Godless - General Discussion

[Chaos Theory]

Ok episode 2 we have way too much male storylines on a show that initial draw was a town almost solely occupied by women.  My other comment though is that my favorite character is so much Mary Agnes and I so want to see more of her whatever is going on with Callie and will be disappointed as hell if this is all we see of it.  I know it is a limited series but I want more Mary and Callie.

Fan fiction people make it happen.

Side note it took me a while to place the actress who plays Mary Agnes because I am slow.....ZOEY!!!!! from Nurse Jackie.    

Edited December 3, 2017 by Chaos Theory

[Chaos Theory]

Ok it is officially official  Mary Agnes and Callie are officially my favorite characters on the show.  The scene them together even though it was relatively short was filled with the kind of chemistry that is incredibly hard to find.  Also loved the scene where with Callie and Alice.  

On 12/1/2017 at 5:54 PM, 2727 said:

I haven't seen the actress in anything before, but I'm living for Maggie. I want her and Alice to be friends and have many scenes together.

She's on Nurse Jackie and plays a pretty awesome roll in that.   That's where I know her from anyway.  Took me a tick to recognize her then I was like....ZOEY!!!!!!

[stagmania]

I was on quite the roller coaster with this show. At first I resented all the time spent on Frank and the cliche outlaw stuff, and wanted more time with the ladies. Then I began to appreciate the way the two story threads came together and got seriously invested in a few characters and relationships. And then I was pretty disappointed with how it all ended.

I agree with much of what’s been said here, and I’ll add that what left me unsatisfied is that I didn’t feel like any characters got a real arc that tracked emotionally beginning to end. Whitey dies and his story with Louise goes nowhere. Bill goes wandering for half the show and accomplishes and learns nothing. Mary (Maggie?) gets back together with her girlfriend but we don’t even see them have a real conversation. And Roy and Alice, two traumatized, lonely people, one in search of a family and one reluctant to let anyone in, make a connection and seem to realize they fit together and offer what the other needs. They eliminate the big bad obstacle, Alice is ready to sell the ranch and leave, Roy has a big bag of money and an invitation to California, and instead of setting off together they just go their separate ways because ...it’s a western and it has to end with a man alone on a horse? I honestly don’t know, that made zero sense to me. Am I supposed to be rooting for Alice to marry Bill? Because if I was the show did not do the work to convince me that’s a good ending for her. I wanted her and Truckee to have Roy, which is what I thought the show spent 7 episodes building to, so I guess I missed something. 

I don’t think this is getting a second season, so I guess I’ll just have to rewrite the endings in my head.

[2727]

1 hour ago, stagmania said:

I wanted Alice and Truckee to have Roy, which is what I thought the show spent 7 episodes building to, so I guess I missed something. 

In these grimdark TV times, nobody gets a happy ending any more. I felt the worst for Truckee.

Also unsolved: why does Whitey smell so bad???

[Bec]

Whitey is a teenage(?) boy who doesn't bathe. Of course he smells bad. Hee!

As much as I would love for Alice (and Truckee and Iyovi) to have left La Belle with Roy, he's going to be hiding his real identity for the rest of his life if he doesn't want to be arrested and hung for what he did in his past criminal life. So it would be risky for them and for him to be spending that money from the train robbery together. If they do that, they could be considered accessories to his crimes if he's ever caught.

That thing mentioned way back in episode 2 about how it's easier for a man alone to be untraceable still applies. This is why I'm not sure Roy would even stay with his brother - he wouldn't want to potentially get his brother in trouble, either. Maybe he'll stop by to see his brother, but not stay.

The way Roy gave Alice that money, it gives her plausible deniability. Still, she better spend it carefully if she doesn't want the Quicksilver Mining Company to suspect Roy Goode gave her their money. Not that I'm rooting for that scumbag company to get their money back.

