"American Primeval" Topic

Is anyone watching American Primeval on Netflix? I am. I have watched two episodes and I would say, not bad. Well acted and good dialogue. It is set in 1858 right before the start of the Mormon War. In the first episode they showed the Mountain Meadow Massacre. Got some things wrong but over all it was well done. Looking forward to watching the rest of the series.

Loved it – all of it! I would totally game this. I like the way they handled the Indians too. Reminded me of that battle in The Revenant – brutal stuff.

I like this antebellum era of the west- really interesting and refreshing compared to the evergreen 7th Cavalry romance.

It seems the whole of the Wild West is here. With the various groupings, I was reminded of the Pony War rules.

The arrows were very impressive..and there were a lot of them. I am always glad to see anything from the period. I am not sure whether it is true that basically everyone behaved like brutal, amoral crazies. But I do appreciate the vibe of the film and the scenery is great to look at. Definitely worth watching.

Was laid up and spent an afternoon and evening watching it. It was outstanding. Great ending in my opinion as well.

Other than Hell On Wheels, we don't see a lot of the Mormon atrocities that took place during that time period. I'm not picking on the Mormons, I think everyone had blood on their hands during the period of westward expansion.

I really enjoyed the series, it was gritty and grim.

Tort,

I would agree with you there. Everyone seems to be mean, evil, self-centered and evil. But, I think they were trying to show the West at that time as a jungle, unknown and savage.

There wasn't a lot of Federal or state authority in those days, and in the absence of constituted legal authorities, all kinds of surprising things happened. Bent's Fort was a combination of South of the Border and Motel 6, with private security; a man named Lucien Maxwell bought a Mexican land grant that covered much of six counties in Colorado and New Mexico, and sold it when that got to be too much land for him to manage- the fight to prove clear title to the grant caused at least one bonus fire range war and took more than twenty years (and a Supreme Court decision) to settle. Add to that, the Indian tribes roamed the land uncontrolled and largely unchallenged, until the Army launched explicit campaigns to break the tribes in 1866-68, so that the railroad could be driven through.

It must have been exciting, but I can see the nasty and brutish side to it, too.

Very Good. Gangs of London Goes West.

You all got interested. Started watching last night. 2 episodes so far.

Must say the woman chief is just down right stupid. Women did not have that kind of role or power in western/plains Native American culture. Just more silly woke nonsense.

Hmm, haven't seen it, but Grattan has it right (Agnes Morley Cleaveland's "No Life For A Lady" notwithstanding). Women's power in those days lay in the things they compelled men to do, sometimes without explicit intent- the vengeance meted out to the Indians in many cases was a product of the desire to avenge atrocities against women, or prevent their occurrence.

There were women warriors and some did rise to chief in the West according to the web. But I'm sure they were rare.

Here is one and again from the web.

"Pine Leaf/Woman Chief (l. c. 1806-1858)

Pine Leaf (probably the same person as Woman Chief) was a Crow warrior who became famous for her courage and skill in battle. She was born a member of the Gros Ventres nation but was kidnapped by a Crow raiding party when she was around the age of 10. Raised by the Crow as one of their own, she rejected traditional feminine roles and devoted herself to hunting and warfare, encouraged by her adoptive father who had lost his sons. Her victories over enemy nations elevated her to the status of chief, and she was referred to by Euro-American writers as Woman Chief, but the explorer and fur trader James P. Beckwourth describes this woman by the name Pine Leaf, leading many modern-day scholars to the conclusion that Pine Leaf was also known as Woman Chief. Disdaining 'women's work', she married four women who kept house for her while she raided enemy villages and fended off encroachments by white settlers. Ironically, she was killed in an ambush by a Gros Ventres raiding party, dying at the hands of her own people."

I've watched 4 episodes so far. Are there historical issues? Of course, it's Hollywood. Is it better than the norm attempts, yes.

I'm enjoying it. Some issues. Machine gun arrows is one. 🙂 the consensus seems to be 7 to 10 a minute. I saw some sources higher. Aimed? Also the rate they are flying in the Meadows Massacre would seem to drain the warriors supply quickly. Still it looks good on the TV. Much better than the norm.

Does it seem that many of the whites carry the same rifle?

Is it more violent than was probably the norm? Yes, but I believe the director is using it to show how violent the frontier could be and that all sides were violent.

Hard to follow what tribes are represented. Obviously Pawnee and shoshone. I think that is it so far. Although one group of shoshone seem to look a lot different from another.

Just a couple of observations. Really trying not to look to closely. 🙂

Sounds interesting but as it is on Netflix I'll never know.

Ok finished it.

I will not spoil anything. But the show played very loose with the Mormon wars, especially at the end. The Mountain Meadows Massacre happened, but from my reading, not the rest. Also they stated the casualties too high for the Meadows Massacre.

Won't say anything else as it would spoil others watching it.

Related: link

Just started it this week, into ep 3. Already bought a book on the Mormon Rebellion…..

Stoss you should find some definite differences between the book and the show.

I think the show portrays the Mormons in a much worse light.. as mostly evil. They did do some bad things, the Meadows massacre being the worst. But they had been persecuted and killed before ever reaching Utah. So were paranoid for reasons.

There were bad and evil things done on all sides, settlers, soldiers, Indians and Mormons.

Pvt. Tripp had it right:

"And we all covered up in it too. I mean, ain't nobody clean."