American Primeval (Netflix)
10 years on, the bear attack in The Revenant is still recalled as one of the most brutal moments in TV and Film. With this in mind, when Revenant writer Mark L Smith’s American Primeval landed on Netflix at the start of the year, audiences might have expected more brutality. They might not have expected quite this level of it, though.
American Primeval is one of the bleakest, most traumatic and violent things on Netflix. There are ruthless depictions of mass murders. Children are killed, women are sexually assaulted, and men are scalped. Dark and severe twists block out any ray of light that temporarily emerges from the show. Performances from the actors read as people who were genuinely stressed and terrified. We all know the frontier was a lawless and savage place, American Primeval remains committed to an unflinching depiction of it.
Due to its persistent brutality, American Primeval has faced criticism as misery porn. It is true that one scene of characters running away from murder bleeds into the next scene of characters running away from murder for all six episodes of the series. The action is comically savage at times, to the point where the shows creators could be found guilty of gratuitousness. But despite the stress and brutality and violence, American Primeval still emerges as a high quality, highly watchable drama.
The seismic inciting incident of American Primeval is a sequence based on the real-life events of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. It was a moment in history where the persecuted Mormons of the American frontier used violence to protect their self-proclaimed Zion. We see the massacre of a travelling wagon train at the hands of the Mormons in (of course) brutal detail. But the events are used well to trigger an enticing murder mystery strand within the series. The audience know it was the Mormons that killed the men, women and children of the wagon train. We crave everyone finding out the truth and them being brought to justice for what they did.
With this in mind, the other thing that American Primeval does quite masterfully is weave together multiple story strands and multiple character factions. You have the Native Americans, the Mormons, the American Government officials, and a central band of misfits united by the purpose of getting Sara (Betty Gilpin) and her son across the brutal West to their family in Crook Springs. The way all of these factions intersect and bump into each other feels adept and considered throughout the entire series. Something that isn’t easy to accomplish in an ensemble series like this.
The brutality of American Primeval is exhibited by each and every one of the factions and races mentioned above. Mark L Smith seems to believe in the mantra that the line between good and evil doesn’t run between states and nations, but through the heart of every person. Natives, Mormons and Government officials alike are capable of vicious acts in American Primeval. Above all, the series makes you reflect on the irreversible atrocities that underscore the formation of the United States.
