Following a tragedy, Stacy Clyburn (Michelle Pfeiffer) moves her family from Manhattan to start a provincial life by the Madison River, Montana, where she hopes their emotional recovery can begin.
Streaming on: Paramount Plus
Episodes viewed: 6 of 6
Like its river namesake, The Madison is grand in scope — even for creator Taylor Sheridan, whose Yellowstone universe has now reached epic proportions. His latest starry television show does not span multiple locations or eras— there are flashbacks, and a push-and-pull between two locations that creates much of the tension. But what really makes The Madison different from other Sheridan neo-Westerns is its unrelenting focus on the bigger questions surrounding grief and death.
To tackle themes of such lofty ambition, Sheridan has recruited two of his biggest names yet. Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell are charged with anchoring all this grief in something real, finding an easy chemistry to make this decades-long love story a reality. The Madison is a throwback in more ways than one, offering a rare self-contained story that’s designed to make the best use of A-list talent rather than just spin out of an existing franchise. Rumours that this might turn out to be a new Yellowstone chapter were greatly exaggerated — despite its Montana setting and Western trappings, it is unconnected to the saga. That might actually be for the best, if you’re a diehard fan of that long-running franchise.
It’s like Pfeiffer is in a different show entirely, playing a suffering matriarch on HBO while Elle Chapman and Beau Garrett bring a dull, low-level Netflix quality to what’s at hand.
It’s safe to say that The Madison certainly thinks it is a prestige show. With jaw-dropping landscapes and two leads of the same mythic calibre, you can feel the writing try to grapple with the weight a story like this deserves. Unfortunately, it falls short every single time Pfeiffer is absent.
Russell aside, no-one else in the cast is anywhere near her level. It’s like Pfeiffer is in a different show entirely, playing a suffering matriarch on HBO while Elle Chapman and Beau Garrett bring a dull, low-level Netflix quality to what’s at hand. When The Madison works, it does so through Pfeiffer’s sheer force of will and very little else. With a second season already confirmed, the campaign to free Pfeiffer and give her a role truly worthy of her talent starts here.
The Madison should be coursing with emotion, almost overwhelming in its strength and impact. Instead, the writing is just stagnant, awkward and predictable as it tries to wring out more emotion.