I kind of like how it's a callback to episode 1, when Alice mentioned hearing tales of buried treasure under fence posts and never finding any herself. Aw... Roy remembered.

Edited December 4, 2017 by Bec

[stagmania]

31 minutes ago, Bec said:

As much as I would love for Alice (and Truckee and Iyovi) to have left La Belle with Roy, he's going to be hiding his real identity for the rest of his life if he doesn't want to be arrested and hung for what he did in his past criminal life. So it would be risky for them and for him to be spending that money from the train robbery together. If they do that, they could be considered accessories to his crimes if he's ever caught.

That thing mentioned way back in episode 2 about how it's easier for a man alone to be untraceable still applies. This is why I'm not sure Roy would even stay with his brother - he wouldn't want to potentially get his brother in trouble, either. Maybe he'll stop by to see his brother, but not stay.

This is fair, but I guess it didn’t feel like the show really hit this point strong enough in the narrative. It was framed as though Frank was the big obstacle for Roy, and the thing he had to “finish.” So once Frank was gone, it didn’t really feel right to me that Roy was going to continue living his life isolated and alone.

Edited December 4, 2017 by stagmania

[Paloma]

14 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

Side note it took me a while to place the actress who plays Mary Agnes because I am slow.....ZOEY!!!!! from Nurse Jackie.  

I haven't seen Nurse Jackie, which is what most people seem to know her from, but I remembered her as playing a doctor in some series. It was driving me crazy trying to remember which series, so I looked her up on IMDB and saw it was on the Walking Dead a couple years ago.

[Chaos Theory]

On 11/29/2017 at 0:30 PM, NumberCruncher said:

 

HA!  I thought that as well.  I'll admit to also being confused that they never expanded on whether Bill was in fact going blind or just had really, really awful eyesight.  Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but by the 1880s didn't people have relatively fair access to spectacles?  He couldn't have been the only one in town with bad eyesight so as to conclude his world would go black.

My eyesight is horrible and took fairly new surgery to stop from getting worse and glasses don’t help only really expensive hard contacts do.  Anyway the show is being vague on what is exactly wrong with his sight but from what Bill has said and others have said so far I think it is getting worse so glasses are only going to work for so long and so much.

[Steph J]

Overall really enjoyed this show, in particular each and every scene featuring Merritt Wever, and would definitely come back for more if they made another series (I assume that the reason that none of the La Belle residents who had speaking lines, with the exception of Whitey, were actually killed in the shoot out is so that they can be brought back for a second series if Netflix puts in the order).

That said, I did find it pretty unbelievable that the town full of Buffalo soldiers were slaughtered while the town full of women who, with few exceptions, had never fired a gun prevailed.  If the Buffalo soldiers had an underground tunnel system, why not use it to surround Griffin's gang?  For that matter, why were the La Belle residents all firing from only one side of the street, instead of surrounding the town center and giving themselves a better chance to pick off the members of the gang?

[MissLucas]

2 hours ago, Steph J said:

For that matter, why were the La Belle residents all firing from only one side of the street, instead of surrounding the town center and giving themselves a better chance to pick off the members of the gang?

Presumably because the Hotel was the only building in La Belle made of 'iron and brick' - i.e. could not be burned down by Frank and his merry men. So they decided to organize the defense from there only and desert the rest of the town. Which does not explain why Whitey wasn't there when the fighting started.

[Steph J]

1 hour ago, MissLucas said:

Presumably because the Hotel was the only building in La Belle made of 'iron and brick' - i.e. could not be burned down by Frank and his merry men. So they decided to organize the defense from there only and desert the rest of the town. Which does not explain why Whitey wasn't there when the fighting started.

Ah, that makes sense.

[Ujio]

I was very pleasantly surprised by the show. I hadn't expected much, not least because western is not really my cup of tea, but the show sucked me in. It was a great ride!

