Netflix's Frontier (1/20/17)

[Nuck Horris]

I caught the 6 episodes on Discovery Canada. Nice to see Discovery making tracks in the world of Rated R television shows...

I made a movie page for this here: https://www.blu-ray.com/Frontier/649613/ Not even going to bother linking the trailer because it's pretty bad.

In 18th-century North America, ruthless trappers and entrepreneurs fight to wrest control of the fur trade from the mighty Hudson's Bay Company.

Official link: https://www.netflix.com/title/80099656

This was a really solid adventure series. The pacing was great and I'm hooked. Rewatchability is high. Now I just have to wait until next year for season 2. Hopefully it's longer than 6 episodes though. I will trade all of my possum pelts for an earlier release date.

I predict a bright future and many more seasons for this series. Watch it with the strongest ale you can find this Friday.

[jedidaniel]

I'll need to check this out. Sounds similar to The Revenant.

[jokerzwild]

I liked it, watched it on Netflix a few weeks ago. Jason Momoa was good as usual.

I love this show with a look at his wife. very interesting. as all projects of this firm. thank them for the pleasant evenings

[crude]

Watched s1 and it was ok. Nice cinematography. Dont know if its accurate. What pissed me off was the intro phrases lol

And it could be better with more episodes to explain some missing time. But its Discovery Channel so it couldnt be as good as GOT.

[Nuck Horris]

Apparently season 2 premiered on Netflix 11/24/17 and was renewed for a third season... time to go do some show watching.

[miribeau]

The third season is scheduled for upload on November 23rd so I finally got around to watching the first two seasons. Turns out, a friend who watched the pilot and didn't continue was completely wrong about the series. It is brilliant and incredibly well done. Trouble is, that first episode has very little to do with the series in style and content. S.1 E.1 introduces the characters and that's about it. From there, the show just explodes in a different direction. If you haven't seen it, it is well worth it. Just get to the end of E.2 and you'll get it. That first episode should have been 10 minutes long.

[Cold_Wolf]

Watching season 2 now. More like binge to be ready for S3.

[Levon]

I watched the first episode of this last week and quite enjoyed it. It wasn't an amazing episode by any means, just about setting characters up so I'd imagine it is one to stick with.

I really love period dramas like this, looking forward to seeing where it goes.

[miribeau]

Originally Posted by Levon

I watched the first episode of this last week and quite enjoyed it. It wasn't an amazing episode by any means, just about setting characters up so I'd imagine it is one to stick with.

I really love period dramas like this, looking forward to seeing where it goes.

I'm glad you still want to see it. That first one didn't pull me in and then I remembered, in watching the last few moments, how many times I'd stopped short of where a show got going and then regretted it later, when I had to catch up.

With Frontier, just make sure you have a few hours and don't start watching late at night, when you have to get up early. Once you get to around the third episode, budget your time. And when you get into the second season, really budget your time.

[Cold_Wolf]

meh. S2 starts with a quote from non other the Beyoncé. WTF!!! Stopped right there. Not funny!!!

Ok, i have googled and it seems only Netflix USA is doing that initial quote style. I managed to get the netflix canadian version which is similar to what aired in the Canadian Discovery Channel that doesnt have any quote at the beginning of the episodes.

I cant take a tv show seriously after seeing a quote from Beyonce in the beginning of the episode. I was like expecting them to start singing Halo somewhere in the series. FFS. Why netflix?? Why?

[miribeau]

Originally Posted by Cold_Wolf

meh. S2 starts with a quote from non other the Beyoncé. WTF!!! Stopped right there. Not funny!!!

Ok, i have googled and it seems only Netflix USA is doing that initial quote style. I managed to get the netflix canadian version which is similar to what aired in the Canadian Discovery Channel that doesnt have any quote at the beginning of the episodes.

I cant take a tv show seriously after seeing a quote from Beyonce in the beginning of the episode. I was like expecting them to start singing Halo somewhere in the series. FFS. Why netflix?? Why?

