to the immigrant experience and period authenticity.

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Calarogus Shark Media. Welcome back to TV in the Basement,

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where we dive deep into the hottest shows on television.

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I'm your host, Journey Joe Mitchell, and today, folks, we're

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saddling up for eighteen eighty three, the Yellowstone prequel that's

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tougher than a two dollars stak and more beautiful than

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a Montana sunrise. Let me tell you something. If you

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thought modern day Ranching and Yellowstone was rough, this show

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will make you thank your lucky stars for indoor plumbing.

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One eight eighty three inches follows the first generation of Dutton's,

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led by James Tim McGraw and Margaret faith Hill, as

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they make their way from Texas to Montana, and Folks,

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this ain't your kid's Oregon Trail computer game. Nobody's dying

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of dysentery off screen here, but the real revelation Isabelle

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may As Elsa Dutton, our narrator and guide through this

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brutal frontier journey. This young lady delivers a performance that's

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more powerful than a winter Rifle and more poetic than

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a Shakespeare's Sonnet. Her voiceovers are like honey drizzled over

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broken glass. Beautiful and brutal all at once. And then

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there's Sam Elliott as Shay Brennan. Folks, if God himself

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decided to make a cowboy, he'd probably come up pretty

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close to Sam Elliott. The man's got more gravitas than

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a black hole and a mustache that deserves its own

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zip code. When he's on screen, you can practically smell

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the leather and gunpowder. The show opens with a scene

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that'll knock you back in your recliner faster than a

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mule kick. Without spoiling anything, Let's just say Shay's introduction

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is the kind of sequence that reminds you this ain't

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going to be little house on the prairie. The Frontier

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don't care about your feelings, and neither does this show. Now,

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let's talk about Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. When I

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heard they were casting country music stars as James and

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Margaret Dutton, I was more skeptical than a rattlesnake at

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a boot convention. But holy smokes, was I wrong. These

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two have chemistry deeper than a Montana gold mine, probably

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because they've been married longer than some cowboys have owned

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their saddles. The journey itself It's like watching a disaster

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movie in slow motion, but with covered wagons instead of cgi.

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Every river crossing is a game of Russian Roulette with

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Mother Nature. Every encounter with Bandits is a dance with

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the devil and the weather. It's trying to kill these

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folks harder than any outlaw ever could. What makes one

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eight hundred and eighty three inches special is how it

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strips away all our romantic notions about the American West

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faster than a tornado strip's paint off a barn. You

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think cowboys are all John Wayne's swagger and quick draw contests,

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try watching someone try to pull a stuck wagon out

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of mud that's deeper than a philosopher's thoughts. The show's

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about as interested in frontier mythology as a rattlesnake is

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in manners. The supporting cast is stronger than camp coffee,

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particularly Lamonica Garrett as Thomas, a Buffalo soldier turned Pinkerton agent.

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His friendship with Say is the kind of relationship that

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makes you believe in humanity again, even as the show's

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doing its best to show you humanity at its worst.

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And can we talk about the cinematography. Every frame looks

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like it could hang in a museum. The landscapes are

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so gorgeous they'll make you want a time travel back

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to eighteen eighty three until you remember that everything in

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this show is trying to kill these people. There's this

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one shot of a sunset over the plains that's prettier

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than a new saddle on Christmas morning. The show doesn't

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shy away from the brutal reality of frontier life. Disease, injury, death.

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They're as common as dust on the trail. There's no

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convenient commercial breaks when someone needs medical attention, no nearby

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hospitals when things go wrong. The reality of nineteen the

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century medicine is enough to make you kiss your family

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doctor next time you see them. Let's not forget about

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the immigrants who make up most of the wagon train.

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These folks add a layer of complexity to the American

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dream narrative that's as rich as Texas soil. Watching them

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face the frontier with nothing but hope and determination is

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like watching a master class in human resilience. The attention

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to historical detail is finer than a thoroughbred's pedigree, from

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the period accurate weapons to the clothing that actually gets

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dirty and stays dirty, Everything feels lived in and real.

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Even the dialogue avoids those usual Western cliches. Nobody's saying

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Pardner every five minutes or spitting tobacco for dramatic effect. Now,

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some critics say the show's too dark, too brutal. To them,

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I say, have you read a history book lately? The

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American Frontier wasn't exactly a church picnic. Oney eight hundred

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and eighty three inches is just showing us what our

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history books tried to sanitize, and it's doing it with

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more style than a peacock at a prairie chicken convention.

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The season builds to a conclusion that'll hit you harder

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than a Mustang's kick. Without spoiling anything, let's just say

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it makes Game of Thrones look like it was playing

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paddy Cake with our emotions. The final episode is the

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kind of television that stays with you longer than trail

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dust on a leather jacket. So what's the verdict on

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eighteen eighty three? It's like someone took a ken Burns documentary,

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mixed it with Greek tragedy, sprinkled in some Shakespeare, and

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served it up with a side of brutal frontier reality.

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It's not just great television. It's a reminder of what

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our ancestors went through to build this country, for better

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or worse. That's all for this extended episode of TV

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in the basement. Until next time, keep your powder dry,

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your canteen full, and your wagon wheels greased. This is journey.

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Joe Mitchell signing off.