As so many of you have already written, I LOVED the cinematography and music. Even though the story was fantastical, everything about the show -- the people, set, accent, clothing -- looked and sounded authentic and lived-in. My two favorite scenes were the one where Alice, Roy, and Truckee brought all the horses into town and the stunning flashback of the fateful day of the mining accident (end of episode 6).

Most actors were wonderful. All the Brits acquitted themselves superbly with their American accents, and I personally think this is among Jeff Daniels' best roles. It was also great to play HITG (Mrs. Van Alden -- I mean, Mrs. Mueller! Maurice LeFay! Meechum!!!). Even the inevitable showdown between Frank's men and the ladies (plus Roy and Bill) didn't disappoint. 

I'm personally very happy with the way it ended, too. Not everything was tied up neatly with a bow, but the narrative ran its course beautifully, IMO. I think the show could've focused on the town of La Belle (without the Frank/Roy conflict) and made it into a regular series -- there were definitely enough juicy and colorful characters in the town of La Belle -- but since it didn't, I am satisfied with what we got to see on screen. 

I hope the show does well at the Emmys next year. Michelle Dockery, Jeff Daniels, Jack O'Connell, Merritt Wever, and Scoot McNairy all deserve a nod, IMHO. 

Last but not least, I would really like to download that haunting theme music but can't find it anywhere. I wonder if Netflix plans to release a soundtrack???

[grawlix]

On 12/4/2017 at 6:03 AM, Bec said:

As much as I would love for Alice (and Truckee and Iyovi) to have left La Belle with Roy, he's going to be hiding his real identity for the rest of his life if he doesn't want to be arrested and hung for what he did in his past criminal life. So it would be risky for them and for him to be spending that money from the train robbery together. If they do that, they could be considered accessories to his crimes if he's ever caught.

I don't think he would necessarily have to hide his real identity.  During the last scene between the McNue and Goode, the sheriff said he was going to report that Roy Goode had died in a gunfight with Frank Griffin.  The bounty would end with the report of his death.

On 12/4/2017 at 3:18 PM, MissLucas said:

Presumably because the Hotel was the only building in La Belle made of 'iron and brick' - i.e. could not be burned down by Frank and his merry men. So they decided to organize the defense from there only and desert the rest of the town. Which does not explain why Whitey wasn't there when the fighting started.

I think this points out a flaw with the big gun battle.  There wasn't a scene where they tried to burn them out of the hotel.  They set fire to other buildings but not at the one where the bullets were coming from.  Seemed like Frank and his gang mused that this building must be made of iron and brick so there is no use trying to set it on fire.  I guess logistically it would be difficult to set fire to a building full of actors.

And, they sort of addressed why Whitey was there in the Sheriff's eulogy.  He basically said Whitey wasn't very smart but he was brave.  Yeah, I know -- pretty weak sauce.

[MissLucas]

There were certainly flaws with that battle. The Hotel had plenty of furnishings (curtains etc.) that could have caught fire. Also it never made sense to me why Frank's men remained more or less sitting ducks in the street. Some of them could have taken positions in the buildings opposite the Hotel where they had a better aim (and cover) to fire at the women firing from the windows and especially Alice and Maggie. And as someone in a review on another site pointed out it was awfully well timed that everybody run out of ammo the moment Roy and Frank made their hero-entry.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Samantha Soule discusses Godless on Build:

[Bec]

On 12/4/2017 at 9:51 PM, grawlix said:

I don't think he would necessarily have to hide his real identity.  During the last scene between the McNue and Goode, the sheriff said he was going to report that Roy Goode had died in a gunfight with Frank Griffin.  The bounty would end with the report of his death.

Would the bounty really be officially cancelled in some way? Now this has me wondering how that would work! The news that he's dead will get around and people would likely take down his wanted posters after they hear about that, but that's about it, right? It's not like everyone will get a memo that the bounty on his head is over. If someone has an old wanted poster and figures out who he is, they would probably still turn him in for the bounty. It's not like information in the newspapers was super reliable (as we've seen on the show), people would just think reports of his death could be wrong (and they'd be right... heh).

