'Billy the Kid' Episode 1 Review: EPIX's western drama is intriguing and hits all the right notes
In 2018, ‘Yellowstone’ reinvented the genre of western dramas and told the world how these shows can be engaging and thrilling as well. Since then, we have seen a lot of shows trying to achieve what the aforementioned show has. EPIX’s latest western drama ‘Billy the Kid’ is the newest entrant in the genre and looks to woo viewers by re-introducing one of the most fierce outlaws the world has ever produced.
The series is based on the life of Billy the Kid, who was an outlaw and a gunfighter of the American Old West. Although there have already been a couple of projects on the gunfighter, none of them showed his backstory as closely as the EPIX series. The first episode of the series shows Billy, whose real name was Henry McCarty, as a child and leading a happy life with his parents and relatives. However, things are looking bleak for the family because there is no work for them in New York. So, the family decides to move to Kansas because of the government’s advertisement that it wants young men and women there for all kinds of work.
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Just like always, the government disappoints and when the family reaches Kansas, there is literally nothing like what they were promised in that advertisement. One of the most intriguing things about the first episode is that even though it dives deeper into his life and shows what his childhood was like, the show never tends to lose its momentum. The journey to the West has been captured beautifully and there are some shots that will make you gasp.
Apart from all the western stuff shown in the first episode, it primarily focuses on two issues: immigrants and mental health. Billy’s parents were of Irish Catholic ancestry and it was hard for his father Patrick McCarty (Joey Batey) to find a job. So, they decided to move to the West. However, when they reached there, things were even worse there and that made Billy’s father mentally disturbed. During the journey, he lost most of his valuable stuff in an unfortunate accident and saw one of his loved ones getting shot by the horse thieves. So, all these things made him feel like a failure and his mental health continued going down. This is no different from what many people feel these days and how anxiety creeps up when they know that things are changing fast and they are not able to do anything. A lot of people would relate to that part of the episode.
The cinematography is brilliant and the writing is absolutely top-notch. Although we see just a glimpse of Tom Blyth as Billy the Kid in the opening episode, he looks promising. However, Jonah Collier, the child actor who plays Young Billy, is undoubtedly the breakout star. He will charm you with his innocence and also make you understand how a child’s mind adapts to change.
Meanwhile, Eileen O’Higgins as Kathleen McCarty is superb as well.
All in all, the first episode of ‘Billy the Kid’ hits all the right notes with an intriguing premise and well-written screenplay. Highly recommended.