The quotes were added for political correctness and, oddly, they often make a statement that directly contradicts the message of that particular episode or, even, the overall arc of the show. I actually really love that about this show. It's like a little inside joke.

I point you to the two main issues American Netflix had with the show. First, it is 100% family values. This is a man who will do anything to avenge the murder of his wife and child. Second, we have fact that the half-Irish hero comes along and leads the stagnant victimized people to rise up against British oppression, but can't quite get the job done alone, until the 100% Irish Michael Smith shows up and reminds him of his Irish roots. Suddenly, the combination of the two cultures, both oppressed by the English, produces a flurry of activity and ideas and they have plans and things move forward.

This was seen in Canada as an acceptable story, the strength of family and community, the merging of two cultures and what that can produce, strong men saving women, and so on. In America, it was seen as insulting to tell a story in which any of those ideas are put forth. I think, if you hate the quotes, you will love the series.

Let me put it a different way. As a person who loves the original The Terminator, likes T3 and loathes all other Terminator films, I love Frontier.

[Cold_Wolf]

Well if the Series isnt affected by the quotes im still going to watch but i need to be asured that season 3 wont be affected by the pc agenda or else its a waste of time to watch s2.

[cheez avenger]

This is an awesome show. Looking forward to S3!

[miribeau]

Originally Posted by Cold_Wolf

Well if the Series isnt affected by the quotes im still going to watch but i need to be asured that season 3 wont be affected by the pc agenda or else its a waste of time to watch s2.

Well I'll probably watch it before you do so I can post here on that issue.

But try to keep in mind, not all actors are overly emotional and desperate. Most are like all of us here, keeping their politics to themselves and never elevating political discourse to a higher position than the care of their families and immediate circle. Jason Momoa is a family man first. He took great care in making the choice to commit to a monogamous union and have children in a situation where he could protect his children from a repeat of his childhood. He built a family with a woman, Lisa Bonet, who is equally concerned with making responsible choices and never harming her children, if she can avoid it.

Neither one of them participates in film projects that convey the message that identity statistics/reducing people to nothing but a list of identifiers is a more important measure of a human than their soul, or character if you prefer that term. She was, when very young, a bit rebellious, but as she aged, I remember being told she was quoting MLK Jr, a man who is named as a hero by many while they simultaneously dismiss what he believed. He was particularly devout in his belief that the content of character defines a human being and I remember when a friend told me Bonet had gotten on board with that idea, moving beyond the idea that the endless list of minority traits is all that matters when we look at each other, essentially ignoring who we really are, inside.

That translates into Momoa choosing to participate in projects that convey positive family values, good fathers, good husbands, good women, strong people, people of character, and projects that portray clear villains and realistically flawed heroes, all in an effort to make films and shows that convey to viewers, most specifically his children, what it means to be a good man, to fight for good, even though he is imperfect. I like to think his wife has taken part in directing that part of his career, because of how she changed from when she was a teenager to when she was a young woman pushing 30 and no longer sharing that belief that we are all nothing but color-labeled blood bags with a bunch of gender and sexual identifiers tacked on.

As executive producer of the show, in the second season, Momoa pushed even harder to tell the story of a man making war on those who killed his family, not because he is broken but, because he is a father and a husband and a good person who won't let the evil continue destroying innocents, particularly women and children. His values as a man matter more than his desires or identifying characteristics. I know it is hard to believe but Netflix really did tack those quotes on to try to make the show seem like it is more about the war between people of different colors, tribes, if you will, than about people with many different backgrounds, united by strength of will and quality of character, combining forces to challenge evil people, who also come in a variety of outer-package designs, as it were.

I wish there were more shows like this.

[Cold_Wolf]

I like Jason Momoa choices in TV Shows. I`ve seen The Red Road. Both are very dark and real. It would be a shame if pc agenda affects this show. Seems like netflix wants it to be less realistic. I will start S2 tonight.