I don't know... seems to me Roy would still have to be careful. Bill telling people he's dead only works if the fact he's alive stays secret.

[Chaos Theory]

Not sure if this is the right thread but Jeff Daniels is up for a Critics Choice Award.

Kinda pissed none for the ladies. 

[Ujio]

Jack O'Connell was also nominated in the lead category and the show itself was also nominated in the Best Limited Series category.

Yep, it sucks that women got ignored. They wererobbed :-(

[grawlix]

My knowledge on bounties is only based on past Westerns that I have watched.  So, take my speculation for what is it worth. 

I agree that Roy would have lay low initially.  There could always be some bounty hunter that might put it together that Roy was the same wanted man from the poster.  However, I think once someone wanted has been captured or killed the authorities would issue a new poster with the wanted person's updated status.  No need on wasting resources trying to pursue someone no longer wanted.   Over time, law enforcement would have other wanted men to pursue and forget about old Roy Goode or at least what he looked like.  Depending on how long it takes him to rejoin with his brother, he could be introduced as "This is my brother Roy, from not the region that he is wanted in".  It is a big young country and a man can reinvent himself easily.

Also, not sure whether bounties were sent out nationally or regionally.  If it's regional and Roy heading to California, then folks in California may have little to no knowledge about his bounty in New Mexico.

Edited December 7, 2017 by grawlix
grammar

[Bec]

Hey, that's great! Now I can imagine Alice and family can go find Roy later, once the heat has died down. And come to think of it, "he just has to lay low for a while" explains why Roy seems to be taking the scenic route to California, going through areas with no roads and hardly anyone around, instead of taking a train or something. Growing a beard is also a good idea, now he looks even more different from the wanted poster!

Though I don't think anybody from La Belle or any of those Quicksilver Mining Company security guys are ever going to forget Roy. A.T. Grigg probably won't forget either. Would be bad if any of those people come across him somehow. But it sure would be a hell of a coincidence if someone who met him in a small town happens to run into him again in another small town miles and miles away!

[Chaos Theory]

I don’t know why people are complaining about the last episode.  Westerns always end with a gunfight and this one was pretty darn good.  The only complaint I have is the same one I’ve had from the start the ladies lives never given the same importance as the men’s.  Even the last few moments were more about Goode riding off into the sunset then what happened to the ladies which i’m More interested in.  Especially Mary-Agnes and Callie.  

Other then that minor quibble....five star western 

[Joimiaroxeu]

Like it a lot so far. It is biting more than a little on Westworld's style though. (Alice = Dolores?) And unfortunately actual people die here instead of just robots.

[HollyG]

I'm confused about Alice's backstory also. When Bill took her to the native camp, her mother in law came and helped her. Was she already married to her son or did she get married afterwards. 

[snowwhyte]

I understood it as Alice was swept away in the flood that killed her husband. She was discovered by a outcast band of native Americans who raped her and had other captives. Bill and his wife came along and rescued Alice and the others. Alice was traumatised by the rape and so Bill and his wife took Alice and the rest of the other captives to the local tribe to be cared for as some of the captives were from that tribe. Alice was cared for by Iyovi and fell for her son and married him.  More clarification would have been good though.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

SAG award nomination:

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series - Jeff Daniels

[Kel Varnsen]

This was really cool and for how long it was I hardly noticed. Like others have said it looked gorgeous. I generally like westerns but it is usually hard not to fill the full of stock characters. Here even the stock characters were played really well (Sam Waterson is an awesome grizzled old lawman- who knew) and i don't think I have ever seen a western with a badass single mom character as one of the leads.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 28/11/2017 at 2:48 AM, tennisgurl said:

I like the young gun deputy kid. And its not just because I liked him on Game of Thrones. 

I liked that they gave the kid some skills so he wasn't just some dork who could spin guns around and was only deputy by default.

