Graham Greene used to have a simple taxonomy for his books. Jolly thrillers, like The Third Man, were labelled “an entertainment”, while serious offerings, like The End of the Affair, were called “a novel”. In the same way, some TV shows have aspired to be “good”, while others seem content to be considered “bad”. Yet in recent years, we’ve seen ones that subvert these expectations: good “bad” shows, like The White Lotus, which lace a schlocky premise with surprising originality, and bad “good” shows, like Zero Day, which take prestige conventions and run them through with daftness and ineptitude. And it is in this latter category that Netflix’s new drama, The Abandons, rides into town.
A wealthy woman of European ancestry, Constance Van Ness (Gillian Anderson) arrives in the commune of Angel’s Ridge in the Washington Territory. It’s 1854, and the Van Ness family are pursuing reserves of silver buried deep beneath the local soil. That ambition brings Constance and her family – including bad seed Willem (Toby Hemingway) and gentle pianist Trisha (Aisling Franciosi) – into conflict with Fiona “Mam” Nolan (Lena Headey), the fierce custodian of the coveted acreage. She surrounds herself with adopted children, defending them from hardship, but when one of her girls, Dahlia (Diana Silvers), is assaulted by a newcomer, the rift between the two mothers grows deeper. “The motherly instinct to protect,” muses Constance. “It’s such a powerful thing.”
