Written and directed by Hugo Blick (Black Earth Rising), this gritty Western miniseries follows British woman Cornelia Locke (Emily Blunt), who has traveled to America for revenge against the man who killed her son. Once arrived, she meets Pawnee Indian scout Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer), and they form an unlikely alliance.
Over the course of six episodes, we slowly learn about Cornelia’s backstory and what led her to America. Her fiancé, Thomas Trafford (Tom Hughes), preceded her, looking for a piece of land to run a cattle operation funded by her father, who also sent along David Melmont (Rafe Spall), who’s “good with figures” and knows how to get things done. He’s also a real slimeball who gets involved with a trio of rogue soldiers out for revenge against the Indian population.
The series is beautifully filmed by cinematographer Arnau Valls Colomer, and the acting is superb, especially by the principals—Blunt, Spencer, and Spall—but the supporting cast also shines, in particular Stephen Rea, Ciarán Hinds, and Toby Jones.
The Old West was wild, and as depicted in The English, it was also a testing ground for a person’s character. While somewhat meandering, each tight spot that arrives rachets up tension until the fitting conclusion. (6 51-min. episodes)
—Glen Starkey
This article appears in Nov 17-24, 2022.