On 29/11/2017 at 0:30 PM, NumberCruncher said:

HA!  I thought that as well.  I'll admit to also being confused that they never expanded on whether Bill was in fact going blind or just had really, really awful eyesight.  Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but by the 1880s didn't people have relatively fair access to spectacles?  He couldn't have been the only one in town with bad eyesight so as to conclude his world would go black.

Keep in mind there most likely isn't any option for an eye doctor in La Belle so that may limit his options.

On 02/12/2017 at 6:23 PM, leighdear said:

And as soon as we saw Callie draped in a blanket, saying Mary Agnes was out hunting, it was so clear that in the words of Aretha Franklin. "Sisters are doin' it for themselves"!  *LOL* 

That was funny, especially since they were totally checking each other out from across the town the night before.

And speaking of the women I think my favourite little background thing was the two women who ran the gun check at the door of the saloon.

[pfk505]

On 12/2/2017 at 3:23 PM, leighdear said:

 And Michelle D. is just hitting it out of the park these days, from Downton to Good Behavior to this.  I'm loving her versatility and her acting has come a long way from the stiff, uncomfortable Lady Mary.

While I have enjoyed seeing Lady Glary in such a different role, what about the other Brit, that being the legendary Cook? Talk about a polar opposite role.. haunted and silent vs. won't shut the fuck up!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I like when a show has enough confidence to make a pilot episode like this where they make you wait to find out what's going on with all of these characters. They showed us some really intriguing scenes but withheld the reasons why to draw the audience in, and it worked. I like watching a story unfold so I'm excited to see what happens.

I also applaud the writers for allowing the actors to convey things wordlessly instead of trying to cram as much dialogue as possible into the script.

At some point, I started to get annoyed with the angled shots of the women from above. Like I get it, you want to be artsy, but let me see their faces straight on.

Even though we didn't get as much time with Mary (compared to Alice), I already love her.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Whitey will always be the sweet little boy from Love Actually to me!

My love for Mary continues to grow. Some good old nineteenth century feminism from a woman who knows that bliss can be found in things besides squeezing out one kid after another.

I felt bad for Mary at the dinner. She was trying so hard to get what she felt they all deserved but everyone else wanted the immediate money. $20K was a lot of money back then, but once you divide it among all of them, how much was really left? And was that enough to let them live in comfort for the rest of their days?

During the first episode when it became clear that Frank's eyesight was declining, Mr. EB and I were questioning why he didn't just get some spectacles (ha, because "spectacles" sound so much more old timey than "glasses"). My tv research consisted of "But Doc Baker had glasses on Little House on the Prairie so there had to be glasses available even in the middle of nowhere!"

Has Alice not had any horses before now? I'm glad that despite her bad ass aura, she can still admit when she needs help. I had to laugh when Frank said that Whitey and Hiram would help fetch the rest of Alice's escaped horses at the creek. In the previous scene, he just told Whitey that he would be gone a week or two (chasing after Frank), so I hope those horses decide to just hang out in the same place until Frank gets back and tells Whitey and Hiram to help her.

Heh, I thought Roy would at least give Whitey a plate or two of baked goodies after he locked him in the jail cell. It might be a while before someone comes by so leave him some snacks!

I don't understand Alice's plan though. She flat out told Whitey she was taking Roy back to her place, so it stands to reason that as soon as someone walks into the sheriff's office and unlocks the cell, the first place that Whitey (or Frank, if he's back by then) will look for Roy is her place. Does she think that she can negotiate with them and ask to keep him until the horses are broken? Does she think Frank likes her enough to overlook the fact that she forced a deputy to release a prisoner at gunpoint?

On 12/3/2017 at 2:49 PM, Chaos Theory said:

Ok episode 2 we have way too much male storylines on a show that initial draw was a town almost solely occupied by women.    

