Review for Klondike

Klondike tells the story of Bill and Epstein who in the 1890s travel to the Yukon territory to seek their fortune. Over six episodes we see the development of these two characters, young and eager to find gold in one of the harshest, most unforgiving parts of the US. They also have to deal with the many people of the area all looking for the same thing, or simply just to survive.

As Discovery Channel's first scripted show I had high hopes for what felt like it was going to be an accurate portrayal of America during the Gold Rush. This is true. The film looks amazing and feels like the 1890s so I would not be surprised if this walks with away with countless technical awards over the year. But I must say that after a while this mini-series overstays its welcome over the six forty-five minute episodes and maybe should have been streamlined to maybe three or four. By the end of the first episode nothing much had happened and all the action could have been shown in less than the forty-six minutes given. The fact one of the writers is a Razzie Award winner for Worst Screenplay is not surprising!

The main problem I have is that very little is done to establish who these characters are and why we should be following them. Richard Madden as Bill and Augustus Prew as Epstein are fine, but they are rather bland and at times I could barely remember what either of them looked like. This could not be said for Abbie Cornish is simply stunning as Belinda Mulrooney and her American accent is flawless. This is one of the issues I had with the mini-series is as characters are introduced they seemed to have the potential for a story that is much more interesting than the one we were provided with.

Other characters who dip in and out are Ian Hart as shifty conman Soapy Smith, Sam Shepard as Father Judge and Johnny Simmons as famous writer Jack London. All three of these characters are far more interesting than the main stars, though the inclusion of Jack London (whether it be historically accurate) seemed a bit like fan service.

The saving grace of this show is Tim Roth as The Count who is simply wonderful. His performance is just the perfect mix of English scumbag and cool Western badguy. Every time he appears is just a joy to behold and I do wish that he was featured more or was given his own episode within the mini-series to break it up a little.

Only one Feature is included, a ten minute featurette Discovering Klondike. Ten minutes is simply not long enough to discuss this series and the fact they interviewed almost everyone involved makes me wonder why there isn't a disk filled with interviews and stories. The lack of commentaries or anything else is disappointing.

Klondike should have been amazing and visually and technically it is. But after a while, watching all six episodes felt like a chore. Once an episode had ended there was no impetus or desire to watch the next one and that is really what a show like this should do.

If this was Discovery's attempt to break into Drama, then it failed. If this had been made as a reconstruction, like a lot of Discovery shows it would have been perfect. It is a shame because it has many flashes of brilliance, but as a whole it proved to be just a few specks of goldust instead of 24 carat nuggets.