If you’ve ever scrolled through AMC’s library looking for something with the grit of Yellowstone but the historical weight of a Pulitzer-winning novel, you’ve probably bumped into The Son TV show. It’s a weird one. Honestly, it’s one of those series that people either absolutely adore for its brutality or completely missed because it aired during that awkward transition period when everyone was moving to streaming.
Pierce Brosnan plays Eli McCullough. He’s the "First Son of Texas." He was born on the day Texas became a Republic, and that’s not just a fun bit of trivia—it’s his entire personality. The show tracks his life across two timelines. One is his 1849 childhood where he’s kidnapped by Comanches. The other is 1915, where he’s a ruthless oil baron trying to keep his family from falling apart while the world changes around them. It's messy. It's violent. It’s Texas.
Most people get Westerns wrong. They think it’s all about white hats and black hats, but The Son TV show basically takes that trope and buries it in a shallow grave. Based on Philipp Meyer’s massive novel, the show tries to grapple with the idea that the "American Dream" was essentially built on a foundation of theft and blood. It’s not an easy watch, but it’s a necessary one if you want to understand why the myth of the West is so complicated.
The Pierce Brosnan Factor and Why It Worked
Let's talk about the casting. Hiring James Bond to play a rugged, morally bankrupt Texas rancher seemed like a gamble. It was. But Brosnan brings this strange, refined cruelty to Eli McCullough that actually makes sense. He isn't just a cowboy; he’s a man who survived being a captive of the Comanche and came out the other side believing that the only way to keep what you have is to take it from someone else first.
He’s charismatic. You want to like him. Then he does something truly horrific to his neighbors, the Garcia family, and you remember that this isn't a hero's journey. It’s a survival story.
The younger version of Eli, played by Jacob Lofland, is where the heart of the show really lives. Watching him transition from a terrified kid to "Pathetic Wolf" among the Comanche is some of the best television AMC has produced since the early days of Hell on Wheels. You see the scars forming, both literally and figuratively. It explains the monster he becomes in 1915.
Why The Son TV show Disappeared From the Conversation
Timing is everything in Hollywood. The Son TV show premiered in 2017. That was the same year The Handmaid’s Tale started. It was the peak of the "Prestige TV" explosion.
People were looking for the next Breaking Bad, and a slow-burn historical epic about oil and cattle felt a little too traditional for some critics. They were wrong, though. While the first season takes a minute to find its legs, the second season—which ended the series—is tight, focused, and devastating.
There's also the Yellowstone effect. Taylor Sheridan’s juggernaut came out a year later and basically sucked all the oxygen out of the room for Western-themed dramas. While Yellowstone is a soap opera with horses, The Son TV show is a historical tragedy. It’s darker. It’s less about the "cool" factor of being a rancher and more about the psychological cost of building an empire.
The Comanches: More Than Just Antagonists
One of the best things about the show is how it handles the Comanche people. Usually, in older Westerns, Indigenous characters are either villains or "noble savages." Neither of those labels fits here.
Zahn McClarnon, who plays Toshaway, is incredible. You might know him from Dark Winds or Fargo, and he brings that same level of gravity here. He becomes a father figure to young Eli, teaching him that the world is a series of overlapping circles of violence. The show doesn't shy away from the fact that the Comanche were a dominant, often brutal military power in the region. It treats them with the same complexity it gives the white settlers.
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This duality is what makes The Son TV show feel real. You aren't watching a history book. You're watching people who are all convinced they are the heroes of their own stories, even as they commit atrocities against one another.
Historical Accuracy vs. Creative License
Philipp Meyer, who wrote the book and helped produce the show, is a stickler for detail. He famously spent years researching the "Bandit War" and the specific tactics of 19th-century frontier life.
What the Show Gets Right:
- The Transition from Cattle to Oil: The 1915 timeline captures that frantic, desperate moment when ranchers realized their land was worth more for what was under it than what was on it.
- The Scalping and Warfare: It’s graphic. It’s uncomfortable. But according to historians like S.C. Gwynne (author of Empire of the Summer Moon), the frontier was exactly that brutal.
- The Racial Tensions: The conflict between the McCullough family and the Garcias reflects the very real "Matanza" or "La Matanza"—a period of state-sanctioned violence against Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in South Texas.
Where It Strays:
- The Timeline Compression: In the real world, the transformation of someone like Eli would take decades of gradual change. The show has to speed things up for drama.
- Eli's Influence: While Eli is a composite of several real Texas "First Sons," he is a fictional creation. However, his story mirrors the rise of the real-life King Ranch or the Waggoner family.
Understanding the Two-Season Arc
The show only ran for two seasons. AMC announced early on that Season 2 would be the end. This actually worked in its favor. Instead of dragging the story out for six years until it became a caricature of itself, the writers were able to drive toward a specific ending.
The theme of the final episodes is legacy. Eli wants to know what will be left of him. His son, Pete (played by Henry Garrett), is the moral compass of the show, and their conflict is the engine that drives the 1915 narrative. Pete wants to be a good man; Eli just wants to be a powerful one. You can't be both in 1915 Texas.
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The ending isn't happy. It’s honest. It shows that while empires are built on blood, they are often maintained by people who are too tired to keep fighting.
Is It Worth a Binge Watch?
Look, if you want something fast-paced and flashy, this isn't it. But if you want a show that makes you think about the land you’re standing on, The Son TV show is top-tier. It asks uncomfortable questions. Who owns the dirt? How much is a life worth? Can you ever really outrun your past?
It’s currently available on various streaming platforms like Hulu or for purchase on Amazon. It hasn't been "canceled" in the traditional sense; it was a completed story. That's a rarity these days.
Actionable Steps for Western Fans
If you've finished the show or are looking to get the most out of the experience, here is how to dive deeper into this specific era of history:
- Read the book: Philipp Meyer’s novel The Son is actually better than the show. It’s a massive, multi-generational epic that uses a third timeline (the 1980s) that the show omitted.
- Check out 'Empire of the Summer Moon': If the Comanche storyline fascinated you, this book by S.C. Gwynne is the gold standard for understanding the rise and fall of the Comanche nation.
- Visit the Bullock Texas State History Museum: If you're ever in Austin, they have exhibits specifically covering the transition from the cattle era to the oil boom that mirror Eli McCullough's journey.
- Compare it to '1883': Watch the first season of The Son alongside Taylor Sheridan’s 1883. It’s a fascinating look at two different ways of telling the story of the American frontier—one romanticized, one cynical.
The McCullough legacy is a dark one, but it’s a vital part of the American mythos. Watching the show won't just entertain you; it'll probably change the way you look at a Texas sunset. It’s not just a Western. It’s a post-mortem of a dream.