I agree. I want a lot more of the women's stories, which is what I expected based on the premise of the show. I loved the scenes in the first episode where we saw the women putting up the new building and basically running the town. Now it feels like most of the stories are veering way from that and moving towards the male characters.

On 11/27/2017 at 7:26 PM, NumberCruncher said:

Haight, like the others involved in the murders, was caught up in a whirlwind of political and religious rhetoric set against the backdrop of 20+ years of persecution from outsiders which culminated in a horrific tragedy for which even he expressed regret in the immediate aftermath. 

Well, as long as they expressed regret, I guess it's totally okay that they pretended to be Native Americans and murdered 100+ people. Apparently their regret didn't extend to turning themselves in for the horrific crime they committed. Since Haight took Frank in after the massacre, are we supposed to assume that's Haight expressing regret for what he did and making Frank an orphan? I am really hoping that Frank doesn't take that wagon full of kids and turn them into his little disciples. Props to the naked woman who went out shooting. Ugh, those bees were freaking me out.

[NumberCruncher]

1 hour ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Well, as long as they expressed regret, I guess it's totally okay that they pretended to be Native Americans and murdered 100+ people. Apparently their regret didn't extend to turning themselves in for the horrific crime they committed. Since Haight took Frank in after the massacre, are we supposed to assume that's Haight expressing regret for what he did and making Frank an orphan?

Wow. Clearly you missed it when I said this:

On 11/27/2017 at 8:26 PM, NumberCruncher said:

I'll preface my next comments by saying I absolutely do not excuse Haight's behavior at all and condemn it without exception...

...but sure, I was definitely saying what happened was okay. So sorry for trying to comment on historic plausibility.

[Joimiaroxeu]

The nighttime part of the scenes at the Swedish group's campsite may have been the most chilling, slowly unfolding horror I've seen since the Red Wedding. Jeff Daniels is killing it in this role. So is pretty much most of the lead cast.

I hope this is indeed a one-and-done mini-series because I think most shows tend to have a hard time sustaining such high production and acting values.

Edited December 16, 2017 by Joimiaroxeu

[rocketinu]

Watching Love Actually. Just realized the little boy in that movie is Whitey all grown up.

[Kel Varnsen]

5 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I felt bad for Mary at the dinner. She was trying so hard to get what she felt they all deserved but everyone else wanted the immediate money. $20K was a lot of money back then, but once you divide it among all of them, how much was really left? And was that enough to let them live in comfort for the rest of their days?

 

Keep in mind too that the town still owns 10% of the mine. Although i am sure that 19th century mining companies are quite skilled at screwing over minority partners when it comes to profit. Especially when it would be somewhat difficult for said partner to prove how much production of silver there was. And even if they did Quicksilver could just sell the ore to say Quicksilver Junior at a loss and let that company make all the profit.

[Chaos Theory]

4 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Keep in mind too that the town still owns 10% of the mine. Although i am sure that 19th century mining companies are quite skilled at screwing over minority partners when it comes to profit. Especially when it would be somewhat difficult for said partner to prove how much production of silver there was. And even if they did Quicksilver could just sell the ore to say Quicksilver Junior at a loss and let that company make all the profit.

Especially since said minority partners where a minority that didn't have the vote or any real standing.  What could they do?  Who could they complain to?  Plus I think alot of the women were actually more concerned about getting men back into the town as possible husbands for themselves and whatever female children they had.  

 

9 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

 

Has Alice not had any horses before now? I'm glad that despite her bad ass aura, she can still admit when she needs help. I had to laugh when Frank said that Whitey and Hiram would help fetch the rest of Alice's escaped horses at the creek. In the previous scene, he just told Whitey that he would be gone a week or two (chasing after Frank), so I hope those horses decide to just hang out in the same place until Frank gets back and tells Whitey and Hiram to help her.

