Legends of Western Cinema Week | The English {2022}

{The Plot}

In 1890, British aristocrat Cornelia Locke (Emily Blunt) arrives in the lawless American West as a woman on a mission:  to find the man who killed her son and make him wish he hadn't.  She crosses paths with Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer), a Pawnee ex-Cavalry scout.  They join forces and set out to reach the offender before his henchmen reach them. 

{My Thoughts}

If I had to sum up my thoughts on The English in one word, that word would be 'crammed.'  There's a lot going on, here — a little too much, I think.  Colonization, rape, child loss, murder, racism, cattle rustling, vengeance, late-stage syphilis . . . it's A Lot.  And while everything is more than deserving of a full-fledged narrative exploration, that's an exploration that the constraints of a six-episode format don't really allow.  The show succeeds in many areas, but would have benefited significantly from either a pared-down thematic agenda or an expanded runtime. 

That's not to say, however, that the Western's thematic endeavors are ineffective simply because they are incomplete.  Quite the contrary:  The English makes it clear that it came to make you Feel Something™, and it succeeds.  I was emotional, Jeeves. I was, indeed.  The dynamic between Cornelia and Eli is the lynchpin of the entire story, and if Blunt and Spencer didn't work so beautifully together, or didn't turn in such magnificent individual performances, that story would fall much flatter than it does.  They make you feel for the characters — BOY, DO THEY — and, for me, it was worth watching the show at least once just to see them.

*SPOILERS*  On the other hand, The English does end by employing one of my fictional pet peeves:  the "star-crossed lovers are torn apart by inescapable and insurmountable obstacles (but the obstacles are actually Highly escapable and Extremely surmountable)" schtick.  Eli and Cornelia part ways after the final showdown with Melmont because somebody convinces them that they'll never get away with it if they stick together — that they both have to "disappear":  Eli into the dust clouds of the "unsettled" American West, Cornelia into the stuffy mansions of Victorian England.  And apparently they can't disappear together or Melmont's cronies will be able to track them because they knew they were traveling together previously.  But, like . . . the story never gives a good reason why?  Sure, a white British woman and a Native ex-Army officer would have attracted attention, but if Melmont's people already knew to be looking out for them, they'd be a target alone OR together.  Plus, they've successfully evaded Melmont & Co. for six episodes, now, so . . . what gives?  It reads as a disingenuous attempt to wring even more heartache out of the audience, and it's unworthy of the rest of the show, and it ticks me off.

Additionally, while the ethics of revenge stories are dubious at best to begin with, I do have to point out that if you are going to write a story about a woman traveling across the world to exact vengeance on the man who raped her and infected both her and her child with a fatal illness, then it seems Not Quite The Thing to have someone else actually exact said vengeance.  *END OF SPOILERS*

Back to technicalities:

The story progresses in a non-linear fashion, so things don't start to make much sense until the last couple of episodes.  Before then, we ping-pong between Cornelia's and Eli's present-day journey and a lot of flashbacks that tease plot points and introduce integral characters without explaining how they're connected.  The messy structure would have annoyed me, actually, had I not been so satisfied by the characters in the present-day story, but the show does a good job of building on the mystery surrounding the circumstances of Cornelia's vendetta.  I can't remember for certain, but I believe the script may have actually identified her enemy by name from the beginning, yet the show is structured in such a way that you don't (or I didn't) connect the dots until close to the end.  You start to wonder exactly how many people were embroiled in the death of her son, whether there's a case of mistaken identity somewhere, etc., and the uncertainty helps to propel the story forward.

I will warn you that the show opens with a rather maudlin voice-over, but that sentimentality is, if troubling, at least brief.  The script quickly loses its saccharine edge while maintaining its emotional intensity, and things "heat up," narratively speaking, pretty rapidly.

Speaking of which, the violence is severe and occasionally startling, but I don't think I'd term it gratuitous. The only real excess I would point out, again, would be in the sheer variety of violence, particularly on a more thematic level. I hate having to call the show a trauma dump, but that's essentially what it is.  In fact, if I had to describe The English with one gif, this would be it:

The syphilis plotline grows increasingly disturbing, as the show utilizes the gruesome reality of the untreated disease to inject a not insignificant amount of medical horror.  Parts, in fact, were so extreme that they seemed far-fetched — but then, I've never studied the illness, so it might be perfectly realistic, for all I know.

I've already mentioned the two lead performances, but I have to circle back to Cornelia.  I always love what Emily Blunt creates, and her work in The English is no exception.  She evokes Cornelia so masterfully — the ash and flame of her, the love and rage, the goodness and bloodlust.  She's "the fire and the flood," as the song goes, and she's wonderful.  (P.S.  You know one of the things I loved most about Blunt's performance?  How easily she allowed Cornelia to cry.  So many times, "strong"/angry characters are portrayed as stoic, unable to weep, etc. and so forth.  But not this time.  This character has a heck of a lot to cry about, gosh dang it, and the show gives her space to do so.  She bears witness to the devastation around and within her by allowing her tears to fall freely, and I appreciate that so much.  It was such a refreshing change of pace.)

Spencer's Eli is also excellent, and there's so much to consider about his treatment and contribution within the story, etc., but I don't have the energy to do that in this post.  I may be talking a little bit more about him later this week, so we'll see.  Suffice it to say, for now, that his is an incredibly worthy character that deserves much more attention than I'm giving him here.

I haven't yet touched on the supporting performances (all of which are noteworthy, as well) or on the cinematography (which is stunning), but, alas, I must close for now.  However, I'll leave you with this GORGEOUS fanvid of Cornelia and Eli so that you can be as emotional as I am.  *sniffles*

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Have you watched The English?