Damnation (2017): Season 1

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Ratings

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7.4

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7.4	Your Score
7.4	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Ratings

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Season Details & Credits

USA | Season Premiere Date: November 7, 2017

Summary: Seth Davenport (Killian Scott) is biding his time in the guise of an Iowan preacher to start an insurrection while a strikebreaker named Creeley Turner (Logan Marshall-Green) is hired to stop any revolt by the townspeople in this 1930s drama created and written by Tony Tost.

Genre(s): Drama

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Season 1 Episodes

tbd
S1:E10. God's Body
Air Date: January 18, 2018
tbd
S1:E9. Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground
Air Date: January 11, 2018
tbd
S1:E8. The Goodness of Men
Air Date: December 26, 2017

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

Brian Lowry

Nov 7, 2017

Bleak and nasty, Damnation brings a "Mr. Robot" vibe to the Depression era, wrapping class warfare and hostility toward wanton capitalism in a drab, dusty package. The result is a bracing look backward informed by present-day parallels, in another show that feels like an outlier for USA -- one that should have critical admirers but might struggle to satisfy TV's capitalist demands. Read full review

UPROXX Alan Sepinwall

Nov 7, 2017

It’s often predictable and to the grimdark end of the Quality Drama tonal spectrum, but the period itself is fairly novel (Carnivale was over a decade ago), and it plays its familiar tunes with brisk competence. Read full review

Emily VanDerWerff

Nov 7, 2017

But still, slow-moving and enamored of its own darkness as Damnation is, there’s something vital and real in the show’s insistence that the United States’ institutions have failed and are only looking out for themselves. Read full review

IndieWire Steve Greene

Nov 7, 2017

Damnation spends so much of its early going caught in a spiral of misdirection that once the emphasis on bloodshed, doom, and duplicity wanes, a series with sharper insights might emerge. But in its current form, it’s a punishing watch, one with not much more to offer than an animalistic view of human nature. Read full review

Ken Tucker

Nov 7, 2017

A lot of Damnation feels an awful lot like homework or worse: homework you’re forced to do on the sly while sitting in church listening to a sermon. Read full review

Daniel Fienberg

Nov 7, 2017

Damnation is indisputably a good-looking show, and I think it has some things on its mind, though I wish the script had allowed the show to go more aggressively into the Man vs. Bank gear executive producer David Mackenzie brought to Hell or High Water. It's hampered by being a series that keeps its attentions most frequently honed on the aspect that engages me the least. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Brian Tallerico

Nov 7, 2017

It’s too often dull, tonally inconsistent, and just poorly written. Read full review

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User Score

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7.4

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User Reviews

LeanneMuckian

Feb 4, 2018

Brilliance!!! Please make a second season!!!!! So addictive and the characters are excellent.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Nevsnan

Feb 6, 2018

Damnation deserves a 2nd season, at least. I will be recommending this program to family and friends as a must watch. Well acted, good storylines, great camera work. I think the critics need to lighten up, or is the storyline too close for comfort.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

grndzro

Nov 22, 2017

The first episode has me hooked. It's a great contrast to all the crap shows out there pushing crap designed to brainwash us. I love old things and simply watching makes me appreciate all the antiques I have built up over the years.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Dzimas

Feb 5, 2018

Bemused by the negative reviews. The labor movement serves more as a backdrop for this grim 1930s Western. It is primarily a revenge story, and taken on that level works pretty well. There is enough social consciousness here to make you feel the main characters stand for something, in theBemused by the negative reviews. The labor movement serves more as a backdrop for this grim 1930s Western. It is primarily a revenge story, and taken on that level works pretty well. There is enough social consciousness here to make you feel the main characters stand for something, in the same spirit as Suits. It gets a little bit too complicated for its own good but the characters are compelling and so far (5 episodes) has been fun to watch.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

hallllloo

Mar 15, 2018

In Damnation geht es um Seth der ein Pfarrer ist. Zumindest glauben dies die Leute doch in Wirklichkeit es er nicht der der er zu sein vermag. Zusammend mit seiner Frau motivieren sie die Bauern zu streiken, was einige Problem mit sich zieht. Diese mit Gewalt durchzogene Western SerieIn Damnation geht es um Seth der ein Pfarrer ist. Zumindest glauben dies die Leute doch in Wirklichkeit es er nicht der der er zu sein vermag. Zusammend mit seiner Frau motivieren sie die Bauern zu streiken, was einige Problem mit sich zieht. Diese mit Gewalt durchzogene Western Serie erzählt ein spannende Geschichte von der man sich, wem man sich auf sie einlässt, mehr sehen will. Dies könnte jedoch recht schwierig werden, da sie um die 1930er Jahre spielt und so dieses ganze Westernsetting sehr unglaubwürdig wirkt.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Aeq777

