Good ‘Godless’
IT’S time to go back to the Old West.
Netflix’s limited series Godless is a
Western with cackling villains, deadly shootouts, dusty towns and lots of horses. It’s an operatic, juicy drama that thrives by earnestly embracing the best —and sidestepping the worst — Western tropes.
Created by Scott Frank, Godless is set in late19th century La Belle, New Mexico, a community mostly populated by women after a mine accident killed most of the men. Those left are trying to rebuild their lives when marked man Roy Goode (Jack O’Connell), takes refuge there, chased by outlaw Frank Griffin (Jeff Daniels).
The cast also includes Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey )asan outsider who hires Roy to help with her ranch, Scoot McNairy as the sheriff, Merritt Wever as his sister and the town’s de facto leader and Thomas BrodieSangster as a restless sheriff’s deputy.
Godless is an oldfashioned Western and wholeheartedly embraces the genre, from the twangy score to wide shots of the idyllic New Mexico landscape to the dastardly bearded villain. But while it revels in the Western’s best elements, the series wisely discards some of the more problematic devices, such as portraying Native Americans as savages or female characters as waiflike arm candy.
Godless works, in large part, due to Daniels (63), who is surprisingly effective as Griffin, an almost absurdly violent outlaw with his own warped moral code and dozens of devoted followers in his ‘‘family’’. Griffin’s terror lies in his unpredictability and his shifting moods. Daniels gives Griffin a manic grin and jittery energy that are genuinely unsettling.
The series starts slow but grows on you, its momentum and plot really kicking into gear by episode 3. Its episodes range from 40 to 80 minutes, which feels a bit disjointed, even during a bingewatch.
Still, Godless smooths over these flaws with a rousing score or a melodramatic death scene. It may be a simple story of good versus evil, but there’s a reason that formula works. And good Godless, it works here. — TCA
Godless is available to stream via Netflix.