[miribeau]

Originally Posted by Cold_Wolf

I like Jason Momoa choices in TV Shows. I`ve seen The Red Road. Both are very dark and real. It would be a shame if pc agenda affects this show. Seems like netflix wants it to be less realistic. I will start S2 tonight.

He takes a proactive role in his shows and doesn't take projects where the characters don't seem real. His role in guiding the direction for Frontier, the family focus and realistic portrayal of people working together but still sparring and sometimes taking different paths, seems to be keeping it on track. But I will make sure to let you know about Season 3, as soon as I watch it.

I doubt very much that he would allow the show to be taken down another path. As example, in Season 2, the show deals, among many issues, with the strengths and frailties of women, juxtaposing different characters and their handling of similar situations, and exploring faults with a level of honesty you don't see in other programs. As a woman, I really appreciated that they didn't sugar-coat these and other issues, any more than they tried to sugar-coat the issues of Harp's family and subsequent rage-war. They don't pretend that a woman is perfect or or a buff superhero. They don't pretend that a man always knows how to deal with extreme emotions. I think you'll like it.

[Cold_Wolf]

Season 3 is out and i am on episode 3 of s2. Enjoying it but without Beyoncéé quotes.

[miribeau]

I finally had time to sit down and watch season three.... This is hard to put into words. On the one hand, they have continued the major themes of the show, rather wonderfully. On the other, they suffered some casting setbacks. Due to failings on the part of certain people, cast members who were not meant to be gone were unavailable. As a result, the storyline was altered. So, we ended up with an awkward situation in which the major cast members were separated from each other, taking separate journeys, which never works nearly as well as writers think it will, while major portions of their individual story-lines were compromised by the absence of their friends and foils.

Basically, season three is worth watching but doesn't hold a candle to seasons one and two, so no rush on this one.

People like me, who are sick of PC TV, will enjoy the major season arc for Sokanon. As a superior warrior who is still, at her core, a woman easily led by emotions, she wastes months of her life rescuing fewer than a dozen women, far fewer, from the clutches of a bride capture ring, while the man with whom she is very angry, for being too practical, is spending his time trying to rescue the whole of her civilization. This storyline is my favorite of the season. Won't tell you how it ends but there is a very clear message about which one is right. I'll give you a hint. It isn't the woman.

As to the plot given Momoa, they had him for far less time this season and it showed. His first three episodes were clearly filmed in a week, with him and two companions wandering in the snow. They didn't really know what to do with him when the actor he was meant to be working with was unavailable due to prior contractual obligations, which is such a shame because that plot would have made the season and changed everything.

The second half of the season is where most of the Momoa filming clearly took place. It is worth watching but, with so much plot left on the floor due to absent actors who were not contracted to be there, the story felt flat and lifeless and, really, Momoa steals the show again just by literally kicking so much behind. Tragically, he spends a great deal of time standing and sitting around in those three episodes and, owing to the new infrastructure in Scotland, with the whole Outlander thing, they recycled a bunch of Outlander actors and extras and just piddled away the whole plot potential of the Declan and Grace story arc for the year.

I hope next year the missing people will show up and the writers will actually tell a story instead of giving us an entire season meant to get us right back to where we started in the first episode of the season, which makes it feel like a huge waste of time.

If not for the unending crusade of this show to prove that women in a war scenario fail to think ahead, even when we are thinking ahead, because those pesky feelings keep getting in our way, this season would have ruined the show. Thankfully, every single storyline of year comes back to that same issue. All women, everywhere, need a man like Declan Harp to save the day. Otherwise, the day just won't be saved.

Also, for anyone who cares, there are two really well stylized and beautifully filmed battle sequences. The last one of the season, in the last episode, is very long and exceptionally well done.

[Cold_Wolf]

Ok, thanks for the info.

S2 is amazing. Going to watch season finale tonight. Very good season. Better than S1 which was already good. The only downside is netflix being stupid.