S01.E10: This Is Not Your Heaven

[LoveLeigh]

This is a masterpiece. Yes it is depressing those were hard times. I have not watched a series in a long time that comes close to the magnificence. It is beyond moving. It is perfect.

Edited December 25, 2022 by LoveLeigh

[pfk505]

On the whole I think it was a pretty damn good show, despite Taylor Sheridan's best efforts at sabotaging it there in the middle with the focus on Elsa. Her characterization was way over the top, with not one but two whirlwind romances. The thing with the first cowboy should have been cut so that the second relationship would have had more meaning (and with the closing scenes it was clearly this relationship that was more important). The other character choices for Elsa (being perfect at everything, being a total anachronism) detracted a lot from the series for me.

With that said, the rest was very, very good. Some truly great and memorable performances from (all) the other leads, and what I thought was a moving finale. I hope we see more of this story.

[SnarkAttack]

The actor that played Sam was the druggy brother in Wind River.  The cook was also in Wind River (and Yellowstone), along with Greene, as the res police chief as mentioned before.  Loved Wind River, Sheridan sure likes to use the same actors over and over.

Was Faith Hill's face heavily contoured with make up?  Or was she supposed to look dirty or weathered? Odd coloring.

 

[Thumper]

I thought Faith Hill’s makeup was terrible.  They tried to make her look old (or weathered?) and she looked dirty with heavy contour as said above. 
 

[altopower]

I loved this show. Missed it in streaming but loved watching it week by week and again on Sunday in a marathon of the entire series. The cast was superb - love me some Sam Elliot under any circumstances, especially in the old West. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill were mysteries to me as actors, but I found them strong, believable characters. People aged much faster back then, and they certainly didn't have lots of water and handy bathrooms for cleanup, or Margaret would have had tidier hair and less dirt on her face.

Many/most of you found Elsa annoying, but I loved the character and watching all the episodes together I could really see her grabbing the freedoms she could never have had in a different life. And yes, that includes sex. You know that she wasn't the only one pairing off. The death around all the time would have made me far more aware that life was indeed not guaranteed. Grab your happiness while you can.

I will miss watching this. 

[Dowel Jones]

Despite the historical and geographical incongruities, I thought they ended the series quite well.  It's a horse opera, so to speak, and, as Bugs Bunny so eloquently said, "Whattaya expect from an opera, a happy ending?"

I hope those two cowboys got back out to the prairie, rounded up what cattle they could find from the pilgrims' herd, and sold them in Cheyenne before heading south.  They deserved some reward.

I was thinking at the time that Sam had also died sometime after the wagons had moved on, by whatever means, and the meeting with Elsa was both of them going into the afterlife.

 

[altopower]

6 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

I was thinking at the time that Sam had also died sometime after the wagons had moved on, by whatever means, and the meeting with Elsa was both of them going into the afterlife.

I thought that, too!  

I was also struck on a rewatch that Shea's last words to Elsa as she and her dad left were "I'll be right behind you." Almost a foreshadow of his own death that didn't happen immediately but may have indicated his mindset.

[Daff]

Dutton told Josef earlier in the series that Montana didn’t have free land like Oregon did. Josef didn’t want to work through the winter to earn money to buy land in Montana. Based on that exchange, I assumed he was staking out his claim in Oregon, just not within sight of Thomas.

[pezgirl7]

5 minutes ago, Daff said:

Based on that exchange, I assumed he was staking out his claim in Oregon, just not within sight of Thomas.

On the behind the scenes clip after the episode, the actor also mentioned that he ended up in Oregon. I’m thinking Josef traveled with Thomas. It’s going to be really difficult for him to build a homestead and to farm with only one leg. Not impossible, just harder than it already would be.