American Primeval, the new Netflix original Western series from Mark L. Smith and Peter Berg, begins in the Utah Territory in 1857. A mother, Sara Rowell (Betty Gilpin), and her young son, Devin (Preston Mota), are waiting for transport in Nowhere, Missouri to meet up with Devin's father. They've hired help for a wagon ride to Fort Bridger, where they will head further West to Crooks Springs with a different party. Quickly, things go way off the rails.
That's the norm for this new Netflix series, which is probably the most violent and gory series you'll see all year. At Fort Bridger, Sara and Devin's transport is already gone, and things go from bad to worse quickly as a fight breaks out and two men are killed while Sara is talking to Mr. Bridger (Shea Whigham) about arranging another passage. This is no place for a child.
Fort Bridger, owned and operated by Jim Bridger, is basically the gateway to the West through Missouri. That's important for the rest of the series.
Sara is headed West to Crooks Springs with a traveling party
Mr. Bridger paints a nasty picture for Sara of the war brewing in Utah between Brigham Young (Kim Coates) and the Mormons and President Buchanan and the United States Government. Isaac Reed (Taylor Kitsch) turns down Sara's offer to help them cross the Wasatch Mountains and be safe from the Mormons, Shoshone, and all sorts of wild animals who'd love to eat Sara and Devin.
With no guide to help them to Crooks Springs, Sara convinces Abish (Saura Lightfoot-Leon) and Jacob Pratt (Dane DeHaan), a Mormon couple in a traveling party, to allow them to join. Two Moons (Shawnee Pourier), a young girl who just killed a man who tried to assault her, tags along, hidden in their wagon.
Along the journey, we get to learn more about Abish and Jacob, a newly married couple. Abish is questioning her place in the world, while Jacobs is undyingly devoted to his new wife, or so it seems.
Sara is a fugitive on the run, and there's a big reward for her capture
After Sara and Devin leave Fort Bridger, a man comes looking for her. He has a wanted poster with Sara's picture along with quite a sizeable reward. Bridger denies knowing her or crossing paths with her. He clearly has his own plans to collect this bounty. Unfortunately, some rather unsavory fellows, including Virgil (Jai Courtney, overhear the news.
Meanwhile, the traveling party with Sara, Devin, Abish, and Jacob is confronted by the leaders of a Mormon legion enforcing martial law declared by Governor Brigham Young in the Utah Territory. Captain James Wolsey (Joe Tippett) asks the settlers to leave by nightfall, but they not only decline but they threaten to kill the Mormons for trying to force them out of the territory.
Well, I think we see where this is going, right? We get to spend a little time with the settlers, including Jacob and Abish. Jacob and Abish are Mormon and heading for Brigham Young's flock in Salt Lake City with some other young Mormon couples. Jacob was supposed to marry Abish's sister, Edin, before she passed away. Abish steps in and marries Jacob in her place. They begin their journey to the West.
The Mormons attack the traveling party, but Sara and Devin escape
Before nightfall and during all this chitchat, Wolsey's group of Mormons, with some Indigenous people the Mormons hired to point the finger in a different direction, attacks the settlers, killing almost everyone. The Mormons give instructions to kill everyone and leave no witnesses. It's one of the most gruesome and gory action sequences I've seen in a long time. Jacob is scalped in the massacre. Berg and Smith do not hold back at all with the violence in this series, and this is the first real glimpse of that so far.
In the sequence, Sara and Devin flee into the trees where they come across Isaac, luckily, who rescues them.
The Mormons kill all the men in the traveling party, all but one, Jacob. They leave some of the women alive. Wolsey offers to pay the Paiute people who attacked the settlers to track down Sara and Devin, who escaped. In exchange, Wolsey gives the Paiute people the women in the group, as well, including Abish. There seem to be a lot of loose ends tying the Mormons to this attack, which acts the launch point for this story.
Back at Fort Bridger, Virgil and his band of outlaws speak with the man looking for Sara. He offers to take him to her for $500 of the $1,500 reward. Virgil and his friends murder the man and steal the poster. Then, they set off looking for Sara.
The American Primeval premiere ends with Jacob waking up with a giant wound on his forehead to the remains of everyone in his traveling party except his wife, Abish.
American Primeval episode 1 grade: B
The gore and violence in American Primeval are too extreme and in your face for most viewers. It takes a strong will to continue with this series after the premiere. I don't know if this cat-and-mouse chase across the American West is enough to keep most viewers' interest throughout six episodes. The story develops quite slowly until the major attack sequence at the end of the episode.
Overall, the performances from Gilpin, Kitsch, Lightfoot-Leon, DeHaan, Tippett, and Whigham are outstanding in the series premiere. And, you can also say that about the cinematography and set design. The main action sequence when the Mormons attack the settlers is about as thrilling and horrible as I've seen on TV in a long time. The camerawork maximizes the chaos significantly. I'll be shocked if this episode isn't nominated for an Emmy in some of those technical categories. It's very well done.
There are only six episodes in American Primeval, so we're one episode down with five to go.