Before ‘MobLand’, Pierce Brosnan Starred in This Perfect ‘Landman’ Replacement
Unlike Taylor Sheridan’s hit Western series, the Brosnan-led show was far from fulfilling the critics’ expectations — here’s what they said about the matter.
Pierce Brosnan might be a tough crime family patriarch in the Tom Hardy-led hit show MobLand, but before he was just as tough a Texas oil industry baron, and you might have never known.
Several years prior, the actor starred in Philip Meyer’s Western drama The Son based on the latter’s 2013 novel of the same name.
The TV series, the premise of which might sound just way too familiar for those waiting for the next season of Taylor Sheridan’s Landman, lasted two seasons and eventually came to its end back in 2019.
What Is ‘The Son’ About?
Starring Brosnan as charismatic Texas rancher Eli McCullough and Landman’s actual actor Jacob Lofland as a younger version of the same character, The Son tackles the same issues as Taylor Sheridan’s hit TV show, exploring the inner world of a ranch owner and oilman struggling to find peace with his family.
Meyer’s series tracks the McCullough family’s history across around 150 years and several generations, following Brosnan’s character through hardships of maintaining his business empire and ensuring it will be in the right hands when he retires.
However, just like in Sheridan’s Landman, The Son is mostly about fighting for power with the outsiders, as McCullough looks for ways to make sure his Spanish neighbor Pedro Garcia is out of the competition.
What Critics and Viewers Say About ‘The Son’
- On Rotten Tomatoes, The Son keeps scores of 52% and 84% from critics and audiences
- On IMDb, the show is rated 7.5/10
Pierce Brosnan’s Western series had much less luck with critics than Landman back in the day, with The Son receiving backlash for not offering its viewers anything new in particular.
“Ultimately, the show's insistence on clinging to the same overrepresented, white male perspective is where it fails repeatedly in each timeline”, Guardian’s Minda Honey noted.
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“A disappointingly ordinary multigenerational saga that wears its prosaic philosophical conundrum like a dusty, but store-bought, set of cowboy duds”, AV Club’s Dennis Perkins wrote.
The viewers, however, were seeing things from a much more positive perspective. “The Best Western Tv Show you are ever going to see. If you like slow paced but build up storylines then this show is for you”, user jellsije j commented on Rotten Tomatoes’ website.
“ABSOLUTELY stunning and expansive take on a multigenerational epic that leaves you with a knot in your stomach throughout”, another user shared.
