Review of The Son

The new AMC Western tells the story of a man and a boy, the same person at two different pivotal moments of his life. Eli McCullogh is shown as a young boy (Jacob Lofland) and an old man (Pierce Brosnan) who crosses the 19th Century into the 20th Century. As a young man, Eli is captured by Comanches as his family is killed. The older McCullogh lives in Texas and wars with a rival family from Mexico as he discovers oil on their land. The early story takes place in 1849 as the push West has threatened the native civilizations and the Comanches deal roughly with the invaders. Eli is a slave who grows to learn the ways of the Comanche under Toshaway (Zahn McClarnon). In 1915, Eli clashes with the Garcia, especially the patriarch Pedro Garcia (Carlos Bardem).

It is not fully revealed all that Eli went through in his life right away but we slowly learn of his troubled past as people seeking vengeance come to take that in his old age. McCullogh did spawn a large family including Pete McCullogh (Henry Garrett) who is having an affair with Maria Garcia (Paola Nuñez). Pete's wife Sally (Jess Weixler) has left her life in Dallas behind but gets along more with Pete's brother Phineas (David Wilson Barnes) than her husband. During an attack on their house, Pete's daughter young Jeannie McCullogh (Sydney Lucas) rides through the Garcia land and returns after the chaos with oil on the horse's shoes. Eli discovers this and becomes obsessed.

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