Taylor Sheridan‘s new show, The Madison, is just as actor Kurt Russell described it. Episodes 1-3 dropped on March 14, and if you watched, you’re likely enjoying this four-day cry break.
Russell — who plays Preston Clyburn — told EW that the Madison was a “female gaze-oriented show.” What’s that mean?
If it were a film, we’d say it’s a chick flick. There are soaring panoramic views, long moments of catharsis and very little violence. Heck, the tragedy that sets up the entire plot took place off camera — we didn’t even get to see the bodies!
READ MORE: 17 Most Stunning Yellowstone Franchise Deaths, Ranked
Consider that your spoiler alert.
- Ep. 4-6 of the Madison are expected to drop on Paramount+ on Saturday (March 21).
- Michelle Pfeiffer, Beau Garrett and Matthew Fox are other stars of the show.
- The Dutton Rules Podcast team will lead a discussion of Ep. 1-3 on Tuesday (March 17) at 1:30PM CT.
The Madison, Ep. 1-3 Recap:
Midway through Ep. 1, tragedy strikes. Preston (a wealthy Manhattan businessman) is visiting his brother Paul (Fox) in Montana.
We learn he makes the trip from New York City often and considers this a home away from home. For decades he’s wanted his wife and daughters to join him, but she’s always said that she’s a city mouse.
The two men fly to a remote part of the river and decide to stay as a storm presents itself. A few hours later, Paul decides they need to leave quickly. It’s too late.
The storm impacts visibility and his small plane crashes into the mountains of Idaho. Both men are killed.
Emerson Miller/Paramount+
If you watched the trailer, you likely guessed at this tragedy, and the bulk of the first season will zoom in on how Pfeiffer’s Stacy Clyburn handles her grief.
Her daughters, son-in-law and granddaughters fly to identify the bodies and hole up on Paul Clyburn’s sprawling property, where Stacy starts to make decisions about how the next chapters of her life will look.
What’s Missing on The Madison?
The Madison has a great tragedy, but no real antagonist. There’s no dangerous neighbor, prowling animal or even a storm to fight against. If anything, the friction is this shifting tension between Stacy and her two daughters, both spoiled rotten.
It’s hard to even argue that there is any kind of internal struggle. Fairly quickly, Stacy decides to bury Preston and Paul on a hillside Preston called Stacy’s Valley (the grass matches her hair), and then she announces her intentions to stay in Montana forever.
This feels like a wildly rash decision — and likely the center of the story arc — but if there is one thing Sheridan has gotten right, it’s the feral response to grief.
The Madison, Ep. 1-3 Review:
The Madison is missing an antagonist, but it’s no worse for it. While slower paced than every other Sheridan show, the acting is tremendous and the scenery is breathtaking.
Sheridan is going to be praised for his writing, but credit director Christina Alexandra Voros for decisions that turn just a handful of lines on paper into something that puts a lump in your throat.
One that comes to mind is from Ep. 2.
After paging through Preston’s journal, Stacy asks to see the third cabin on Paul’s property, which her daughter Abby (Garrett) and her granddaughters have been using. When she opens the door, we see old games and stuffed animals and immediately understand how badly Preston wanted to share this place with his family.
READ MORE: Yellowstone: Dutton Family Tree Updated After 1923 Season 2
Those games and stuffies were meant for his girls, who are now fully grown. He built it for them, but they never knew. That’s a devastating detail as impactful as the sequence in which Stacy learns that Preston has died.
The pace of this show signals that Sheridan could be aiming for three, four or five seasons of the Madison. We’ve only just met Abby’s love interest (Van, played by Ben Schnetzer) and Stacy’s best friend from NYC is just getting on the plane. Yet somehow, we’re halfway through Season 1.
The biggest tragedy this show offers is a brief release schedule — by next Wednesday, it will have lost the public consciousness. There’s sure to be a long tail as viewers catch up, but it would have been tremendous fun to peel this show apart every week for six or eight weeks.
If there’s one thing Sheridan and Paramount+ did wrong, it’s giving us too much too soon. The Madison deserves more than a long tail.
17 Most Stunning Yellowstone Franchise Deaths
Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes
