LONDON: When director Peter Berg had an idea for a project based on the Mountain Meadows Massacre — a series of attacks during the US’s 19th-century Utah War — he reached out to “The Revenant” writer Mark L. Smith to flesh out the show. As luck would have it, Smith was already working on an idea set during the same period following real-life pioneer Jim Bridger, a character he’d explored as a much younger man in that film. The result is Netflix’s “American Primeval,” set in the untamed world that predates the Wild West as audiences have come to know it. This is a brutal, savage place in which US army forces battle Mormon militias, and native tribes try to eke out a peaceful existence amid the chaos.
Sara Rowell (Betty Gilpin) and her son Devin (Preston Mota) arrive at Fort Bridger, in search of a guide to escort them through the perilous country. Bridger (Shea Whigham) introduces them to Isaac Reed (Taylor Kitsch), a bereaved hunter and trapper who eventually agrees to go with them. The trio, later joined by runaway Shoshone Two Moons (Shawnee Pourier), set out on the dangerous trek, dodging armies, evading bounty hunters, and navigating settlers with their own (often unsavory) plans.
At the same time, Mormon settler Jacob Pratt (Dane DeHaan) searches for his kidnapped wife Abish (Saura Lightfoot-Leon), while Mormon leader Brigham Young (Kim Coates) sets his eyes on Fort Bridger as a means to defend his followers from what he assumes to be an imminent attack by US Army forces.
Every minute of the six episodes feels relentless. There’s little room for quieter character development — Isaac’s backstory is glossed over, Abish’s relationship with her captors doesn’t get the airtime it deserves, and Jacob’s realizations about the behavior of his Mormon brothers feels rushed.
What Berg does cram in is certainly spectacular — “American Primeval” is brutal, bloody and gorgeous in equal measure — and the sense of constant peril is effective and exhausting. Kitsch and Gilpin are great, too, but there’s a sense that, with a little more time, Isaac and Sara’s relationship could be an even more interesting counterpoint to the savagery around them. This is a breathless series. With a beat or two more to breathe, it could have been truly epic.
