Critic Reviews

The series often moves at a deliberate pace, but you’ll never be bored or impatient watching it--not only because there are plenty of effective and sometimes gruesome action scenes, but also because Frank takes delicious care in writing multidimensional, irresistibly engaging characters.

Frank’s series blends the best of the genre with unfamiliar narratives about gender, race, and faith. All the while, it builds a mystery around the past while driving to a pivotal showdown in the future. Every moment counts, making for an overall experience as to-the-point as Mary Agnes herself.

Anyone pining for an honest-to-God Western with vividly mythic characters, soaring vistas and thrilling showdowns will find the seven episodes of Godless a heaven-sent, rip-roaring Thanksgiving-week feast. [13-26 Nov 2017, p.16]

Godless represents a near-perfect melding of both forms [movie and TV series], making good on the boundless promises of the streaming frontier. Though it’s tempting to gallop through it in a single binge, Godless is worth slowing down and savoring.

The result is a series that feels both traditional and new, with the big-screen qualities of a film and the story and character nuance of the best serialized television. This last is exploited to best advantage by Frank's cast.

Godless might remind you of HBO’s still lamented “Deadwood” in its expert plotting.

The series is a wild ride, an old-fashioned Western with a contemporary edge. It carries the sweep and breadth of a grand tale with the larger-than-life ornery characters you expect to find living and dying in that rugged, lonely land.

Godless manages to come across as both familiar and fresh. Plot lines are recognizable without becoming trite. Characters are taken to predictable extremes without sliding into caricatures.

Godless is a wonderfully modern addition to the genre that’s simultaneously classic and traditional in all the right ways.

Godless might have benefited from a slighter quicker pace, but its various plots come together to create a finish that simultaneously feels unconventional, satisfying and -- most significantly in the current wild west of bingeing -- well worth the ride.