Netflix Users Warned Off New Hit TV Show With Game Of Thrones Star Despite Streaming Success
Another week, another Netflix Top 10 streaming list—and this time, critics are not agreeing with this show nabbing a spot in the top 2. It’s been referred to as “bloated,” “frustrating,” and “artificial,” just to choose a few adjectives. And it wastes its stacked cast entirely with stilted dialogue, poorly researched premise, and a shocking amount of violence against animals for seemingly no reason.
The Abandons, Netflix’s new Western starring Gillian Anderson and Lena Headey, is taking the platform by storm. It centers around two powerful families, both led by powerhouse matriarchs, as their feud for supremacy devolves into outright violence. With a Hatfield and McCoys sort of vibe, it explores classism, sexism, and family dynamics in the wild west—all the makings of a fantastic show. Except apparently it falls very, very short, earning only a 24% on Rotten Tomatoes. “The problem with The Abandons is that, three episodes in, I feel like I’ve already seen the whole show. It lacks the gothic sensibility and the creeping menace that marks the best of the genre,” says Pippa Bailey of New Statesman.
Despite A Compelling Story, The Abandons Never Stood A Chance
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The show ran into a lot of issues in production, with Kurt Sutter leaving the project before filming was even finished, and Netflix choosing to whittle it down from a full 10 episodes to a 7-episode run. It’s violent in the way that all Sutter projects are (The Shield, Sons of Anarchy, Mayans M.C), with more of a focus on brutality than the people and setting that the story is actually hinged on. The only thing The Abandons doesn’t entirely waste is the two main characters, Constance Van Ness (Anderson) and Fiona Nolan (Headey), and even them it fails, seemingly leaving their entire story unresolved at the finish line. “The Abandons mostly feels like a grab-bag of Western tropes, touching surface-level on the unsteady peace between white settlers and Native American tribes (Michael Greyeyes acquits himself well enough as the most prominent representative of this tension) and the struggles of recently-freed Black slaves to carve out a niche for themselves in the new America. But these feel like window dressing for the soap-opera antics of Headey and Anderson’s bratty, brawling families, which aren’t nearly as interesting,” says Clint Worthington of Roger Ebert.
One viewer on Reddit said, “I really wanted to like this show. The concept was so cool, and what a great cast, but lord… the dialogue was weird. I powered through all 7 episodes, but these are great actors, and I’m interested to know what kind of script or direction could get that line delivery out of some of them. Language fluctuated between garrishly old-timey and flowery to nearly modern, to awkwardly profane, and not a single character’s dialogue felt like it had much personality or soul to it. By the end, the plot points felt rushed, half-finished, or utterly forgotten. The cliffhanger … sure was a cliffhanger. Ugh. It’s conflicting because part of me wants to know what happens next, but I’m not sure I’ll even give it a rewatch right now. So much potential in so many of the characters, but we barely got to know them with any true nuance or depth. I didn’t feel attached to a single one.”
It’s unfortunate that this is the turn that The Abandons took, especially considering how incredible the cast is and the narrative had the potential to be. But it’s somehow eked out that number 2 spot on Netflix, and seems to be holding steady.
What are your thoughts on The Abandons? Let us know in the comments before you head over to the ComicBook forums to see what other fans are saying.
