The Son

If you're reading this maybe your like me and your late to the party too! For whatever reason I held off on this show. Maybe it's because none of the reviews really sold me or I just simply put it off. HUGE MISTAKE! In hindsight best mistake, because I was just granted the luck of watching the best 8 hours of pure brilliance and all the while I kept asking myself, how is this series not a massive, massive hit! It's like a watching a great old fashion novel. I'm not writing this to tell you what it's about, no I'm writing this to sell you this series like I wish could have been done for me. There's flashbacks to the main character to his earlier years where he's held captive and it reminds me of dances with wolves in essence, and I literally yearn for the Flashbacks. Zahn McClarnon from Fargo season 2, plays an incredible part in the flashbacks as young Eli's captor, but what that relationship becomes is a prize to watch unfold. Both timelines are so fascinating and captivating that each one can have its own TV series! each timelines plot is so stunning and stellar and the way they both intertwine is beautiful. That's the only flaw with this series is I don't want to leave a particular time period because the story is told so richly. When we leave 1850 to return to 1915, I yearn for the earlier time period. It's absolutely riveting and captivating! This series has every key ingredient to mold a masterpiece of a series! pierce brosnan is incredible as well as the additional cast! so prepare yourself for a binging experience like no other! so whatever your doing right now stop and watch The Son! You'll thank me

The series opens with what I would say is at least a 14 year-old boy being taken captive in 1849. The future is identified as 1915. That means the boy would be 80 years old. Seeing him on a horseback posse and being very physical in many ways doesn't make sense to me. Am I missing something?

This show's focus is on the relationship of a father to his son, only in this case we have several father-son relationships, including the young Eli McCullough (Jacob Lofland) and his Comanche captor (Zahn McClarnon), the elder Eli (Pierce Brosnan) and his two sons (Henry Garrett, David Wilson Barnes), and Eli's son (Henry Garrett) with his own son (Shane Graham).

Add to the father/son relationships is a West in transition, with the end of the Buffalo hunts in mid 19th century, and the faint beginnings of the oil industry in Texas in 1915.

If this isn't enough to entice you, throw in race relations, between the whites and the Indians and the whites and the Mexicans, and within the races, between those who practice compassion and those who do not, and those who have power and those who do not.

Onto this broad landscape we have marvelous photography, great location shots, and terrific acting. This is TV at its near best, and I think it may be Brosnan's finest role.

Well, after one episode, this series looks promising. Mostly I would like to speak to it's authenticity, at least in regards to Indian raids. My husbands's great grandfather was Dot Babb, an Indian captive taken very much like shown in this series. His family was one of 3 ranches in northern Texas and while his father was away on a cattle drive, the Comanche Indians raided his ranch, brutally knifing and shooting an arrow through his mother to death. His baby sister was left to die (neighbors rescued her). Dot and his sister, Bianca, and the governess were taken as captives. At one point, he tried to help the governess escape and he was tied to a tree and the Comanche braves tried to break him down by shooting arrows very close to him. Then he was tied up and they put brush around him and made it look like they would set it afire. He was so stoic and showed no fear that they decided to make him a brave. He lived as a captive until his father rescued him. He was a friend of the Comanches all his life. Anyway, this part of this series is historically accurate. Dot authored a book about his captive experience and his early years as a Texan rancher, In the Bosom of the Comanches, available online through the Library of Congress. There are other captive stories similar to his and it appears perhaps these stories were used as reference for this series. So those unfamiliar with Texas history should read some actual first hand accounts by Texans.

This is a top-tier production in terms of acting, writing, directing, cinematography and the effort put into to accurately recreate 1915 south Texas. At first, I was a bit uncertain about Pierce Brosnan's seemingly self-conscious portrayal and iffy accent (he's an Irishman playing a Texan), but he quickly, comfortably settles in to his compelling character. The other actors are of the highest caliber, particularly the show's namesake played by Henry Garrett. The scenery is also beautifully shot. And the biggest surprise is the story itself, which becomes engrossing within 30 minutes into the pilot episode. I expect very, very good things from this show. Once again AMC proves they are serious about quality television, and I do hope viewers reward "The Son" because it entirely deserves your attention.

I should add a few people have noted some time-line discrepancies. These may exist, but they are completely unimportant. Some of the other reviews here seem to nitpick over ridiculous irrelevancies. I do not know how these people can enjoy television! We have to remember a product like this costs tremendous money for a television studio trying out an unproven new show without any guarantee of ratings, and we should at least be admiring of the effort put in.