Taylor Sheridan’s Michelle Pfeiffer Drama Is Thin

Grief is, unfortunately, a core component of the human condition, because no matter a person’s background or social status, loss is universal. Taylor Sheridan’s latest family drama for Paramount+, “The Madison,” follows the Clyburn family in the aftermath of an unimaginable tragedy. The series is about the horrific shock of unexpected sorrow, how death can divide families (or bring people together) and how navigating pain can alter perspectives and paths forward. The show has interesting themes and a powerhouse performance from Michelle Pfeiffer. Unfortunately, it’s rather thin on story, relying more on stunning landscape shots and dramatic music than dynamic dialogue and narrative.

“The Madison” opens in Madison River, Montana. Though the series is set in the same universe as “Yellowstone,” this tiny town feels light-years away from the towering Dutton dynasty.  Two men, Preston (Kurt Russell) and Paul Clyburn (Matthew Fox), are enjoying their time fishing. Though the brothers own the land and cabins together, and obviously revere this very special place, only Paul lives in Montana full-time. Preston’s life is 2,000 miles east in New York City.

In New York, viewers meet Preston’s no-nonsense wife Stacy (Pfeiffer). She’s attending a charity event when she gets a call from her distraught younger daughter, Paige (Elle Chapman), claiming she’s been robbed on 5th Avenue. Ever the dedicated mother, Stacy runs to her adult daughter’s aid, fussing at her for not using a driver for her errands. (According to Sheridan, New York City is some unspeakable war zone where wealthy white one-percenters are getting attacked and robbed in broad daylight.) Later at a restaurant, the rest of the Clyburn clan is more engaged with their devices than conversing as a family. Paige’s husband, Russell (Patrick J. Adams), is rendered a perpetual outsider at a table full of women, a reflection of the script’s underdeveloped supporting characters. The eldest Clyburn daughter, Abby (Beau Garrett), and her two children, 15-year-old Bridgette (Amiah Miller) and elementary-age Macy (Alaina Pollack), round out a family dynamic painted with broad, predictable strokes.

For reasons this review cannot reveal, the Clyburns of New York find themselves in Montana to confront an unfathomable accident and all the gut-wrenching emotions and paperwork that come amid loss. Through these sequences and in flashbacks, the audience is offered additional details surrounding the Clyburns’ history. Preston and Stacy have a 45-year-long romance that began humbly and has flourished as their family and finances have grown. Though Paige initially appears to be the bratty younger sister, it’s clear she is the more career-focused and ambitious of the Clyburn daughters. By contrast, after becoming a mother at a young age, Abby has never figured out who she is or what she wants. Aside from a failed marriage and her two children, she seems rather directionless, relying on her parents to sustain her and her girls’ lifestyle.

Sadness is typically the baseline in depictions of grief. However, “The Madison” also talks about rage as another symptom of anguish. In the aftermath of the tragedy, many of the Clyburns lash out, even against those who offer condolences, including their Madison River neighbors, Cade (Kevin Zegers) and Kestrel Davis (Danielle Vasinova), Montana Sheriff Deputy Van Davis (Ben Schnetzer) and even Stacy’s best friend, Liliana Weeks (Rebecca Spence). Seeing the array of emotions and how they spill out of the Clyburns and onto others are the most compelling elements of the show. Still, when the plot shifts away from mourning, it begins to fray.

Overall, “The Madison” accurately depicts how lonely, frightening and infuriating confronting death can be. The still-living members of the Clyburn family act out their heartbreak in a variety of ways. There are, of course, the expected sobbing spells, the exhaustion that grows while trying to move forward and all of the legal and logistical red tape that sprouts forth when someone’s life comes to an end. Yet, instead of a thoroughly unpacked first season, the six episodes feel like a prologue of what’s to come, perhaps because a second season of “The Madison”  has already been greenlit. It will be interesting to see how the Clyburns’ story expands and if it can do so in a way that sustains the narrative and characters over many seasons. For now, it all feels much more trite than profound. 

The first three episodes of “The Madison” debut March 14 on Paramount+, with the remaining three episodes streaming March 21.