Pierce Brosnan’s Slow-Burn Western Series Is an Underrated Gem

Nature versus nurture comes under fire in The Son, which argues that any man can become evil, no matter where they’re from or who raised them. Pierce Brosnan stars as an aging oil tycoon fast on his way out, and destruction is the only thing he utilizes to stay in control. A gritty, dark western that aired on AMC for two seasons from 2017-2019, The Son explores the evil men do and wonders if we are born with it inside or if we are conditioned into it from past generations.

Brosnan is a talented actor, but he seldom plays evil men, which is, in part, what makes The Son so riveting and disturbing.He relishes playing the villain, and the lines on his face make for a withering stare, filled with the history of all the men he’s killed to wind up as a rich Texas man who owns a big ranch in the countryside. As he begins feuding with the local Mexican community for ownership of property and control over the land, the series transforms into a gritty, slow-burn western that is an underappreciated western gem for anyone who loves the genre.

What is ‘The Son’ About?

Pierce Brosnan stars as Eli McCullough, a middle-aged Texan who runs a big ranch in town. A brutish cattle baron, he’s desperate to find oil and leave behind a legacy to his two sons and his grandchildren. Set in 1915, Henry Garrett and David Wilson Barnes play Eli’s two sons, Pete and Phineas, respectively. While Phineas is obedient to his father, Pete is not and dreams of leaving the ranch behind due to his father’s corruption, which he worries will influence his own children. Through flashbacks to 1849, the series reveals that when Eli was 13 years old, he and his family were brutally attacked by the Comanche tribe, led by Chief Toshaway, played by the fantastic Zahn McClarnon. Eli is the only one who survives. The tribe holds him captive, and he and Toshaway form a father-son-like bond, with McClarnon having many scene-stealing moments.

As the father and son butt heads, growing tensions rise between the McCulloughs and the Garcia family. Led by the neighboring wealthy Mexican native, Pedro Garcia (Carlos Bardem), a war breaks out between the two families after the McCulloughs murder a member of the Garcia family, Caesar Garcia. The two opposing sides then fight for land, power, and vengeance. To make things more complicated, Pete falls in love with Garcia’s daughter, Maria (PaulaNúñez), and they begin a secret affair, hopeful of building a better life away from dishonest, evil men.

Pierce Brosnan Plays An Evil, Greedy Oil Tycoon

Originally supposed to be played by Sam Neill before he had to drop out, Pierce Brosnan transforms into a cold-blooded killer as Eli. It’s one of Brosnan’s most underrated roles. His action-hero leading man persona is gone as he plays a bitter old man who’s left his family a lot of wealth but is unable to let go of power all the same. Including numerous flashbacks to the 1840s, young Eli is played by Jacob Lofland, who is astounding as an outsider in a new world and must come to terms with new ways of life. As he’s trained to become a warrior by getting shot at by arrows in fields and comes under attack from Texas Rangers, he becomes an honorary member of the tribe before being chained to his power-hungry goals later in life.

There are many chilling sequences of McCullough wishing to invoke violence on his enemies, whether it’s a businessman at lunch or his feud with the Garcia’s. While he may don nice suits and eat at fine restaurants, he can’t shake his past and who he is at his core. McCullough often fantasizes about carrying on the traditions and ways of the Comanche tribe. One such scene involves his imagining of scalping the head of a businessman at lunch who denies his business like he used to do as a young man. Its sudden extreme use of violence is shocking, and Brosnan is unhinged and terrifying as he daydreams of ruthlessly attacking the man, holding up his scalp to the restaurant. A rare antihero role within his career of playing righteous men, Brosnan lets it rip.

‘The Son’ Has Some of the Most Violent Scenes In Any Western

A violent history of greedy men stuffs the many fight scenes in The Son. From the first episode, the show does not take it easy on its audiences. It has one of the most violent, intense openings to any modern Western, as it flashes back to the 1840s for the first time and reveals what happened the night Eli was kidnapped. It’s a sudden jolt that gets the series going and remains unforgettable as Eli is stripped of his innocence and who he once was.

As Eli sits in his home with his brother, sister, and mother, a group of Comanches attacks the family and continues to torture and fight them until they’re all dead except Eli and his brother. The scene chooses to stay on Eli’s face as he helplessly watches from the ground as his sister and mother are attacked. The result is an arresting, moving sequence as he watches his family die in front of his eyes. It sets the show up for being one of the darkest television westerns but also the best in recent years. What makes the flashbacks all the more impactful is that the violence that men inflict on each other, especially white men on the Comanche tribe, used to disturb Eli to no end. Now aging and cold, he has become the man who used to be his enemy, as he wreaks havoc upon the Mexican population in town.

If You Miss ‘Succession,’ ‘The Son’ Is an Intense Southern Saga About Familial Greed

Exploring how evil can spread through generations and kill the soul, The Son spares no carnage in depicting how Eli has spoiled his family. For those who miss Succession and Logan Roy’s inner turmoil in deciding which of his children he’ll leave his empire to, the Western series shares many of those themes. The feud with Garcia begins when Eli Kidnaps Pedro’s son-in-law, Caesar. He proceeds to brutally torture him before his son, Pete, kills him. It’s clear that he’s become a tsunami of wreckage in his family. Pete yearns to break free of his family’s corruption, and the series wonders if blood really runs thicker than water.

A war wages within Eli as he becomes aware of all the evil he has done to the Garcia family to remain in control, and the war between him and Pete also grows until they’ve become sworn enemies on either side of morality. Pete’s rebellion is an argument that you can reject your blood and become something of your own, something Eli once did but now is unable to let his sons do.

Based upon the novel of the same name written by Philipp Meyers, the series contains incredible dialogue, including Eli’s acknowledgment of his waning humanity: “I’ve been a lot of bad things in my time. Accrued my fair number of black marks against my soul. What was it all for?” At the end of the day, Eli is a scared man, scared of death and the things he’s done, in addition to what he’s left to his sons. Arriving before the Western renaissance that saw Yellowstone and Outer Range explode, the series received mixed reviews at the time of its release but remains a powerful Western entry. The Son is an underrated, gritty Western spanning centuries to explore the dark origin of the American West, the birth and death of the cowboy, and the evil men do to hold onto power, even if it means losing their humanity.

The Son is available to watch on Prime Video in the U.S.

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