Godless

:

Season 1
  • Network: Netflix
  • Series Premiere Date: Nov 22, 2017
User Score
7.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 200 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 139 out of 200
  2. Mixed: 24 out of 200
  3. Negative: 37 out of 200

Review this tv show

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling

User Reviews

view
per page
  1. andreamonetlump
    Nov 24, 2017
    5
    everyone needs a little godless in her life. Some honesty is a good thing. I wonder about the characters in this. Some seem you know like kinda flat.
  2. Thirdrail
    Nov 27, 2017
    6
    It's an extremely predictable and formulaic western, with a solid cast and excellent production values. There are a ton of interesting characters in Godless (a whole town full of them, really), but sadly, none of them ever escape the B story. Mostly it's a poor man's imitation of Pale Rider. which leads into the inevitable Magnificent Seven finale. In the end, you're left with one mainIt's an extremely predictable and formulaic western, with a solid cast and excellent production values. There are a ton of interesting characters in Godless (a whole town full of them, really), but sadly, none of them ever escape the B story. Mostly it's a poor man's imitation of Pale Rider. which leads into the inevitable Magnificent Seven finale. In the end, you're left with one main story (two dudes ride horses around aimlessly while coping with their anger problems) which could easily have been told in two hours but gets stretched in eight or nine hours, and a secondary story (about a town full of widows and the rancher woman they may or may not have all conspired to betray) that should have been eight or nine hours, but only gets two or three. It's also weird that this was heralded as some kind of feminist western, because even the sections of Godless that are supposedly about the women are needlessly burdened with not one but two separate male coming of age stories.… Expand
  3. 998817268
    Nov 22, 2017
    5
    The first episode is both boring, and in need of exposition. It appears to begin in medias res, and the themes of the show are developed through interactions between an incompetent sheriff, a bandit on the run, and a town full of frontierswomen. The whole thing is clearly, slowly leading to a confrontation between the bandit's ex-leader, and the people who give him shelter. It just hasn'tThe first episode is both boring, and in need of exposition. It appears to begin in medias res, and the themes of the show are developed through interactions between an incompetent sheriff, a bandit on the run, and a town full of frontierswomen. The whole thing is clearly, slowly leading to a confrontation between the bandit's ex-leader, and the people who give him shelter. It just hasn't managed to convince me to come along for the ride.… Expand
  4. apannilsson
    Nov 23, 2017
    5
    Missed opportunity to make something fun and exciting.
    It's an ok western, but the story is kinda boring and puts way to much focus on the most mainstream and boring characters.
    There is a whole town of interesting widows, an interesting love story in the town over, but they all get to take the back seat for a slow and tedious rivalry between two outlaw men with troubled pasts. Again,    Missed opportunity to make something fun and exciting.
    It's an ok western, but the story is kinda boring and puts way to much focus on the most mainstream and boring characters.
    There is a whole town of interesting widows, an interesting love story in the town over, but they all get to take the back seat for a slow and tedious rivalry between two outlaw men with troubled pasts.
    Again, it's an ok series, and some really nice characters. But unfortunately nothing out of the ordinary.
    Which is a shame because the premise of the series sounded so good.
    It's a 5 because yeah. It's ok and yeah, I finished it. But only barely.    … Expand
  5. Dodger
    Dec 3, 2017
    6
    Excellent show (with a few pacing issues), gets better and better all the way through, right up until the second half of the last episode.
    At this point all the tension, story and tone that had been built up just flies out the window as it takes a nosedive into cliches and mediocrity, such a disappointing end to what was otherwise an very good series.
    TL;DR Good show, Poor pacing,    Excellent show (with a few pacing issues), gets better and better all the way through, right up until the second half of the last episode.
    At this point all the tension, story and tone that had been built up just flies out the window as it takes a nosedive into cliches and mediocrity, such a disappointing end to what was otherwise an very good series.

