‘1883’ hits all the right notes

Taylor Sheridan’s prequel sequence, “1883,” is a sprawling epic tracing the Wagons West roots of the modern-day-working day Montana ranching ranch spouse and children headed by “Yellowstone” patriarch John Dutton (Kevin Costner).

Sheridan and “Yellowstone” co-creator John Linson (who’s an government-producer here) have replicated that series’ winning formula in “1883,” streaming on Paramount+: a reliable solid headed by Tim McGraw, Sam Elliott (and his mustache), Religion Hill and Isabel Could and a gripping storyline and lush images lending it an air of authenticity.

Elliott performs crusty, globe-weary Pinkerton detective Shea Brennan, who’s mourning the reduction of his spouse and daughter, victims of the smallpox epidemic of 1878. Heartbroken, he throws his energies into encouraging to escort a wagon teach of German-immigrant families across the hazardous Good Plains from Fort Really worth to the hoped-for promised land in Oregon, 2,000 miles to the north. He’s joined by his trusted deputy, Thomas (LaMonica Garrett) and they know they are unwell-prepared to lead the harmless group through this dangerous and deadly terrain (murderous assaults, cholera, you title it).

Brennan and Thomas bolster their crew with the addition of the Duttons. James Dutton (McGraw) is a Civil War veteran who invested three decades in a Union jail and nearly starved-to-dying. He is aware how to cope with himself (and his gun). He’s also headed north — with no unique destination in head (he’ll know it when he sees it, he claims) — with his wife Margaret (Hill) and their children: new-confronted 17-calendar year-aged dreamer Elsa (May well) and her much-more youthful brother, John (Audie Rick). Their extended spouse and children contains Margaret’s Bible-thumping buzzkill sister, Claire (Dawn Olivieri) and her surly, indicate-women daughter, Mary Abel (Emma Malouff), who has it out for Cousin Elsa.

Before way too extended (you know it is just a matter of time) tragedy strikes the wagon teach, Elsa’s rose-coloured see of lifestyle is transformed for good and the trials and tribulations of Brennan, Thomas, the Duttons and their German-immigrant compatriots is sorely examined as the group continues its trek north — and into the unfamiliar.

The inaugural season of “1883” (I hope we’ll see a Period 2) was filmed all over Texas and Montana, and both of those of people locales lend the series a 19th century taste of sweat, dust, alcoholic beverages, tobacco juice and petticoats. Casting Sam Elliott as Brennan was a feather in Sheridan’s cap — you just look at him and imagine: “Old West.” Married place songs stars McGraw and Hill, both of whom guest-starred on “Yellowstone,” maintain their individual versus the cast’s a lot more seasoned actors, as does Could, who co-starred reverse Paris Berelc in the Netflix sitcom “Alexa and Katie” (and in a handful of “Young Sheldon” episodes on CBS).

If I have a minimal quibble, it’s with the series’ liberal use of profanity, notably the f-bomb which, to me, strikes a discordant notice in a historic time period piece. But which is a modest blemish, and “1883” hits all the suitable notes as an absorbing piece of fiction. As an included reward, there is Billy Bob Thornton as a hard, terse US Marshal and, briefly, Tom Hanks, who materializes as a sympathetic Union normal in a flashback scene to the aftermath of the 1862 Battle of Antietam, which claimed the lives of practically 23,000 Union and Confederate soldiers — but spared a wounded, dazed James Dutton, however reliving its horrors about two a long time afterwards.