Adapt or Perish
Main Cast: Eric Bana, Sam Neill
Creator: Mark L. Smith, Elle Smith
I am a huge fan of the wilderness. Not that I want to go out into it, but I love that it exists and is protected, and that other, braver people can enjoy it. And take pictures and videos for me to watch from my house. I watched Untamed primarily to see the vast beauty of Yosemite National Park.
I was not disappointed.
Eric Bana stars as Kyle Turner. Kyle works as a federal agent inside Yosemite, assisting park rangers when a crime is committed. So it makes sense for him to show up when the body of a young woman shows up at El Capitan. Literally on the face of El Capitan.
The first scenes tell you everything you need to know about Untamed. They set up the plot and establish Kyle as a cranky but intuitive investigator, are incredibly choreographed and filmed, and assure us that the park is an essential element of the story.
The story is a murder mystery combined with several painful personal journeys. Sometimes people retreat to the wilderness for a reason. Lily Santiago is Naya Vasquez, a rookie ranger who joins Kyle in the investigation. Sam Neill is their boss and mentor, and Rosemarie DeWitt is Kyle’s ex-wife. These four characters make up the heart of Untamed, with the able backup of an excellent supporting cast.
Untamed takes us deep into Yosemite and gives us a look at the people who seek its solitude and take comfort in its wildness. It’s beautiful and dangerous and filled with wonders. Kyle and Naya do a lot of their investigating on horseback, offering us some of the more stunning images from inside the park.
The story is deep and twisty and ultimately very satisfying. Creators Mark L. Smith (who wrote The Revenant and American Primeval) and Elle Smith (who wrote The Marsh King’s Daughter) wisely tangle the plot with some unpredictable, chaotic natural elements that both add tension and confound the investigators.
My only issue with Untamed is that it’s hard to get to know Kyle well enough, quickly enough, for him to be a sympathetic protagonist. His story is a necessary part of the narrative, so it’s an understandable dilemma. The showrunners can’t spool out his mysteries so fast that they ruin the flow of the overall story. Eric Bana is a little too closed and curmudgeonly. Lily Santiago, on the other hand, does a beautiful job with the role of Naya. She also has her own story, but her character is more likable from the beginning.
Overall, Untamed is a solid six episodes of mystery in the wilderness. It would stand alone as a mini-series just fine, but for some reason Netflix is bringing it back for a second season. That’s confusing given their history of unwarranted cancelations (yes, I’m talking about The Residence), but I guess we’ll see where it goes.
Sue reads a lot, writes a lot, edits a lot, and loves a good craft. She was deemed “too picky” to proofread her children’s school papers and wears this as a badge of honor. She is also proud of her aggressively average knitting skills She is the Editorial Director at Silver Beacon Marketing and an aspiring Crazy Cat Lady.
