Strange Empire Episodes 1-5 Reviews: Women Of The Wild West

"Strange Empire" is a Canadian production from the CBC. It only ran for one season and is currently available on Netflix. The story unfolds in 1869 on the US/Canadian border between Montana and Alberta. Life is rough in these parts and even rougher for women. Kat and Jeremiah Loving just lost an infant son and want to adopt more children. They call for two girls and two boys to join them on the frontier. Rebecca and her much older husband Dr Thomas Blithely also arrive. Rebecca seems to be a bit "different" but is brilliant.

Many of the men end up either dead or missing (including Jeremiah). The massacre is blamed on "red Indians" but we know that's not true. What's left are womenfolk and miners (lead by menacing boss John Slotter).

John is having financial troubles and can't make payroll. The miners threaten to leave. Isabelle (John's wife and local brothel owner) solves the problem by sending for John's father Cornelius. They tell Cornelius of the birth of his grandson (who is actually another woman's child). Isabella saves the day by "negotiating" with Cornelius for the cash (if you know what I mean).

I find Isabelle to be a very interesting character. She's obviously had a rough life and is playing the cards she's dealt. John better keep on one eye open around her. When she is first introduced Isabelle is slowly poisoning him for killing their child. Luckily for John, she gives that up after a while.

Grade: 3 1/2 Monsters (out of 5). "Strange Empire" has been dubbed a "female Western" which I guess is true since the lead characters are female and they're in the West. Kat assumes the hero role. She's always righting wrongs and defending the weak. She also has a killer wardrobe.

It's not often you see such a multicultural cast in Westerns-- with people of Native, Chinese, African and European descent. Especially positive is that the two main characters (Kat and Isabella) are people of color.

Will the show live up to it's potential? I'm not sure yet. I will keep watching to see how it pans out. Hopefully it can avoid being too "soap opera-y".

One question. What's up with the title? John tells one of the investors that he plans to build an empire. The man replies with "Indians, Negros and celestials, it will be a strange empire of yours". OK then.

For marketing purposes they should have named the show something else. Based on the title, I had no idea what it was about. I'm sure some viewers tuned expecting to see something supernatural. As of five episodes I can report there been no ghost sightings on "Strange Empire".