Summary
The Madison feels like a spiritual successor to Yellowstone in its pilot, less a direct spin-off than a reminder of its most core values.
It’s very hard to consider The Madison as a spin-off of Yellowstone, which is sort of what it has been advertised as. Part of a tie-in triple-threat also comprising Marshals and The Dutton Ranch, Taylor Sheridan’s deeply contemplative neo-Western Montanaverse is certainly expanding, but if Episode 1 of this show is anything to go by, it’s also diversifying. Aside from being set in Montana and having a deeply abiding fondness for the kind of lifestyle the state allows, this is a very different show from all of those mentioned above, with no recognisable characters, no guns, and very little machismo.
Yes, this is Sheridan’s take on the contemplative family drama, an intimate, female-driven mood piece about grief, of all things, that uses the picturesque backdrop as a frame for a journey of self-discovery, wherein a privileged New York family presumably learn the true value of living off the land. That’s the impression given off by the premiere, anyway, although where it might go long-term is really anyone’s guess.
In broad terms, here’s a basic synopsis, since there are quite a lot of characters and not a great deal of explanation about who they all are. First, there’s Preston, the well-off patriarch who likes to spend his downtime fishing with his brother, Paul, in the middle of Nowhere, Montana. While on their latest trip, Preston and Paul are killed in a plane crash, leaving Preston’s wife, Stacy, to travel with their daughters, Abigail and Paige, and their granddaughters, Bridgett and Macy, to Montana to identify the bodies.
As far as I can tell, everyone works in the rather nebulous family business, including Paige’s husband, Russell, who’s also with them. And they’re very wealthy – so wealthy, in fact, that even in Preston’s absence, none of them need to work another day in their lives. But that’s far from the most pressing item on the agenda. Stacy thinks that Preston should be buried somewhere on the ranch, but her friend, Liliana, thinks he should be buried back in New York so that family can visit him whenever. The implication is pretty clear. Montana was just Preston’s little getaway retreat. Once all the formalities of his demise have been squared away, everyone will be returning to the Big Apple. Or will they?
This is the hook of The Madison in Episode 1. Stacy is faced not just with the loss of her husband but also her own mortality, and even, perhaps worse, the idea of a life lived neglecting the purer things. Preston died doing what he loved, and while there’s a strong case to be made that he wouldn’t have died quite yet if he hadn’t been doing it, there’s a similarly strong one to be made that he’d have been happy with how he went out. And that’s difficult for Stacy to reconcile, since she doesn’t have anything in her own life that she could say the same about. Throughout their largely uncomplicated, fight-free marriage, she resisted Preston’s perceived simplicity at every turn. Even while she and Abigail stay up to watch Preston’s favourite movie, A River Runs Through It, she mentions how the simplicity of men has them crying over fishing and football, not as a barb, but as a realisation that in their love of simplicity, the men might have had it right.
At Paul and Preston’s ranch, particularly in the cabin the former stayed in, Stacy wears her late husband’s clothes and makes coffee like he used to, and recalls a conversation where she dismissed his happiness with Montana and its simple, natural pleasures. Abigail is right in her advice that Stacy can’t beat herself up; that if she had been able to see the future, she would have been more receptive to Preston’s ideas of them spending time and making memories out in the wilderness. But Stacy’s also right that just because Preston is gone, that doesn’t mean that time, those memories, are lost to them. It just means making them on their own.
Stacy and Preston’s kids – especially Paige, who’s almost cartoonishly pampered – are a little dysfunctional, a little posturing, and a little snooty. They’re New York people; tourists. Paige throws a fit about eating elk, and she can’t wait to return home whenever Stacy’s mourning is finished. But that might not be any time soon, since Stacy, totally clear-headed and self-aware, decides she’s going to remain in Montana for long enough to see and do the things Preston mentioned in his journal. And she’ll do it alone, if necessary. In a sweet moment, the next morning, her entire family turns out to go on an exploratory hike with her, but whether they’re going to be able to stick it out for the long haul is another matter entirely.
