Emily Blunt is Cornelia Locke, a lady from London bound for the American West — Cain County, Wyoming, to be precise — to exact revenge against the man responsible for the death of her son.
Unbeknownst to Cornelia, the man she’s after has learned of her journey and has a reception waiting for her when a stage drops her off in High Plains, Kansas.
It’s a reception she’s not supposed to survive.
But the same man responsible for seeing to her demise also has beaten and tied up a former Pawnee scout for the cavalry named Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer).
Why?
Because the Indian had the gall to walk into his hotel and order a drink.
Well, the Pawnee escapes and winds up rescuing Cornelia in the process.
Then she convinces him to help guide her at least pay way to her destination as he travels toward his. Whipp plans to stake claim to 160 acres of land in Nebraska.
Along the way, the lady from London quickly toughens as she learns the ways of life on the frontier. And as she learns to consider every stranger she meets on her journey as potential danger.
She even winds up returning the favor, rescuing Whipp from an Indian-turned-bootlegger. He’s looking for information about the massacre of the Indian camp 15 years earlier and knows Whipp was there.
Turns out Thomas Trafford (Tom Hughes), the man who once wanted to marry Cornelia, was also at the scene of that massacre.
He wound up helping settle the area around Cain County. Now he’s desperately trying to hang on to the ranch he built on the American frontier.
A former employee would like nothing better than to see Trafford go bust.
And that long-ago Indian massacre at a place known as Chalk River proves to be the root of many of the problems in Cain County.
It was the root of Emily’s troubles too.
Emily Blunt as Cornelia Locke, the London lady who travels to the American West for a reunion with the man responsible for her child’s death in The English (2022)
Chaske Spencer as Eli Whipp, posting his trip to Nebraska to help Cornelia Locke in The English (2022)
Review:
Emily Blunt turns in an outstanding performance as the lead character in this beautifully filmed six-part series released on Amazon Prime in November 2022.
And don’t let the Season 1 notation scare you off. This part of Cornelia’s story ends — and will likely leave you emotionally moved — even if there isn’t a Season 2.
The fact that her character develops a strong bound with the former Pawnee scout won’t surprise anyone who’s seen a trailer for the series.
What might be surprising is that this series is even more reminiscent of Spaghetti Westerns than “That Dirty Black Bag,” a show the promotes itself as such.
We have a solitary figure with a secret in her past on a quest for revenge. She finds an unlikely ally in that quest.
She’s determined to see her journey through to the end in spite of ever-escalating obstacles and dangers.
There are flashbacks; one lasts an entire episode. There are quick bursts of violence. Lots of them.
And it takes quite a while for the story to unravel and for viewers to learn the identity of the individual Cornelia is after.
The drawbacks: Cornelia’s adaption to life in the West seems awfully rapid. It’d be nice if we could understand about 50 percent more of the dialog that spouts from the mouth of the show’s main villain.
The story meanders. Occasionally, you’re likely to be a bit confused.
Stick with it. Because the story is unique. And the sixth episode is a wonderfully done.
Tom Hughes as Thomas Trafford, a man desperately trying to hold onto his ranch in The English (2022)
Stephen Rea as Sheriff Robert Marshall, making a point with Thomas Trafford over problems on his ranch in The English (2022)
Directed by:
Hugo Blick
Cast:
Emily Blunt … Cornelia Locke
Chaske Spencer … Eli Whipp
Tom Hughes … Thomas Trafford
Steve Wall … Thin Kelly
Stephen Rea … Sheriff Robert Marshall
Valerie Pachner … Martha Myers
Malcolm Storry … Red Morgan
Nicholas Aaron … Billy Myers
Miguel Alvarez … Timothy Flynn
William Belleau … Kills on Water
Walt Klink … Jed Myes
Cristian Solimeno … Clay Jackson
Tadhg Murphy … Tap O’Neil
Rafe Spall … David Melmont
Julian Bleach … Jerome McClintock
Jan Knightley … Capt. Clegg
Rod Rondeaux … Trooper Charlie White
Corey Bird … Young White Moon
Sam Alexander … Trooper Scott
Tonantzin Carmelo … Touching Ground
Nichola McAuliffe … Black Eyed Mog
Andy Williams … Sgt. Ellroy
Kristian Phillips … Madoc Morgan
Ben Temple … Dutch Van de Lote
Gary Farmer … John Clarke
Arturo Vazquez …. Evan Morgan
Runtime: 316 min.
Steve Wall as Thin Kelly, one of Thomas Trafford most trusted cowhands in The English (2022)
Rafe Spall as David Melmont, ready to help three cavalry troopers kills some Indians in The English (2022)
Memorable lines:
Cornelia Locke: “The difference between what we want and what we need, well that was something we had both yet to learn.”
