It's been on my Netflix list for a long time, but I've finally found the time to get back to 2017's "Godless" from writer/director Scott Frank, who would later reteam with Netflix for "The Queen's Gambit" another 7-episode miniseries. Reminiscent of the all-time classic "Deadwood", I enjoyed it overall, but I felt that with a tighter story, told over less time, it would have been even better.
The mining town of LaBelle has stagnated since an accident took 200 of its menfolk two years previously. Now populated almost exclusively by the widows and children of those men, the town's sheriff Bill McNue (Scoot McNairy) captures the notorious criminal Roy Goode (Jack O Connell). Goode had betrayed his former gang leader and father figure, Frank Griffin (Jeff Daniels) and he and his posse have been hunting him ever since. Word has spread that the Griffin gang murdered everyone and razed a town that had previously given Goode shelter and it's only a matter of time before word gets out that he's in LaBelle.
There are dozens of little stories that feed back into the main narrative thrust of "Godless". Some of which run over episodes, others that just take a few scenes. Much of it was really good, but I did feel myself thinking that as this is a seven-episode mini-series, rather than an ongoing affair, wouldn't we have been better served focusing more on the actual story we're here for? That was my problem with "Godless" in a nutshell. It's often beautiful, funny, entertaining, exciting and the performances are, too a person, excellent. But if it was just a bit more focused on its story. I don't think I want to lose any of the other tales either, because I felt we needed it all for the last episode to hit like it does, I just want the show to be tighter with them. Once I've got that Roy Goode is a master horse wrangler, I don't need 45 more minutes of him breaking in the horses, for example.
I don't want to sound too negative though. It really is wonderfully shot and as I say, performances are excellent and the actual story is really good, it's just a little buried.
The mining town of LaBelle has stagnated since an accident took 200 of its menfolk two years previously. Now populated almost exclusively by the widows and children of those men, the town's sheriff Bill McNue (Scoot McNairy) captures the notorious criminal Roy Goode (Jack O Connell). Goode had betrayed his former gang leader and father figure, Frank Griffin (Jeff Daniels) and he and his posse have been hunting him ever since. Word has spread that the Griffin gang murdered everyone and razed a town that had previously given Goode shelter and it's only a matter of time before word gets out that he's in LaBelle.
There are dozens of little stories that feed back into the main narrative thrust of "Godless". Some of which run over episodes, others that just take a few scenes. Much of it was really good, but I did feel myself thinking that as this is a seven-episode mini-series, rather than an ongoing affair, wouldn't we have been better served focusing more on the actual story we're here for? That was my problem with "Godless" in a nutshell. It's often beautiful, funny, entertaining, exciting and the performances are, too a person, excellent. But if it was just a bit more focused on its story. I don't think I want to lose any of the other tales either, because I felt we needed it all for the last episode to hit like it does, I just want the show to be tighter with them. Once I've got that Roy Goode is a master horse wrangler, I don't need 45 more minutes of him breaking in the horses, for example.
I don't want to sound too negative though. It really is wonderfully shot and as I say, performances are excellent and the actual story is really good, it's just a little buried.