Yellowstone is a Western Mafia Downward Spiral. Over on Discord, I went looking for a different sort of show. Generally, for the blog, I go looking for heady, crazy, and wild Indie movies that make you THiNC. But, on this particular day, I was looking for something totally different. But I didn’t know what it was.
My requirements? I wanted something that was longer (strange for me, right off the bat, in that I normally try to avoid series or shows) aka, several seasons worth of content. I wanted something in the vein of West Wing maybe? Or Borgen possibly? I’ve never watched Mad Men, but maybe from what I had heard of it, maybe something like that? But my number one requirement was something that my wife and I could watch together. We had just finished watching Truth and Lies: Monica and Bill and that was eye-opening. But before that, we had watched the First Wives (which was fantastic) and before that was Mrs. America. (I’m making it sound like all we watch are liberal political think pieces! hahah. Just how it happened. So, long and short of it? I needed a new show.
And after surveying the discord THiNC. crowd, I learned there were two shows I’d never heard of before. One new, The English – which was a period piece that was sort of a Last of the Mohicans kind of thing going. And one that’d be around a while – Yellowstone. One other X-factor detail that worked in Yellowstone’s favor? Horses. My wife grew up in Estes Park with horses, and rode by herself in the mountains… like she’s basically literally lived a lot of the fiction of this show. So, as soon as I looked into it, I had a feeling that it’d be a winner. And those CGI’d vistas, and glorious touched up mountain ranges are pretty phenomenal viewing material.
But for me? It was the writers group that sold me. Taylor Sheridan has written a lot of really great stuff in the past that we have discussed here. The most obvious of which being Sicario, Mayor of Kingstown and Wind River. So, once I heard that Sheridan was the writer and director for Yellowstone, I was in. For sure, 100%.
What is Yellowstone About?
Basically, Yellowstone is what would happen if you set a mafia show in the mountains of Montana. The series follows the Dutton family, owners of the largest ranch in Montana, the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, commonly called “the Yellowstone.” The plot revolves around family drama at the ranch and the bordering Broken Rock Indian Reservation, national park, and developers. I thought maybe the Dutton’s were good people with bad luck. But actually they are bad people with relatively good luck. hahaha.
Anyway, I’m sure I’ll get back to The English, that looks really amazing. So I’m still looking forward to that. But at the glacial pace at which my wife and I watch things, I’m sure there’ll be a second season out before I get back to it! hahaha. Anyway, regardless, we are finishing up season 1 now after two weeks of watching (we are jack-rabbiting through the series for us! Super fast.) So maybe we’ll get to The English sooner than later. We’ll see.
Edited by: CY