Taylor Kitsch as Isaac in American Primeval. Matt Kennedy/Netflix

Hollywood’s fascination with tales of the Wild West, a vast and majestic land that was “tamed” by daring pioneers, peaked sometime in the middle of the last century. But it’s stuck with us as foundational American mythology, one of the cornerstones of our cultural identity. Today, of course, these romantic visions of life on the trail have been challenged by more realistic accounts of violence, disease, exploitation, and genocide. The new Netflix miniseries American Primeval is set in a particularly bloody time and place in the saga of Western colonization, and there’s nothing pretty or palletable about it. Quite the contrary — it’s hard to imagine that the real thing could’ve been any uglier than this. It’s grim beyond realism or even nihilism, pushing into the realm of willful narrative cruelty. And while some of the greatest art is built around death and despair, American Primeval is not nearly artful enough to compensate for how miserable it is to watch.

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The six-part series takes place in 1857, in the part of Utah Territory that is now Wyoming. During this time, the United States’ claim on this land was contested not only by the indigenous Shoshone, Utes, and Paiutes, but by Brigham Young, the appointed Governor of Utah Territory and sitting President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Caught in the crossfire, as the opening title cards explain, are countless innocent men, women, and children. The ensemble drama is a tapestry of interweaving tragedies in which characters are........

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