User Reviews

At episode 5 i was 100% sure i would rate this show a 10/10. But than, i don´t know. Her story doesn´t make any sense. She totally acts like a spoiled teenager from 2020...she claims to know love, but loves another in like what, a week? A month? Where is the grief? Some may claim, teenagers, they act different, but no. It´s christian 1883...remember? At least i do, or not anymore. I know he raised her "like a boy" and i am okay with her having such responsibilities, but this just doesn´t make any sense anymore.

Also sam said, the mountains are worth to be seen and 3minutes later we see huge mountains on the scenery...

This week's episode, E08, is the first time I've been utterly unimpressed with the show. Elsa man...I knew she was making the worst decision any parent would want every to see every chance she got but I thought after ennis died she'd grow up a little before it got annoying, unfortunately that doesn't look like it's gonna happen. Margaret seems to be upset at James for not intervening but I don't think it'd change anything if he did. I really hope the last two episodes are better so I can justify keeping the rating at 9.

This show (entire season) is the coming of age story of a young woman as she and her family venture forth across the prairie to a new home. The new home is a dream, and ideal, of the father of the young woman, James Dutton. His goal is to offer his family his vision of a freedom they could not obtain in their prior home of Tennessee.

The story is through the eyes of Elsa, the young woman, whom is the protagonist of the epic. The story of the Dutton family, and their journey to eventually live in Montana, is through her eyes.

Taylor Sheridan has created a drama that draws on many historical facts, but more importantly, the feel of the old west.

As a viewer, you may recognize the names and places, and feel the romanticism of the era accompanied by the reality that death through accident, illness, or violence was all to common as well. As viewers, we may be prone to understand the immigrants on the trek, since few of us today may be able to survive such an arduous journey.

Elsa, could easily be a young person today, protesting against the norms and status quo of society and risking it all for the experience to live as she wants.

But, aside from much of the authenticity and historical accuracy, the series thus far is about unbridled risk and hope for a better future. Whether it be the immigrants escaping the torments of their homelands, or the Dutton's fleeing impoverishment and the melancholy of life in Tennessee, or Captain Brennan seeking to view the ocean as a remembrance for his late wife, or even Thomas' new hope for a future with love, all of these travelers are risking their very lives to be part of the American Promise: freedom. Freedom from autocracy and tyrants, freedom from societal rules, freedom to make a life as one dreams, freedom to love whom one wants, freedom to explore, and freedom to live. And this is really what the romanticism of the Old West is really about.

I love the realism of the show. The constant hardships and struggles pioneers faced. Death around every corner.

However, Daddy's little girl dressing up like Elton John and decidedly running off with an Indian is absolute BS. And the senior Dutton just says "awe shucks, there she goes again". The cattle train is fine with it?

No way. People were in no way that tolerant.

Hopefully episode 9 doesn't go full Broke Back.

For the most part this show has been strong, but this episode did leave a little bit to be desired. We had Elsa doing one thing one minute and another the next and I get that her emotions are supposed to be high and she is supposed to be a little bit irrational, but it felt a bit much here. Not every single episode is going to be a slam dunk, we get that, but I think it could have been better than this.

I just don't want the whole show to be about love. That is obviously going to be a part of things here, that is the nature of the beast, but I just hope that it is not everything every single week moving forward.

Is it me? Or the writers?

I thought Elsa said goodbye to Sam last week, but strangely he's still there. As is the man with the awful beard (Taylor Sheridan) who rides out of the blue (and to the rescue) last week, hangs around for long enough to mumble a few words of wisdom (and prevent a massacre) then rides of into the sunset. Give me a break!

They're going to Oregon... no, Denver! No, Oregon. Shea has a sulk and packs his bags, but, in a bitter twist, Thomas says he ain't comin'. So Shea changes his mind - mid sentence! Elsa shows up at the exact moment and says she ain't goin' to Oregon! But then she IS going to Oregon - at least that's what she tells her long-suffering mother. So, they set off. Ride for a whole day. And Sam is with them. Yay! Apparently Sam is going to Oregon too. But, wait a minute, hold your horses, no he's not! He's going back to his own place, and the plan is for Elsa to meet him - on that exact spot (not his own village) in June next year??!!!? How does that make any sense at all? What the heck? How would she ever find her way back there - unless in two nights with Sam she's absorbed some remarkable Native American sense of the land. Would she ride alone??? I just don't get it.

The Comanches are in the camp, then suddenly we're in their village. Was it just over a rise??

