It’s always a good day when we have Jason Momoa back on the small screen, embodying the sort of role he seems built for—a character that is gritty and dangerous, prone to violence, but with a surprising depth and nuance. And that’s exactly the sort of role that he steps into in the series he starred in back in 2019, which has now claimed the number 8 spot on the FlixPatrol Top 10 Streaming list for Netflix.
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The Red Road is one of those shows that deserved more time than it got, diving deep into issues of generational trauma, social injustice, and the question of how far we would go to protect the people we love. For both of the series’ main characters, Phillip Kopus (Momoa) and Harold Jensen (Martin Henderson), the answer to that question is seemingly “all the way to the edge.” The show itself centers around the disappearance of a young student from a college town, and how that one event threatens to unravel the life of not only Sheriff Jensen, but his family and the Lenape tribe living in the nearby Ramapo Mountains.
The Red Road Was Good And Could Have Been Great
While the show’s overall writing feels a bit uneven, the performances are nothing short of incredible, sticking with you long after you’ve turned off the TV. Chuck Barney of The Mercury News said that while not of the same caliber as series like True Detective or Broadchurch, The Red Road “is better than most, and it succeeds at drawing dramatic tension not from lots of plot-twist fireworks, but from the long-simmering resentments, private shames, and historical injustices embedded in a community few viewers are familiar with.” Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert agrees, saying, “One will notice a strong sense of setting almost immediately as sweat drips from the back of a neck or crickets chirp loudly on the soundtrack. This is a place where darkness hides around corners, but also a place of white picket fences.”
The Red Road would have only benefited from at least one more season, and perhaps a few new additions to the writer’s room. It’s one of those shows that tackles issues others shy away from, not afraid to stare violence in the face and ask its audience to choose a side.
Do you think The Red Road should have had a third season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments, and then head over to the ComicBook forum to keep the conversation going.
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