 

Having horses and knowing how to break them are two different skill sets.   (in todays lingo my  guess is it would be like knowing how to drive a car and knowing how to repair them) Its possible she had horses that had been broken by her husband and this was her first batch that had to be broken by her and her son neither of which had any practical experience in the practice.  

Edited December 17, 2017 by Chaos Theory

[ElectricBoogaloo]

RIP, Marshal! Such a shame he's gone because Sam Waterston had a mustache made for Westerns.

I love Mary and I love Callie, but I feel like Callie is way more into Mary than Mary is into Callie, and that makes me sad.

Hilarious when Callie said that Alice could make a lot of money running a whorehouse and Alice was briefly considering it.

Man, Whitey is a TERRIBLE violin player. I wish that Louise's dad had heard Whitey talking about his mother playing the violin so that he would understand why he is so determined to learn how to play (or at least stop sounding like a dying cat). I want to know how he and Louise agreed upon violin lessons in the first place. No one there seemed to know who he was or why he was there, so it doesn't seem likely that he's been having regular lessons at her house before now. Did she come to town, wander into the sheriff's station, and mention that she knows how to play the violin? Inquiring minds want to know!

Ugh, thunder mug! Blech.

Edited December 17, 2017 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

That was what I thought too @snowwhyte.

On 12/12/2017 at 9:07 PM, HollyG said:

I'm confused about Alice's backstory also. When Bill took her to the native camp, her mother in law came and helped her. Was she already married to her son or did she get married afterwards. 

No, Alice was not yet married to Iyovi's son in the flashback we saw. In the previous episode when Alice told Roy about her first marriage, she said that her first husband (who owned the ranch outside La Belle) sent her a yellow dress and told her to wear it when he picked her up from the train station. In the flashbacks of this episode, she is seen wearing the yellow dress and then being in the water after the flood that killed her husband. Shortly afterward the flood, she was unconscious on the ground (still in the yellow dress) and was discovered by the men who then raped her. Then McNue took her to Iyovi's tribe.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Awwww, all of the scenes of Roy with Alice's family were so bittersweet. Watching them growing into a family while knowing that it would be over before it really had a chance to begin. I loved when Roy was going through each horse and which woman it should go to.

I know the women of La Belle are excited to have men in the town after the explosion, but come on, girls. The gross security guys and that slimy newspaper guy? Have higher standards - you all deserve better!

[Joimiaroxeu]

Thomas Brodie-Sangster is doing a great American accent.

Bad choice on that "primer" pronunciation, IMO. As a Brit MD probably does pronounce it with a long "i" like "miner" but an American would likely have said it to rhyme with "dimmer." Took me right out of the scene when she said it.

Wonder if the ex-buffalo soldiers are going get involved in either of the impending showdowns with the mining company group or Frank's gang. That could get real interesting.

The scene of Roy breaking his horse was fascinating. It really underlined how patient and relatively level-headed he is. He respects the animal and its size and physical power but knows he can make it succumb eventually.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

44 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Bad choice on that "primer" pronunciation, IMO. As a Brit MD probably does pronounce it with a long "i" like "miner" but an American would likely have said it to rhyme with "dimmer." Took me right out of the scene when she said it.

I’m American and I have always heard primer (one M) pronounced with a long I (like miner), whether it’s a primer book or a primer coat of paint. Primmer (two Ms), the comparative form of the adjective prim, is pronounced with a short I (like dimmer).

[Joimiaroxeu]

Thanks but I'm also American and a native English speaker. I am well aware of the two main meanings (and pronunciations) of "primer" and the completely different use and meaning of "primmer". There are plenty of English words spelled the same way but pronounced differently depending on the use, or, conversely, pronounced the same but spelled differently.

I do appreciate that there may be regional, educational, and age-based variations in how American English speakers pronounce "primer." However,  I didn't pull my criticism out of the sky. The long "i" is indeed largely considered a British pronunciation while the short "i" is designated the more commonly American pronunciation. There are plenty of Google-able references available but I"ll offer one from the Cambridge Dictionary:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/primer

FWIW, Merriam-Webster's current definition also uses the short "i."