Dec 29, 2018

Damnation has so many failings it's hard to describe them all here. The acting by Marshall-Green, Killian Scott, and others is certainly passable, and the dialogue is witty and sharp. The actual plot and events of the show on the other hand, are so poorly written and unbelievable, it'sDamnation has so many failings it's hard to describe them all here. The acting by Marshall-Green, Killian Scott, and others is certainly passable, and the dialogue is witty and sharp. The actual plot and events of the show on the other hand, are so poorly written and unbelievable, it's actually sad to watch Damnation. Sad because you know there are some really talented people out there who wrote excellent dialogue for the show, only to have it eclipsed by a story and plot that is constantly hindered by events that simply do not make sense.

An example would be the "saving" of the Riley farm. The preacher's wife has an "idea", which is the cliche TV show last minute genius idea that will alter the entire outcome. What this genius idea turns out to be is to hold guns and knives to people's faces during the auction so they cannot bid, and the original farm owner can win by bidding a penny. The police are there. The Bank auctioning the farm is there. After this armed robbery occurs, everyone seems to throw up their hands and exclaim "What can be done, the lady won for a penny. Never mind everyone being held at gun point". The auctioneer seemingly verifying the results. It's as if a running back pulled out a pistol during a football game, shooting the defenders in the face as he waltzes up the field, scores a touchdown, and the referrers exclaim "What can be done, he did get the ball into the end zone after all.... Never mind the murder on the way. Touchdown!". And the show just goes on, like the characters forgot what they just witnessed.

Or there's the scene where the preacher nails up Sam Riley's body to the bank. Before doing this, he holds a sermon with Sam Riley's body, and everyone clearly sees Sam's body in the preachers possession the evening before that same body is nailed to the bank. The next day, that same congregation suspects the "cowboy strikebreaker" of nailing up the body, even though they're all fully aware the last person in possession of Sam's body was the preacher? Does everyone in the congregation have a mental handicap?

The inconsistencies are numerous, and they simply reinforce the fact that script writers think simply because they can write a script, it should be so. Believable human interaction is one of the cornerstones of a solid script, without it, your story is just contrived garbage, which is what Damnation is turning out to be.

The hero is the preacher, because the script tells us so. The Preacher is somehow able to break the law, in front of the law men, numerous times, and get away with it. The show continues to promote the preachers ideals, even as those around him he is proselytizing are dying so that his agenda is progressed. As these innocents die due to the preacher's agitation, that somehow only serves to show us his cause is just, as it spreads bloodshed where it did not previously exist, all so he can fulfill his notion of class justice. At the cost of other people's lives of course.

This show is pretty bad if you're doing anything other than running it as background noise on a second screen while you play Overwatch.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Petrocelli1960

Dec 23, 2018

This would be must watch TV, if you had only one channel and it played only this show. For Pete's sake, we have a minister who uses the word f*** in a sermon. The show consists of some poor farmers who are being mistreated by a banker. The banker kills farmers, and the farmers kill theThis would be must watch TV, if you had only one channel and it played only this show. For Pete's sake, we have a minister who uses the word f*** in a sermon. The show consists of some poor farmers who are being mistreated by a banker. The banker kills farmers, and the farmers kill the banker's agents. Lots of blood. Stupid plot twists.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

SEE ALL 11 REVIEWS

Seasons & Episodes

57

Series Overview
Season 1

57
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: November 7, 2017
- tbd
  S1:E10. God's Body
  Air Date: January 18, 2018
- tbd
  S1:E9. Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground
  Air Date: January 11, 2018
- tbd
  S1:E8. The Goodness of Men
  Air Date: December 26, 2017
- tbd
  S1:E7. A Different Species
  Air Date: December 19, 2017
- tbd
  S1:E6. In Wyoming Fashion
  Air Date: December 12, 2017
- tbd
  S1:E5. Den of Lost Souls
  Air Date: December 5, 2017
- tbd
  S1:E4. The Emperor of Ice Cream
  Air Date: November 28, 2017
- tbd
  S1:E3. One Penny
  Air Date: November 21, 2017
- tbd
  S1:E2. Which Side Are You On?
  Air Date: November 14, 2017
- tbd
  S1:E1. Sam Riley's Body
  Air Date: November 7, 2017