TV-MA | 6 episodes | Drama, Action, Crime, Mystery, Thriller | 2025
Co-created and co-written by Mark L. Smith and his daughter Lauren Elle Smith, “Untamed” is the latest premium cable Western-themed TV series, and proves the once close-to-extinct genre to be far more resilient than many may have thought.
It’s being released just six months after the excellent “American Primeval,” a solo teleplay effort from the senior Smith; it also premiered on Netflix.
Some might hear the premise and say just because it’s set in the West doesn’t make it a Western. This is a valid argument. “Chinatown” (1974) and “Heaven Can Wait” (1978) were set in the West, and those aren’t Westerns by any stretch.
Is It Really a Western?
“Untamed” is set in Yosemite National Park in the modern day, although most of it was actually filmed in British Columbia. The lead character is a federal law enforcement officer (Eric Bana as Turner) investigating the highly suspicious death of an unidentified young woman. Turner carries a firearm, prefers horses to motor vehicles, and knows how to survive in the wilderness. The movie also includes at least one Native American character played by a Native American actor. Sounds like a Western to me.
Turner is an excellent character as far as conflict and friction are concerned. He clearly has a problem with alcohol, which has been exasperated by multiple traumatic past personal events. He is more than competent professionally, but possesses poor interpersonal skills. Everyone respects him, but he keeps all of those around him at arm’s length. Turner is his own self-imposed emotional maximum security prison.
Naya Vasquez (Lily Santiago) is the greenhorn park ranger assigned to assist Turner in the investigation, something he takes as a slight insult. A former Los Angeles beat cop, Santiago is looking for a new life in a new environment, but has difficulty acclimating to the Great Wide Open of a national park.
Off the clock, Turner has issues in dealing with the fact that his ex-wife Jill (Rosemarie DeWitt) has remarried. He frequently “drunk dials” her in the wee small hours of the morning. Jill lets him slide for understandable reasons revealed in the second half of the series.
Unjustified
Clocking in at around four-and-a-half hours, the six-part series doesn’t contain nearly enough non-redundant material to justify its length. Showing the same events from different perspectives always works well in productions that in some way resemble the blueprint of “Rashomon.” Here, it is spackle patching holes in the teleplay.
For instance, the Vasquez character is being stalked by her ex-boyfriend who wants her to consent to share custodianship of their toddler child. Is this worthy of inclusion? In another movie, yes. Here? No. Vasquez is interesting enough as a fish-out-of-water type. The mere mention of her backstory is sufficient in identifying her warranted paranoia.
On the other hand, the subplot focusing on the major reason behind the divorce of the Turner and Jill characters also has no effect on the outcome of the main story, but goes far in establishing the mindsets of the former couple.
It’s difficult to get into specifics of their past relationship without revealing spoilers. It’s safe to say that couples sometimes part ways for reasons beyond their control. Jill and Turner still clearly love each other and, this is important, neither have any past acts they need to apologize for or feel guilty about.
The Smiths and the three directors of the series somewhat offset the storytelling faults of the first four episodes in the final two. From an action perspective, the fifth episode is the most satisfying.
After four episodes of often plodding exploration, “Untamed” finally kicks into gear. Chase scenes (many that include fringe-character Maguire played by Wilson Bethel) deliver the much-needed release of pent-up dramatic tension in a way that will appeal to action fans.
What I respected most about “Untamed” was how it waited until the final 30 minutes before revealing the identity of the killer of Lucy Cook (Ezra Franky), who died prior to the opening scene of the series.
We’re at a point now where the premium-cable limited-crime-series thing might be at a crossroads. I get that the point of these shows: It’s to get and keep eyes stuck on the (small) screen. It makes complete sense from a marketing perspective. The longer a viewer is watching your product, less time they are checking out the other’s guy’s product.
What Netflix and other premium cable providers need to understand is that padding narratives for the sake of increasing viewing hours is ultimately a bad long-term business model.
The same people that might give up on “Untamed” by the fourth episode would hang around all the way through a standard-issue, far superior two-hour movie.
The series is now streaming on Netflix.
‘Untamed’
Directors: Thomas Bezucha, Nick Murphy, Neasa Hardiman
Starring: Eric Bana, Sam Neill, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lily Santiago
Episodes: 6
TV Parental Guidance: TV-MA
Release Date: July 17, 2025
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
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