A Western For The Faithful

Netflix’s Godless

Nicole Henley
Sep 3, 2018 · 2 min read

Last week, I recommended Netflix’s comedy-drama Alex Strangelove, to binge-watch.

The week before that, I recommended the undisputed king of mockumentary, American Vandal.

This week, I’m recommending an American Western-drama mini-series called Godless.


Godless was created, written and directed by Scott Frank (best known for 1998’s Out of Sight and 2017’s Logan).

The mini-series premiered on November 22, 2017.

Godless follows Roy Goode (played by Jack O’ Connell), an illiterate outlaw who goes on the run from his ruthless former boss/surrogate father Frank Griffin (played by the remarkable Jeff Daniels), after the former is no longer able to tolerate the latter’s questionable actions, betraying him in the process.

He eventually comes across the nearby town of La Belle is predominately inhabited by women since the majority of the male population was wiped out in a mining accident several years earlier. As a result, all of the women in the town have taken over most of the responsibilities and heavy-lifting to keep their town afloat.

While on the run, Roy comes across the ranch of Alice Fletcher, a woman living there with her mixed-race son Truckee and her mother-in-law Iyovi.

After accidentally getting shot by Alice (played by Michelle Dockery) who assumed him to be a thief taking trying to take advantage of their situation, every slowly builds trust in each other as they help nurse Roy back to health.

While recovering, Roy and Alice make a deal in which she teaches him out to read while he teaches her son how to tame and ride the horses on the farm.
Meanwhile, marshal John Cook (played by Sam Waterston) investigates Griffin’s criminal activity as the latter continues his search for his former son-figure for revenge.

Also, the Sheriff of the town, Bill McNue, with help from his sister Mary and young town deputy Whitey Winn (played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster), works to keep his children, and the remaining townsfolk safe from Griffin’s wrath while also hiding the fact that he is slowly going blind, from everyone.

By the end of the 7 episode mini-series, things come to a head, and a climactic battle ensues.


While the series as a whole is excellent in my opinion, one of the best parts as to be Jeff Daniel’s portrayal of the menacing Frank Griffin. He does a great job of balancing out Griffin’s ruthless, cold-hearted actions with his more humane, softer-side which he only shows on rare occasions and with very few people, throughout the seven episodes, most notably in one of the later episodes.

An overall entertaining Western-drama, the series may be short but, it is a story worth checking out.

Recommendation level: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ .5/5 stars

Nicole Henley

Written by

Freelance writer of stories on true crime, unsolved mysteries, and marvels of history • Support my work: buymeacoff.ee/nhenley

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