I thought American Primeval, on Netflix, would be about bikers, but it's a Western:
"Utah territory, 1857. Wild and Untamed. The United States army, Mormon militia, Native Americans, and pioneers, all locked in a brutal war for survival."
Back story: The U.S. took control of what is now Utah during the Mexican-American War in 1846. The Mormons under Brigham Young settled in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, and proposed the new state of Deseret. They got Utah Territory instead. Conflicts with the U.S. government over Mormon practices like polygamy led to skirmishes and eventually the Mormon War, aka the Utah War, 1857-8.
Yes, you need to know this to understand Episode 1.
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Scene 1: Mrs. Rowell and her son Devin, reading Oliver Twist, have been waiting forever at the end of the train tracks, in St. Joseph -- wait, St. Joseph, Missouri? That's 1,000 miles from Salt Lake City.
Left: as far as the railroads went in 1857.
Finally John Frye (Clint Obenchain) arrives to take them by covered wagon the rest of the way to Fort Bridger, now in Wyoming. Then they will meet Jim Beckworth for the rest of the passage. Devin wonders why they don't just go to California. I agree.
Scene 2: Cut to Fort Bridger, with teepees outside. People gambling, fighting, smithying. A Shoshone girl steals a knife. Mrs. Rowell and Devin arrive. Shoshone young people try to sell them trinkets.
Problem: they were delayed, so Jim Beckworth is gone. A Frenchman keeps insisting that he can guide them, becomes violent, and kills their guide, so Jim Bridger (Shea Whigham), the head of the fort, kills him with a shovel. Mrs. Rowell is aghast: she was told that this was a peaceful trading post.
He suggests that she return to Boston, or at least wait until spring. Right now there are too many outlaws, Mormons, Indians, bears, and wolves rampaging, and then the Wasatch Mountains, which are impassable in winter. No, she can't wait: she has to meet her husband at Crooks Springs (not a real town).
Scene 3: Bridger leads them to a mountain man, Isaac (Taylor Kitsch), who might want to guide them. Problem: he's shooting at them. Bridger proves that it's really him, and leads them to his camp, where he's washing -- butt shot. Isaac doesn't want to hang out with "a woman and a cr*pple" (son wears a leg brace).
Scene 4: Mrs. Rowell and Devin finally manage to hitch a ride in a wagon train of families from Arkansas, led by James Fancher (uh-oh, she's in trouble). She bonds with the Mormon Jake (Dane DeHaan) and his wife Abisha.
Remember the Shoshone girl who stole the knife? She uses it to kill her father or another older man who keeps sexually assaulting her. Then she stows away on Mrs. Rowell's wagon. Looks like Devin will be getting a girlfriend.
Oh, and a little too late, a bounty hunter arrives, looking for Mrs. Rowell -- turns out that is not her name. She is wanted for murdering a man in Philadelphia. Maybe her husband? So who is the fake Mrs. Rowell hoping to meet?
More after the break