Print Story
X
The Madison is a heartfelt examination of grief and human connection, centring on a New York City family navigating personal struggles in the Madison River valley of central Montana.
Created by: Taylor Sheridan
| T |
aylor Sheridan is a name that strikes fear into the hearts of any aspiring neo-Western and/or crime series writer. After exploding into the entertainment scene with his unofficial trilogy of Sicario, Hell or High Water and Wind River, Sheridan would later set his sights on the untamed land of television, and to say he found a little bit of success is like saying water is “kind of wet.” With back-to-back hits like Yellowstone, Tulsa King, Mayor of Kingstown, Lioness and Landman, Sheridan is reigning over an unprecedented dynasty with some of the biggest and most popular shows on TV. Those series also showcase Sheridan’s signature hallmarks: bleak, violent and bitter character dramas that pit their characters in a constant struggle between what’s right and what’s wrong.
With all that in mind, Sheridan’s newest show has a lot riding on it, not only because he’s set to depart Paramount for NBCUniversal soon, but also because The Madison is unlike anything he has made in his prestigious career thus far.
Despite initially being reported as yet another Yellowstone spin-off to join the ranks of 1883, 1923 and the recently released Marshals (which got picked up for Season 2 after airing just two episodes), The Madison is a completely standalone project, trading hostile land takeovers and seedy criminal underworlds for a methodical reflection of grief and communing with nature. While the new series may not fit the bill for Sheridan fans expecting another rip-roaring thriller, it’s a very intriguing experiment that could very well blossom into something much bigger.
The Madison may not be a gritty, brutal crime drama like the ones Sheridan has built a career on, but it still has a few traits synonymous with much of his work, including the highly dysfunctional, extraordinarily affluent family the story follows. The matriarch and patriarch of said family are Stacy (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Preston Clyburn (Kurt Russell), respectively, with the former being a content New York native, while the latter prefers the rural and beautiful countryside of Montana (albeit far away from any Dutton family shenanigans, if the show does indeed take place somewhere in the Yellowstone universe). However, the comfortable city living of New York and the off-the-grid lifestyle of Montana find themselves colliding when Stacy and Preston’s family is struck with a sudden and unspeakable tragedy, leading the entire Clyburn clan to visit the family’s quiet estate to grieve, learn and perhaps even grow closer to prevent all but assured estrangement.
If you’re expecting a typical, action-packed Sheridan story with a billion thrills and twists and turns, The Madison is most certainly not the show for you. It’s slow, patient, methodical and it’s very easy to see how viewers could prematurely slap “boring” on as a defining trait. However, this slow-burn pace is exactly what keeps The Madison an engaging watch. As anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one knows, the grieving process is an excruciatingly long one, especially with a less-than-perfect support system of friends and family. That said, even from a slow-burn perspective, The Madison takes quite a while to get going and the tropey, cheesy “rich people don’t know how basic things work” device gets real old, real quick. The more the story goes on, however, the more these characters, particularly the Clyburn family, slowly begin to reveal the show’s more nuanced intelligence.
It’s also easy to forgive The Madison for its more carefully planned story because of just how beautiful it is to look at. Christina Alexandra Voros, who previously collaborated with Sheridan on Yellowstone and 1883 and serves as both director and cinematographer for all six episodes, has crafted what is undeniably the most visually striking Sheridan series yet, with sweeping landscapes and stunning colors that complement the show’s themes of isolation and rejuvenation.
It’s almost hard to believe this is the same state Yellowstone takes place in, not because that’s a bad-looking show, but because the flagship series doesn’t hold a candle to the sense of beauty and scale that Voros brings to the table for The Madison.
At long last, Western veteran and Tombstone star Kurt Russell is finally in a Taylor Sheridan series and he’s the perfect casting for the gentler of the Clyburn family’s parents. Stacy and Preston’s children, played by Beau Garrett and Elle Chapman, are frankly unbearable at the show’s start, but the longer the series goes on, the more they mature in a show that’s ultimately all about growing up. Other notable players are Suits alum Patrick J. Adams, who, like Garrett and Chapman, starts fairly one-dimensional before being given more depth, and Will Arnett, much later in the series, the frequent funny man once again showing that he’s more than capable of serious roles.
The Madison’s solid ensemble cast puts a lot of pressure on leading lady Pfeiffer, until you remember this is Pfeiffer we’re talking about. She’s nothing short of astounding in The Madison, with her performance as a grieving matriarch undoubtedly putting Stacy Clyburn up there with Yellowstone’s John Dutton (Kevin Costner) and Landman’s Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton) in the hall of fame of great Sheridan characters. The Emmys have historically not rewarded Sheridan and his small-screen projects, but if Pfeiffer isn’t at least considered for a Best Lead Actress nomination, then that may be a bigger tragedy than the show is centred around.
Sheridan has historically found tremendous success by telling stories that appeal to a wide variety of age groups, geographic regions (mainly in the United States) and political backgrounds. The Madison may have a cowboy or two and take place in Montana, but it’s Sheridan’s biggest step out of his comfort zone yet. Because of that, the show undoubtedly isn’t going to appeal to everyone, but if you’re willing to get past a slower pace in the earliest episodes and see this gripping character drama through, then The Madison is a must-watch.
– Courtesy: Collider.com