    TL;DR Good show, Poor pacing, Terrible ending.    … Expand
  6. shoulderoforion
    Nov 25, 2017
    6
    Juuuuuuuust barely worth your time, this Western hits all the tropes, the acting is decent, but the directing seems to have been done by a 12 year old who had no idea how to instruct his actors. Maybe it was miscasting, but I don't think so. The scenery is nice but the story is staid & I found myself rolling my eyes a few times. In this holiday deatpatch of lack of new TV, this is justJuuuuuuuust barely worth your time, this Western hits all the tropes, the acting is decent, but the directing seems to have been done by a 12 year old who had no idea how to instruct his actors. Maybe it was miscasting, but I don't think so. The scenery is nice but the story is staid & I found myself rolling my eyes a few times. In this holiday deatpatch of lack of new TV, this is just an ok way to waste some time. It could have been so much better.… Expand
  7. Truth_of_Pisces
    Dec 13, 2017
    6
    It's definitely one of the better Westerns to come out in recent years and features impeccable acting from a solid cast, a surprisingly decent performance from Jeff Daniels, good writing and film-worthy production values...but it's just not much fun to watch.
  8. rushing
    Dec 6, 2017
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I really liked this show until (like normal Hollywood), the black people get killed. The white people are the both the good and bad people. The black people are tertiary characters -- blameless and faultless in the drama in supporting roles. Then what happens, you KILL them. Imagine for a minute white people -- every movie you watched were filled with black people and 3 or 4 tertiary white people. Then they kill them. See Luke Cage for a representation of our constant movie experience. So frustrating!… Expand
  9. dinojay2
    Sep 6, 2018
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Enjoyed it in the early going, which is why I gave it this much of a rating. They took their time building the backstory and moving the plot, and Daniels was great. Their attention to detail in most areas made me feel they were building to an impressive climax. Then I had to sit through one of the dumbest and least plausible shootouts I've seen, at least since watching the Lone Ranger as a kid. I'd say roughly three times as many bad guys died as actually existed, probably because all their years of violence and mayhem hadn't yet taught them that standing still in a large group in plain sight was a dangerous strategy. Wasn't a concern for the main villain, however, nobody bothered to shoot him while he stood around gazing balefully. Nor our unlikely hero, who somehow walked up behind them all without anyone noticing, but didn't bother to start shooting until they all had a chance to get ready and aim at him. Poorly, though, as it turns out. After 6 1/2 episodes I just couldn't take any more and turned it off at that point, but I'm sure the villain's final cliched comeuppance was spectacularly hackneyed. Extremely disappointing.… Expand
  10. kennfusion
    Dec 26, 2018
    6
    A little long and inconsistent overall. About 3 hours of the 7 are great, the other 4 should have been cut. There are a lot of side stories that just don't go anywhere and fall flat, and fall away in the finalbuild up, which results in the ending being anti-climatic and cliche.
  11. JulianIncen
    May 5, 2019
    5
    Godless isn't the feminist western they wanted to sell us, but it's not the opposite either and that's fine. Although the series strives to highlight every moment with details and leave answers to the imagination of the viewer, the story itself does not fully fill the duration of their episodes.

Awards & Rankings

65
#65 Best TV Season of 2017
41
#41 Most Discussed TV Season of 2017
22
#22 Most Shared TV Season of 2017

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 25 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 25
  3. Negative: 0 out of 25
  1. Variety
    Reviewed by: Sonia Saraiya
    Dec 14, 2017
    50
    It’s disappointing that such a beautiful show, with such fine performers, could not have offered more than an outdated fairy tale.
    Read full review
  2. The Daily Beast
    Reviewed by: Nick Schager
    Dec 4, 2017
    80
    Godless is a work of confident artistry, casting well-worn clichés and archetypes in a fresh, illuminating light.
    Read full review
  3. RogerEbert.com
    Reviewed by: Allison Shoemaker
    Nov 29, 2017
    70
    Even if the flaws remain obvious, it’s worth following this story into the desert. There’s great acting to be found, and some thoughtful writing--and if you like sweeping panoramas of the sun setting across an untamed wild, then you’re in excellent, if heavy, hands.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »