Anyone watching the son? Looks good so far. I like the 1915 storyline, cool pickup trucks and guns in South Texas. I can't realy tell, but it may have been a 1911 that Pierce Brosnan had in episode 1. I could not tell as it was not shown directly. It would have been cool if it was.

Yes, the wife and I watched the pilot episode and will watch tonight's episode to see how it starts to develop. We do like it so far.

Just catching up on the DVR. Watched the first 2 episodes. I like the 1849 and 1915 dual stories. Each jump reveals a bit more about Eli

quote:

Originally posted by Tommydogg:
Anyone watching the son? Looks good so far. I like the 1915 storyline, cool pickup trucks and guns in South Texas. I can't realy tell, but it may have been a 1911 that Pierce Brosnan had in episode 1. I could not tell as it was not shown directly. It would have been cool if it was.

These self appointed experts say that it was. Sounds like a cool show.

Tuning in for my first taste of this series tonight.

Addendum: not really grabbing me... no biggie.

The series is pretty ho-hum but some of the guns are interesting. Brosnan, "The Son", wears a 1911 and carries a Winchester 1907 rifle (.351 Winchester), a rifle I have seldom seen in TV and movies.

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
Tuning in for my first taste of this series tonight.

Addendum: not really grabbing me... no biggie.

This week's episode was not a good one to start with. There was a lot of emotional catch-up from the more action filled previous episodes.

I've been with it since the start, and some episodes are definitely less engaging than others, but overall it is holding my interest, even the slower episodes.

Let me see if I have this correct- Eli McCullough 1849 is the same guy as Eli McCullough 1915? He's 15 or so in 1849. That would make him 81 in 1915.

Or is there a generation in between? Because, I'm not buying it otherwise. Pierce Brosnan is not portraying what an 81 year old man would be like 100 years ago. No way.

I stopped it right after they moved to 1915 for the first time (the hanging corpse), so maybe I just need to watch a bit more, but I'm not going to bother with nonsense. Can anyone enlighten me?

Are you sure the flashbacks are dated 1849?

I think "The Son" refers to him being the first son of Texas, as in he was born on the same day it became a state. That would mean he was born in 1845, so in 1915 he would be 70 years old.

quote:

Originally posted by RichN:
Are you sure the flashbacks are dated 1849?

I think "The Son" refers to him being the first son of Texas, as in he was born on the same day it became a state. That would mean he was born in 1845, so in 1915 he would be 70 years old.

I stand corrected. He was the first male born in the Republic of Texas and he was 13 when he was kidnapped in 1849. Both of those events place his birth date in 1836, which makes him 79 in 1915.

I'll agree he doesn't really look like the average 79 year old, but when I look at my dad in his 80s I'm going to call it plausible.

He's got salt and pepper hair! Pierce Brosnan looks in this series to be the age he actually is in real life- 64. Good grief!

80 years old in 2017 is not like 80 years old in 1915. A century ago, living to 80 was exceptional. These days, it's routine. An 80 year old man a century ago would have no color left in any hair he might have left, and he damn sure wouldn't look 15 years younger than his age. Come on. He would look every bit of that 80 years. Every bit of it. What are they doing? That's silly.

Stooped over, toothless and damn near deaf would be an accurate portrayal of an 80 year old man a century ago.

OK, I've started watching this, on episode 4 now.

As you can see from the reviews on IMDB, I am not alone in taking exception to the timeline of the story. An 80 year old man of a century ago, with all his hair and teeth and doing really fancy horseriding in the dark, to cut out and run to ground a man on foot? Yeah, sure.

Beyond that, and being mindful that it is a miniseries on AMC and chopped up by commercials, the show is not without its charms, but there are surely issues, such as a very articulate trilingual (almost quadlingual) Indian err Native American.
Just listen to his telling if the parable of the Plum Tree to young Eli. Come on. It's 1849, and this guy sounds like he majored in English Lit.


There are other issues as well, such as the inevitable encroachment of identity politics into this series. I don't want to get into it unless someone asks me directly, but this miniseries stinks with that stuff. To call such things anachronistic in a story set so long ago is an understatement.

BTW, I just love the Indian err Native American at the door of the cabin during the raid saying "Open the door and we won't hurt you." Y'see, the family would have been fine if Eli hadn't shot that Indian err Native American. Going further, his own brother blamed Eli for the death of their sister. If only Eli hadn't shot an Indian err Native American who was trying to break down the door of that cabin. Stupid Eli, you got your sister killed by trying to defend your family. Good grief. GMAFB

Barring encountering something outrageously PC, I'll watch the entire miniseries.

Yeah, I did the math during the first episode, and scratched my head. I think I was willing to suspend my disbelief for a new western-ish show. I have too much sci-fi and crime in my TV line-up, and needed a change of pace.

He was on Brawndo ~ it has electrolytes.

I did like Neptune's C96. I always like seeing "Brooms" in action.
Gotta love the Lewis MG too. He gets all the cool toys.

quote:

Originally posted by ravens1775:
Yeah, I did the math during the first episode, and scratched my head. I think I was willing to suspend my disbelief for a new western-ish show. I have too much sci-fi and crime in my TV line-up, and needed a change of pace.

Exactly. Plus, I love the guns, cars and trucks on the show.

Yes, there's an unfortunate lack of all things Western in movies and on TV these days, so I am watching this miniseries. I've seen all 8 episodes aired to this point.
Yes, it's great to see uncommon hardware being used, such as the Winchester 1907 M&P Self Loading.
However, there are the typical anachronisms present, such as a Lewis Gun with what must be a 300 round drum.
Also, in 1850, a man inserts a cartridge into a Colt pistol and closes the loading gate. Umm, no.

And, as with all things produced by AMC, this miniseries could have been better. It is, after all, commercial television.

As to the story, Whitey is evil and destructive. The Indians err Native Americans are noble, wise and long-suffering under the evil White Man (let's just ignore the facts, such as the Indians err Native Americans killed each other all the time to take land and property from other tribes, enslaving and torturing their captives. Let's ignore the eyewitness accounts that say that Indians err Native Americans sometimes killed buffalo just to get their tongue to eat, leaving the rest of the animal to rot, including the hide. Just completely ignore these and other facts.) The Mexicans and Tejanos had their land taken from them by the evil White Man (just as the Mexicans took the land from the indigenous peoples there before them, and killed those people in the process. But hey, Whitey is evil, so just ignore the facts.)

Tell me that you don't see this clap-trap horse shit in this series. Whitey (mostly the men) is either pure evil, or milquetoast weaklings. The Mexicans and Tejanos are fighting for a noble cause, so that when they murder Whites, it is in the name of their righteous revolution, making murder perfectly OK.
Same thing with the wise and noble Indians err Native Americans. If it weren't for evil Whitey, this planet would be paradise.

Only White people exhibit the traits of human nature. If you're non-White, it's different for you, and if you do bad things, well, because: Evil Whitey.

Perfect summation, Para.

Actually, I don't think the series overly glorifies the Native Americans.

The Comanches that he is with seem pretty ruthless and cruel to their captives.

Also, the Tonkawa that is dying from small pox seems pretty cruel and vindictive given that he wants Eli to inflict the same fate on his enemies that his tribe suffered, despite the fact that it can't possibly benefit his tribe in any way.

I would make a similar case for the Mexicans and the Whites.

It seems each race has its share of assholes and noble men, and some who are a bit of both. It could be argued that Eli actually learned to be cruel only because of the time he spent with the Indians.