Cavalry trooper to Eli Whipp, his retiring sergeant: “Just remember, in here, you’ve been one of us. But out there, you’re one of them.”
Cornelia Locke: “Why do you have to drive so bloody fast?”
Mr. Woods: “Indians.”
Cornelia: “What? What Indians?”
Woods: “Ghost dancers.”
Cornela: “Dancing Indians? That’s something to be afraid of?”
Woods: “Is when they stop.”
Emily Blunt as Cornelia Locke meets Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer), tied up and beaten, when she arrives in Kansas in The English (2022)
Emily Blunt as Cornelia Locke and Chaske Spencer as Eli Whipp, becoming partners in a mission of vengeance in The English (2022)
Woods, of the man she’s after: “He wanted journey’s end here.”
Cornelia: “In the middle of nowhere.”
Woods: “The real America. Maybe (I’ll) see if I can’t plant a cottonwood on top of you. Make you part of it.”
Woods, as Cornelia spits out her prairie oyster: “Not quite the woman I expected.”
Cornelia, who’s been threatened with rape, then murder: “You’re everything I’d expect of a man.”
Eli Whipp to Cornelia: “The difference between what you need and what you want is what you can put on a horse.”
Jan Knightley as Captain Clegg, a road bandit Eli and Cornelia run across in The English (2022)
Nichola McAuliffe, scarred by the Indians when she was young and still seeking revenge in The English (2022)
Indian named Charlie, when his bandit partner has urged a traveler to run back to his pregnant wife: “You gonna let him go?”
Capt. Clegg: “No. But at least when you put an arrow through his heart, it’ll be full of hope.”
Capt. Clegg, trying to rob Eli and Cornelia: “What’s in her bags?”
Eli Whipp: “Nothing worth dying for.”
Capt. Clegg: “So hand them over.”
Cornelia: “I notice this about you. You keep saying these negative things, then always end up doing the opposite.”
Eli Whipp: “Yeah, well, maybe I’d better start listening to myself.”
Gary Farmer as John Clarke, the man who trades in goods stolen from those traveling West in The English (2022)
Kimberly Guerrero as Katie Clarke, the Indian wife of John Clarke and a woman fully aware of her husband’s illegal activies in The English (2022)
Cornelia, in her London home: “I sometimes wonder if there’s horror in us all.”
David Melmont: “There is. Which is why pretty rooms like this are so important. They keep it from us.”
Cornelia to one of Black Eyed Mog’s sons: “Mommy said you want to have some fun with me. Right now, I’d say shooting your (privates) clean off would be about the most fun a woman could have. Lucky for you, I’m not feeling very funny.”
Cornelia, tossing Black Eyed Mog’s glasses in the dirt at the bootlegging compound of Kills on Water: “I’ve come for Eli Whipp.”
Eli Whipp: “You got a secret? One you ain’t yet told?”
Cornelia drops her eyes, declining to answer.
Eli: “It’s okay. You ain’t the only one.”
Valerie Pachner as Martha Myers, spotting a destroyed section of ranch on her hard-scramble ranch in The English (2022)
Nicholas Aaron as Billy Myers, one of the men in on the massacre of Indians at Chalk River in The English (2022)
Cornelia: “You think I’m traveling with hope? No, Eli. Just without fear. And you know why? Cause I’m dead already.”
Major McKay, after telling tales of his days as a buffalo hunter: “You don’t hunt in England?”
Cornelia: “Not if it results in the extermination of an entire people.”
Cornelia: “Whatever happens next, don’t put yourself at risk.”
Eli: “Never been anything but.”
Cornelia: “But not for me.”
Eli to Cornelia: “Sometimes you have to see a thing just to let it go.”
Tonantzin Carmelo as Touching Ground, celebrating the death of two white men in The English (2022)
Julian Bleach as Jerome McClintock, leader of the cavalry patrol that intends to massacre an Indian village at Chalk River in The English (2022)
Mr. Woods welcoming Cornelia Locke when she reaches his Kansas hotel. Does anyone know who plays this part in The English (2022)?
Stephen Rea as Sheriff Robert Marshall, trying to get to the bottom of all the trouble in Cain County in The English (2022)
Rafe Spall as David Melmont, the man who makes a fortune and creates some enemies in the West in The English (2022)
Emily Blunt as Cornelia Locke, with a pistol on a man who intended to rape her in The English (2022)
Chaske Spencer as Eli Whipp, trying to pin down what bothers him about John Clarke and his wife in The English (2022)
Emily Blunt as Cornelia Locke realizing the end of her journey is in sight in The English (2022)
Chaske Spencer as Eli Whipp, assuring Cornelia Locke he’ll stay by her side until they reach Cain County in The English (2022)
Chaske Spencer as Eli Whipp, comforting Cornelia Locke (Emily Blunt) as she’s about to share her secret in The English (2022)
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