Warning: Some spoilers ahead for Untamed Season 1.
On July 8, an official trailer for Mark L. Smith and Elle Smith’s murder mystery Untamed appeared on the official Netflix YouTube channel. People were excited not only because Eric Bana and Sam Neill starred in it, but also because the overall vibe felt familiar to a series yet to be perfectly replicated: True Detective. We’re specifically talking about the first season of the HBO anthology show here. Everybody agrees that the mix between McConaughey and Harrelson’s performances, along with the cinematography and supernatural-hinting story direction, was perfect. The two-minute trailer shows that Untamed is clearly inspired by the 2014 award-winning drama. There are, of course, a few noticeable differences.
Louisiana seems to be traded out for Yosemite National Park. The spirit of the two warring homicide detectives is embodied in Kyle Turner and rookie Naya Vasquez, as well as the ever-subtle horror theme that is represented through the various shots of natural landscapes. But does Untamed successfully carry the True Detective torch all the way? Let’s find out together.
Netflix’s ‘Untamed’ Plays With the Unknown
This show does a great job of quickly bringing the viewer in — within the first minutes, a young woman’s body seemingly falls over a cliff and straight into a climber’s grapple hook. This morbid case brings in Turner, who has a troubled past involving his deceased son and ex-wife (similar to Rust and Marty’s backgrounds in True Detective). His novice partner for the case, Nora Vasquez (played by Lily Santiago), has her own unique backstory, adding depth to the case.
Nevertheless, the sweeping, foggy lands of Yosemite are highlighted in the more transitional scenes, and this eerie visual adds to the mystical notion of the park. Raoul Max Trujillo’s character, Jay Stewart, delivers cryptic dialogue at the end of the first episode, warning that the starry sky signals a rising body count. This suggests Untamed is on the right track so far. While episodes two and three reveal more details about the deceased woman, the True Detective influences remain subtle, mostly in the background. For example, some dialogue mentions evil spirits and old magic, but these lines lack the weight they held in the HBO series. They serve more as a parody, set up more like a hypothetical what-if than anything else.
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Like True Detective, which explores darker themes, Untamed focuses more on child trauma. Turner’s deceased son Caleb still haunts the agent’s life, and a creepy (but also comforting) scene is played out involving a young Lucy. The third episode, “El-o’-win”, doesn’t lean into environmental mysticism so much as it instead focuses on character development and situations. Turner’s ex-wife is very much affected by Caleb’s death as well, and Naya is rescued from a dangerous predicament inside a tight mineshaft. This realistic shift continues in the fourth episode. It seems like the closer we get to the conclusion, the more Untamed drifts away from the initial trailer tease.
‘Untamed’ Has Great Moments, But Is Afraid To Go There
Even though the fourth episode, titled “Gold Rush,” does not yet reveal the killer, any mystical or supernatural elements are dispelled by what is found in the mine. This puts a damper on any deeper True Detective similarities (even though the climax of Untamed will try to pull this off). The plot opens more on Naya, explicitly showing the explosive tension the father of her child brings into her life. His presence suggests that both the special agent and the park ranger assigned to this case have personal issues that need to be addressed, just like the homicide detective duo from 11 years ago. While the Untamed team doesn’t match the intensity of Rust and Marty, it is engrossing nonetheless. If that’s not enough from “Gold Rush,” though, we have a swampland-like biome within Yosemite early on in the episode, which will be a welcome sight for those who wanted some of that southern feel.
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Unsurprisingly, “Terces” advances the plot in a straightforward manner, with Lucy Cook’s cellphone discovered and a confrontation between Kyle and the huntsman Shane. There are some slow and suspenseful moments revolving around Yosemite Park, which, in itself, becomes a haunting presence. It’s quite creepy, albeit a bit short. As much as the previous five episodes had hints of True Detective inspiration, the final episode goes deeper than ever before.
More than once, people are revealed to be just as lawless as animals. There’s also an abandoned church with elderly people living in the connecting house, which all ties back to the deceased. Within the context of Untamed, the scene feels disjointed — but at the same time, it is influenced by a pivotal moment in a later entry of True Detective. Most importantly, the notion that Yosemite is this living, spiritual presence finally pays off during the series climax.
Although this outdoor murder mystery doesn’t match the impact of Nic Pizzolatto’s first True Detective season, Untamed has moments worth watching. All six episodes of Untamed are now available to stream on Netflix.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
