Ever since Il Maestro, Ennio Morricone showed the world how dirty the West could, in films like Onece Upon A Time In the West and The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, I've been a true fan of westerns taking it to the bone. Where the world and the people are real, don't come out from fully studio lighted saloons, only to shoot each other in unrealistic standouts, and never meet Indians wearing silly headbands. My favorite in this manner is the masterpiece series Hell On Wheels.
Godless has all the right ingredients , though it doesn't quite manage to overwhelm us with a world to absolutely believe in, at least not me. Some of the plot and the characters are too over done for that. The story is very well put together and we get tangled into it piece by piece. Particularly the retrospective small stories where we get to know how the present story got created appeal to me. And mostly all the characters are to believe in and the universe is realistic, but then, there are aspects that quite don't rhyme with the rest. Still, it's a pleasure just to study Jeff Daniels doing for me the role interpretation of his life. I knew he is a brilliant and versatile actor, but this is perfect.
Let go that there is one too many parallel stories going on, perhaps to fill time, that the Norwegians doing a small visit in an episode don't really speak Norwegian, and that some of the action is somewhat unreal - Godless is a well made western series, with pain, revenge and love - and all filled with real dust.
Review of Godless