The cook is butchering deer, and giving culinary life lessons to the kids - what was that about?

James was along for the ride, now he's the leader. Shea was... well, I don't know what Shea was doing - apart from worrying and mumbling a lot, but now it seems he's just along for the ride. And for Thomas.

Which brings me to Elsa. I've had no problem with her narration up until the last two episodes. Now it's wearing thin. And her story cannot be taken seriously - I think it's only been a couple of weeks since her first lover died. So much for that! I like the idea of the relationship between her and Sam, but it's not unfolded well - the loving, the grieving, the loving, the leaving... it's too much.

So, are we meant to think of her as a mature young woman? A heroine? Or a confused and suffering teenager. I don't think the writers know the answer to that question, if they did, they would make her a more responsible character.

The final scene was tragic to me, and perhaps not in the way it was intended. I did not see a courageous young woman leaving the second great love of her life, I saw a teenage girl in fancy dress, having a breakdown on a horse.

There's a lot I love about this show. Cinematography, acting, attention to detail... first 6 episodes were a treat. But the writing has become sloppy and corny. It's just losing me.

As on old man whose grandfather owned a ranch and who died too young to ever really see the west, I have been totally pulled into this western story... until the final scenes of episode 7 and this entire episode.

By the time this episode ended, I was laughing at Elsa's ludicrous narcissism.

"Look at me talking like I have testosterone in mah voice. Look at the buffalo blood on mah face. See mah ride around crying while I call mahself a warrior wife. Warriahs don't cry... even though I was just doing it in the last camera angle. I'm Elsa. Queen of thah west."

Even when she is on a hunt for her first buffalo kill, I automatically recoiled at her not having any flaws and the entire show has careened into predictable troupes.

It has turned into Twilight and Indians.

They keep looking over ridges to see more bad guys, buffalos, wild mustangs. For two episodes taking place in the plains, they sure can't see anyone coming unless a small hill is nearby.

I am hoping next week is better, but this show is starting to show me that Elsa is devolving into Rey Skywalker and every other female lead from the past 10 years. It is obviously more about attracting self centered teen girls than those who love westerns.

"It's The Elsa Show starring Elsa... this week's episode: Elsa or Else."

I just read many reviews and decided to add my view. When the tornado is upon Sam and Elsa, hovered together in a shallow gully, Elsa is absolutely terrified, something which is very out of character for her. And that terror absolutely compels her to seek safety and comfort in Sam's arms and mouth. Not only does he personify strength and safety, but Elsa already knows the euphoria of sex, a powerful drug which can bring heaven to earth. And that's why that clinch lifts them both above clear and present danger, and the entire scene shifts from hell to heaven. If I were facing death, I wouldn't have held back, either. And the way this particular scene was portrayed, cinematically, was one of those rare cinematic experience I will never forget. Ever!

The whole series of scenes around the tornado is brilliantly conceived and brilliantly produced. I, for one, am happy to suspend disbelief and go on Elsa's journey with her. Maybe that's because as a child, I role-played many different personas in my imaginative play, but my two favorites were the seasoned cowgirl and the knowledgeable Native American warrior.

Of course their romance moves quickly! Their world is basically a war-torn world, where people must hang onto love when they find it - and never let go. Elsa is a warrior in training. So when she meets a seasoned warrior who values, mentors, loves, and totally gets her, she doesn't look back. What a great spin this episode is on empowerment for women!

This series had all the hallmarks of a classic, great cinematography, a great plot of adventure & discovery, interesting characters played by good actors, then after Ep 4 someone decided to make the entire show about Elsa, her every thought and emotion, each week, over & over.

Ep 8 had more of her cringeworthy monologues spoken in a really, really bad put on accent, more about her love life and what she wants to do, I found her to be an annoying selfish twit on a horse.

The scene at the end with her dressed up as an Indian crying was laughable, way too dramatic, way over the top.

The writers have literally abandoned all other characters to fixate on one, why is a mystery, such a good cast, simply not used.

One day I hope the mystery of why this production team went so badly in the wrong direction.

I thought last weeks episode was bad, this one's worse. All Elsa all of the time, all bad. I really liked the first episodes when the story was about people getting ready to cross the prairie and the characters especially Elsa, not now. She's turned into a "woke" supergirl. Riding and shooting across her domain of the west loving and conquering all men. The last scene was completely galling: Elsa riding out in her new Indian attire barely covered while all of these tough cowboys and pioneers are wearing three or four layers. Too much bull for me-