I've watched MD speak a fairly flawless American dialect in Good Behavior so I doubt she isn't conscious of her pronunciation when she's in character. What happened here seemed to me like an unnecessarily deliberate choice on someone's part, whether hers, the writer's, or the director's.

Edited December 18, 2017 by Joimiaroxeu

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 12/18/2017 at 11:37 AM, Joimiaroxeu said:

What happened here seemed to me like an unnecessarily deliberate choice on someone's part, whether hers, the writer's, or the director's.

Or the director is from Chicago and California like I am so he thought the long I sounded correct. If I ever heard someone say "primer" with a short I, I would wonder where they are from!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Critics Choice Award nominations:

Best Limited Series
Best Actor in a Movie Made for TV or Limited Series - Jeff Daniels
Best Actor in a Movie Made for TV or Limited Series - Jack O'Connell

Edited December 21, 2017 by ElectricBoogaloo

[RadiantAerynSun]

I thought they said they were reporting that Frank Griffin died in a shootout with GRIGG the newspaper man, not Roy Goode? Did I mishear?

[grawlix]

10 hours ago, RadiantAerynSun said:

I thought they said they were reporting that Frank Griffin died in a shootout with GRIGG the newspaper man, not Roy Goode? Did I mishear?

Subtitles are very helpful in this situation :)

[Bec]

On 12/16/2017 at 6:12 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Heh, I thought Roy would at least give Whitey a plate or two of baked goodies after he locked him in the jail cell. It might be a while before someone comes by so leave him some snacks!

I thought the very same thing! Give the kid a pie before you go! It's extra cruel to leave him in a roomful of baked goods he can't get at.

[RadiantAerynSun]

OH! Thanks, I knew I heard the name Grigg. That makes more sense, I guess Grigg didn't die, I suppose we did see him crawl out from his hiding place but he did have that bullet wound!

[Kel Varnsen]

On 28/11/2017 at 2:55 AM, Bec said:

I liked the irony of all these people like Whitey, Truckee, Mary Agnes, and Alice always being so eager to use guns, and meanwhile legendary gunslinging outlaw Roy Goode is the only one who's like "hey, let's not resort to violence if we can help it, you guys."

I would wager that Roy was the only one out of all those people who has actually been shot. The scene later with him and Truckee where Roy explained how it is better to avoid situations where you might get killed was really good.

On 17/12/2017 at 9:06 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

 I want to know how he and Louise agreed upon violin lessons in the first place. No one there seemed to know who he was or why he was there, so it doesn't seem likely that he's been having regular lessons at her house before now. Did she come to town, wander into the sheriff's station, and mention that she knows how to play the violin? Inquiring minds want to know

I am picturing the old west version of the flyer on the telephone pole (telegraph pole?) with little tear off tabs at the bottom with contact information for violin lessons.

[grawlix]

On 12/17/2017 at 6:06 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Man, Whitey is a TERRIBLE violin player. I wish that Louise's dad had heard Whitey talking about his mother playing the violin so that he would understand why he is so determined to learn how to play (or at least stop sounding like a dying cat). I want to know how he and Louise agreed upon violin lessons in the first place. No one there seemed to know who he was or why he was there, so it doesn't seem likely that he's been having regular lessons at her house before now. Did she come to town, wander into the sheriff's station, and mention that she knows how to play the violin? Inquiring minds want to know!

I seem to recall a conversation that Whitey had with Mary Agnes about this.  I think it occurs in a later episode. 

Edited December 23, 2017 by grawlix

[Kel Varnsen]

Interesting how Alice choses to edit her backstory. 

One thing that did confuse me though was what was the deal with the bodies in the mind that died where they stood? 

I also wonder if Roy finding the mail stage, and the bag of mail is going to lead to anything.