The Checklist: Frontier (S1 Ep1) “A Kingdom Unto Itself”
It’s about time that a show looked back into the wild colonial times of North America. I’m a big fan of Turn but even it gets a little ridiculous with the dramatic storytelling of some of the events and characterizations of real life people. I’m going into Frontier with almost no knowledge of what it’s going to be about. I assume that Jason Momoa will take his shirt off all the time and probably throw tomahawks or axes in every episode, but other than that I don’t have a lot of pre-conceived notions about what might happen. That can be a very good thing for me. I love the era, the historical setting, and I just finished reading several books leading up to the American War for Independence and a book on the Lewis and Clarke expedition so I’m ready for some fur trading action!
Synopsis: Follows Declan Harp, a part-Irish, part-Native American outlaw who is campaigning to breach the Hudson’s Bay Company’s monopoly on the fur trade in Canada.
1. Does Jason Momoa take his shirt off?
What in the world is happening here? Have I completely lost my mind or did this entire episode just go by without Jason Momoa showing his chiseled pecs? I guess I was way off base when I thought this show was going to pander to the star and his legions of female fans by showing his bod off in every episode. This one is on me.
0/1
2. How many hatchets/tomahawks does Momoa hurl?
Another swing and a miss. One of the only things I saw about Frontier before viewing it was a spot with Jason Momoa on a late night show flinging an ax at target and getting the ladies and the historical reenactors all worked up. I assumed that it would be a skill that he used often throughout the 6 episode series. Again, another one of my pre judgments was proven wrong and it looks like Frontier will start off slowly.
0/2
3. Are we all just “White Devil’s”?
Most shows that have a considerable amount of Native actors seems to show the intruding Europeans as nothing more than what I consider “White Devils”. That is, when they’re not falsely showing the Natives as some sort of savage people who do nothing but scalp, kidnap, rape, and murder. Luckily for us, Frontier doesn’t appear to be the type of show that will vilify the Natives like shows did back in the day and while most of the Euro characters probably fall more into the grey area, they aren’t all bad. Half a point.
.5/3
4. Is the New World nothing but drinking, whoring, and killing?
Before the end of the episode really starts driving the plot into full gear, much of the run time is spent showing Landon Liboiron’s main character Michael Smythe making his way to the New World and taking a gig trying to infiltrate the infamous Declan Harp’s crew. It’s kinda like The Departed but without Matt Damon and way less terrible accents. Smythe’s attempt to find a guide that can take him to Harp, of course, leads him to the local drink house where there is no shortage of dirty, drunken, murderers. Hell, Smythe is only on land for a minute before he sees a dude get shanked like an unnamed character from OZ. No whores yet, but I’m holding out hope.
1.5/4
5. Is there some quality British soldier killing or what?
Oh yeah. Declan Harp (Momoa) kills quite a few British soldiers in the first episode and there is no reason to believe he’ll slow down any time soon. We aren’t given the exact reason as to why he hates them with such a passion but you can imagine it’s something gruesomely revenge-worthy. My immediate guess is something with his Native mother. Either way, colonial Great Britain continues to give us some of the most easy to hate scheming bad guys in these historical projects and I, for one, absolutely love it.
2.5/5
The score is deceiving in that it looks bad, but it really means that this show wasn’t the by-the-books lameness that I thought it might be. It was much more of a slow burn when it came to the Declan Harp character. Momoa didn’t get too much screen time and it feels like his character and his entire crew are going to be the types of fellas that could make life for the British Hudson Bay Company Hell on Earth. I’m definitely excited to watch more.
