The English TV Review

Plot: An aristocratic Englishwoman, Lady Cornelia Locke, and a Pawnee ex-cavalry scout, Eli Whipp, come together in 1890 middle America to cross a violent landscape built on dreams and blood. Both of them have a clear sense of their destiny, but neither is aware that it is rooted in a shared past. They must face increasingly terrifying obstacles that will test them to their limits, physically and psychologically. But as each obstacle is overcome, it draws them closer to their ultimate destination—the new town of Hoxem, Wyoming. It is here, after an investigation by the local sheriff Robert Marshall and young widow Martha Myers into a series of bizarre and macabre unsolved murders, that the full extent of their intertwined history will be truly understood, and they will come face-to-face with the future they must live. 

Review: Westerns have taken many forms over the years from action to sweeping epics to pulpy dramas and more. Over the last couple of decades, independent filmmakers have used the nineteenth-century American west as a landscape for telling unique stories about characters that may not have been as impactful in other genres. Thanks to streaming platforms, the ongoing surge of quality limited series has provided storytellers the ability to tell expansive stories over multiple episodes with The English as a great combination of the western genre with the indie sensibility of a character-focused narrative. With two excellent lead performances from Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer, The English stands alone as a very entertaining and powerful series.

Set in 1890, The English presents the journeys of two main characters. We are first introduced to Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer), a member of the Pawnee who also served as a decorated soldier during the Civil War. A talented warrior and a mournful soul, Eli must journey to claim the land that is rightfully his but also contend with the bias and racist attitude towards indigenous people by white settlers both American and non. His path crosses with Lady Cornelia Locke (Emily Blunt), a woman desperately hunting down the man who killed her son. The two soon find they share things in common and Eil reluctantly joins Cornelia on her travels and the pair discover their shared history. Based on the trailer, I expected this story to be far different than it actually is with a large amount of each episode devoted to exploring the individual motivations behind Cornelia and Eli’s journeys rather than trying to connect them. It helps that Emily Blunt delivers a solid performance that is complimented by Chaske Spencer who is stellar in a role that is very much the lead in this story.

While Cornelia and Eli’s stories progress, we also spend a lot of time in the frontier town of Hoxem, Oklahoma. It is there that the characters’ tales will inevitably arrive and we are slowly introduced to the powers there led by Thomas Trafford (Tom Hughes) and Sheriff Robert Marshall (Stephen Rea). There are clearly things shifting in regards to the power dynamic in Hoxem and how it connects to Cornelia and Eli is one of the fundamentally exciting parts of The English. With each of the six episodes in the series clocking in at an hour, there is no wasted time as the story manages to turn even a slowly orchestrated landscape shot into a cinematic and artistic moment that feels like it lasts for several minutes and yet only takes seconds of the episode. It is a truly beautifully shot series thanks to the cinematography of Arnau Valls Colomer (Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan) who transforms the Spanish countryside into a dead ringer for 1800s America.

What I also found enthralling about The English was not just how it contemporizes the western genre but also in how traditional it is. There are so many movies that this series reminds me of including Kevin Costner’s Open Range, Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, Sam Raimi‘s The Quick and the Dead, and the classic Man with No Name spaghetti westerns starring Eastwood. Chaske Spencer is a solid successor as the stoic cowboy of few words who is as formidable a fighter as he is a tactician. It is not lost on this production that the heroic cowboy hero is not a cowboy at all but that lends even more interest in how the character balances his indigenous roots with his life lived amongst white people. Spencer is really something special in this series and it is a much-deserved role after he shone in Cinemax’s Banshee. Emily Blunt, for her part, doesn’t play her character like a fish out of water or as a hardened fighter but shifts between guilt when she kills someone and steely-eyed resolve as she seeks revenge.

Series creator Hugo Blick, who wrote and directed all six episodes, has an eye for the formula of a successful western. The English is imbued with a great palette that takes advantage of the washed-out deserts and sweeping vistas of the plains in equal measure. Blick never shies away from the grotesque violence of the time period while also taking advantage of the fun aspects of the genre to make the villains dastardly and the heroes inspirational. He also never tries to make this series feel indulgent like Quentin Tarantino’s revisionist films Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight but does clearly know his film history as this series echoes Sergio Leone’s pulpy movies with a similarly memorable score courtesy of composer Federico Jusid. There are also so many recognizable faces in this series ranging from Toby Jones and Rafe Spall to Ciaran Hinds and more that I sometimes forgot I was watching a television series and not an epic movie.

The English is a great story that works as a western for non-western fans but will also captivate the most ardent followers of the genre. Emily Blunt gives one of her strongest performances in quite some time and Chaske Spencer makes a case for being cast as a lead in any number of projects after this. Thanks to the deep pockets of Amazon Studios along with the BBC, The English is a success as a long-form series and cinematic experience. This is a bloody, violent, and emotional revenge story that upends genre expectations while reverentially following their path. This is definitely a great showcase for Hugo Blick as a director as it is for all of the acting talent involved. The English is a great story in one of the most iconic genres of all time.

The English premieres on November 11th on Prime Video.

The English

GREAT

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