The Abandons Season 1 Review: Western About Rival Families Lacks Aim

Netflix is back in the Western business, this time with new series, The Abandons. Starring Lena Headey and Gillian Anderson as duelling matriarchs, the show follows two very different families living in the same settlement in 1854.

Constance Van Ness (Anderson) is the widow of the wealthy Van Ness family, who own the local mines and want access to the land known as the Hollow. Fiona Nolan (Headey) is the matriarch of her adopted family, including two orphaned children left in her care who are now adults (Nick Robinson, Diana Silvers), and two adopted siblings (Lamar Johnson, Natalia Del Riego).

If that sounds like a lot of characters to remember, that’s only scratching the surface. There are still the Van Ness children, the other three families living in the Hollow, various town folk, and outsiders.

You wouldn’t be blamed if you made it through the whole series without remembering every character name. 

Constance wants Fiona’s land, and the series starts after months of escalating intimidation to get Fiona and the other families to sell. The heated rivalry becomes deadly after Constance’s oldest son assaults Dahlia Teller (Silvers) and is murdered in self-defense.

The conspiracy to cover up the murder involves all the families and is the driving force for the season. It’s an ambitious Western epic on paper, but The Abandons becomes jumbled and slow-moving after such a thrilling start.

Instead of focusing primarily on the rivalry between Constance and Fiona, or even the murder, the narrative is wide-ranging and at times too episodic for such a short run. Subplots about the supporting characters feel forced and rushed, such as Albert’s sudden tenure as town school teacher and a half-baked plot about a racist parent of a student.

An entire episode is wasted on hunting down a bear that’s terrorizing the town while machinations happen in the background. With only seven episodes, there hardly seems time for a bear hunt.

The storylines that could stand out, such as the star-crossed love between Trisha Van Ness (Aisling Franciosi) and Elias Teller (Robinson), don’t get enough time to develop. The romance comes off more like one of convenience than sincerity despite the actor’s best efforts.

It doesn’t help that the dialogue in the show often comes off as stilted and unnatural, perhaps in an attempt to sound old-timey, rendering any heartfelt monologue inert. 

The lazy character development of everyone else might be forgiven if Constance and Fiona were given more to do, but even they fall into flat archetypes. Constance is prim and proper but secretly immoral, and Fiona is wild and reckless but a woman of faith and justice. 

Neither quite reach the status of noteworthy villain or heroine though, so their feud ends up seeming petty and excessive. It’s a waste of two talented actresses, and you question why The Abandons exists at all.

The one thing the show does have going for it is the immersive production design. There is horse-riding, shoot-outs and plenty of action to bring the Western flair.

It’s grimy and dirty throughout the series and there are even limbs amputated on screen. It certainly feels like the 1800s.  

The baffling ending, which comes abruptly and without clarity of who even wins the battle of the families, is unfortunately the final nail in the coffin. Without a satisfying conclusion, the whole endeavour seems pointless, but then again, violence often is. 

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The Abandons Season 1 is streaming now on Netflix. 

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