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- AMC
- Apr 8, 2017
- AMC
- Apr 8, 2017
Summary Eli McCullough (Pierce Brosnan) was kidnapped by the Comanches at 13 and grows into a ruthless businessman, his oldest son Pete McCullough (Henry Garrett) struggles with his father's brutality and making his own way, while Pete's daughter Jeannie McCullough (Sydney Lucas) seeks to escape the many expectations of being a woman in this epi...
Created By: Brian McGreevy, Lee Shipman
- AMC
- Apr 8, 2017
- AMC
- Apr 8, 2017
Summary Eli McCullough (Pierce Brosnan) was kidnapped by the Comanches at 13 and grows into a ruthless businessman, his oldest son Pete McCullough (Henry Garrett) struggles with his father's brutality and making his own way, while Pete's daughter Jeannie McCullough (Sydney Lucas) seeks to escape the many expectations of being a woman in this epi...
Created By: Brian McGreevy, Lee Shipman
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Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 21 Critic Reviews
57
29% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
71% Mixed
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 21 Critic Reviews
57
29% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
71% Mixed
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
[A] terrific dynastic saga, a darker-than-dark "Giant" [1956 film directed by George Stevens]. [3-16 Apr 2017, p.19]
It’s not a program that can be easily enjoyed through casual viewing and appreciation for the genre, but rather, it begs itself to be taken seriously, much in the same way its own book sparked stressful conversations through its tale of a family dynasty in the making. For that reason, The Son might not be for everyone.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 36 User Ratings
6.0
47% Positive
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
28% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
25% Negative
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 36 User Ratings
6.0
47% Positive
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
28% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
25% Negative
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
The themes of prejudice and discrimination involved in this quasi-historical cowboy-Indian-Mexican saga are engaging, as is the time edited style going between 2 periods in Eli's later and earlier life. I haven't gotten into Brosnan a lot before, but he gives some of his most worthy performances here, as do the other great supporting cast, whom we'll hopefully see more of. I've like this and "Turn" on AMC, as it seems the network does a better job with period pieces and the dialog is much more intelligent than the millennial intended schlock like "Walking Dead" and "Preacher". Hopefully, we "adults" paying thru the nose for cable will see more of the former than the latter from this network in the future.
That said, some of the gore and violence might be a turnoff for some as the scalping, lynching, and Indian torture scenes seem very realistic---but hey, that's how violence really is and it just adds to the effective dramatic tone here. I don't like watered down violence, as folks needs to see violence as an abhorrent thing as it is. Nice work for once and on the nice production design too, AMC. Keep doing your multi-cultural research, and good job!
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SEASON 1
Sometimes, I wished The Son breathed more and didn’t have so many scenes that play out something like “Here’s my story and what I plan to do,” but one has to admire the ambition of the piece, and at least two stand-out performances.
The main problem is that very little of what happens during the 20th-century sequences proves especially interesting, beginning with the rather nondescript assortment of family members, neighbors and friends that surround Eli. If this is supposed to be a big "Dallas"-style epic filled with family intrigue and hoisted petticoats, it's as if they conjured a slightly wizened J.R. but nobody else of much note.
The Son isn’t going to revive the good ol’ days when Westerns dominated television, but it’s watchable and often well written and acted.
It's on the fringes that The Son is sometimes smart, nuanced and relevant.
Even if the viewer can ignore the familiar beats of the story, the only well-drawn characters are [Eli] McCullough and his son, Pete. Everyone else contains scraps of traditional Western archetypes, but they aren’t fully realized as characters we should care about. Chances are, if you recognize the archetypes, you’ll recognize another Western you’d much rather watch instead of The Son.
I wanted to like this more. I really did. But the pacing really drags. The flip flopping back and forth each hour means neither narrative progresses much each week, either. That said, I think Brosnan does a good job (though would have liked to have seen Sam Neill handle it. Not sure why he dropped out!) and the rest of the cast, including the younger version of McCullough, is good, as well. And there are a few great action scenes. But for the most part you keep wishing the thing would hurry up and move along.
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SEASON 1
'The Son' is really tedious and despite some interesting violent scenes it actually is a bit racist and mean, The dialogues also are terrible despite Pierce Brosnan's acceptable performance.
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SEASON 1
I was optimistic that a new drama with Pierce Brosnan would be not only entertaining, but cerebral. Then I had my intelligence insulted by Hollywood yet again - and all within the first 8 minutes of episode 1. This really pisses me off. These Hollywood idiots ALL earn an easy 7 figures - but none of them can add two f*****g numbers together.
The starts out with a youthful Ian McCullough in 1849 - appearing as more or less a teenager - but one just entering manhood, making him around 15 or 16 years old - at most. After being orphaned by a tribe of Comanche Indians - we fast forward to McCullough as an adult - Pierce Brosnan - in 1915. Now, Pierce Brosnan is 64 years old - a rather youthful and robust 64 I might add. But if McCullough was just 15 in 1849, he'd be 81 in 1915. Even if the young McCullough had only been 12 in the first scene - he'd still be 78 as an adult Pierce Brosnan in 1915.......
So what is his character's age ? What kind of idiots do the writers of these shows thing their audience really is. It would have been more realistic if the older version of Eli McCullough - was Eli Jr.
The only reason I even decided to watch this (On Hulu - via Roku - since I refuse to pay for cable and satellite extortion any longer) - is because I suffered through three episodes of an even worse new TV program "Blindspot." These two pathetic attempts at drama are a testament to the fact that everyone in Hollywood are a bunch of over-paid, untalented, brainless, Leftist / Marxist morons, who think the general public are stupid enough to be entertained by absolute nonsense - as long as some big-name celebrity superstar like Pierce Brosnan is the star. I can't believe even he would let pass a script - that has him playing a rugged, tough, land-baron whose chronological age in the story would put him at more than 80 years old - at a time in history when the average life-span of an American was only 52.3 years.
Message to Hollywood -- Get your heads out of your asses and please stop insulting our intelligence.
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SEASON 1