The Madison

If fans of gritty westerns are expecting The Madison to be another Yellowstone, they’ll be sorely disappointed. Taylor Sheridan’s new Paramount+ series is a Western with a heart, made thoroughly enjoyable by wonderful performances from acting legends Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell.

The Clyburns are a liberal New York family drowning in riches. Matriarch Stacy (Pfeiffer) is a philanthropist who shows immense compassion for the poor, while her younger daughter, Paige (Elle Chapman), is sensitive to issues surrounding race. Yet, they spend their days shopping in Manhattan and dining with their elite circle of similarly rich (and white) friends. Meanwhile, patriarch Preston (Russell) loves retreating to his Montana cabin, where he lives a Thoreau-esque existence free from the trappings of a bourgeois lifestyle. But the Clayburns band together following a tragedy and decide to swap the Big Apple for the Montana mountains.

Pfeiffer and Russell are perfectly cast, both carrying themselves with understated presence. Befitting a series headed by two Hollywood icons, it has an undeniable cinematic quality, with the mountainous landscape becoming a character in and of itself. There are meditations on place and belonging in the vein of 1980s weepies like Beaches or On Golden Pond. This gives it somewhat of a nostalgic feel, which is likely the point of a series about a return to simple living.

There’s a pervasive, subtle critique of capitalism. Early on, Stacy gazes in horror as her entire family scrolls mindlessly on their phones during a family dinner, an act she deems not just offensive to her, but to the staff who wait on them. Once in Montana, the Clyburns have to learn to live without the luxuries to which they have become accustomed. The Clyburn kids are so sheltered from the real world that they don’t know how to cook; in fact, they can’t even fathom how fruit grows from the ground. But it’s Stacy’s aforementioned compassion that enables her to thrive in the family’s new digs.

The pacing is undoubtedly slow, and it’s a series that requires a level of patience. It, therefore, may not be for those who have come to expect made-for-bingeing TV. As such, it’s a welcome antithesis to densely-packed, episodic streaming.

The Madison is an evocative, back-to-basics drama that asks us to reassess what’s most important in our lives. And it just might make you want to stop scrolling (well, if only for a minute).