Television and movie producers have a weird habit of doubling-up on big ideas, delivering two projects with more or less the same basic concept at roughly the same time. For no apparent reason, well get hit with a couple of giant space rock threatens to destroy the Earth blockbusters in the same summer; or a pair of behind the scenes at a late-night comedy series in the same fall TV season. So perhaps its not that odd that FX and Netflix are about to serve up competing historical adventures, both set in and around the worlds of malevolent old European trading companies.
On January 10th, FX debuted its BBC co-production Taboo, an eight-part miniseries written by Peaky Blinders honcho Steven Knight, starring Tom Hardy as a shipping tycoons long-lost son, who stirs up trouble for the East India Company in 1814 London. And yesterday, Netflix dropped the Canadian Discovery Channels Frontier, a six-episode series (with a second season already in the works) starring Jason Momoa as another aristocrats rogue offspring, sabotaging the Hudsons Bay Companys efforts to monopolize the fur trade in 18th century Canada. Hardys character James Delaney and Momoas Declan Harp are both burly, violent men, with eerily similar backstories involving ancient mysticism and colonialist dads who diddled the natives. Both shows are grubby and earthy, with a cast of characters that includes oily upperclass villains and scrappy underworld types.
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The question now becomes: Which of these historical, tough-guy-on-a-vengeance-quest dramas is right for you? Weve provided a sort of tale of the tape for these two series, weighing which one has the advantage when it comes to what they have in common.
The Mysterious, Half-Savage Tough Guy
Just how badass are Delaney and Harp? Both are spoken about in whispers by their adversaries, who see them as something akin to a force of nature, set loose from above to punish the greedy. Frontiers half-Irish/half-Cree strongman lives among Canadas native population, and has a reputation among the Hudsons Bay elites for being mad, merciless, and maybe super-powered. In Taboo, the East India bigwigs talk nervously of James years in Africa, and the rumors that he actually died and was revived through some cannibalistic ritual. Momoas character has a tough time competing with that kind of outsized origin story, and it doesnt help that he shares so much of Frontiers main plot with a handful of minor protagonists. Plus, its always going to be tough to out-act Tom Hardy, who also co-produced his show with his dad, Chips Hardy (and gives himself the lions share of the screen-time). With his red-stained face, steely glare, and threats like, If you send 12 men at me Ill send back 12 pairs of testicles, his Harp is clearly no one to cross.
Advantage: Taboo
The Less-Imposing Secondary Heroes
Momoa is being touted as the star of this Netflix show, but hes hardly front and center. The Canadian series is just as much the story of Michael Smyth (played by Landon Liboirn), an Irish petty thief who stows away on a Hudsons Bay ship and then, as punishment, agrees to become a mole within Declan Harps organization. FXs drama has its own secondary plots and characters, mainly related to James Delaneys efforts to thwart East India by preventing them from seizing a small island, Nootka Sound, he inherited from his father. One of the other claimants for the land is his half-sister and twisted love-interest Zilpha (Oona Chaplin) and her fusty husband Thorne (Jefferson Hall). As formidable an actress as Chaplin is, Liboirns Michael comes out ahead here in part because hes in his show a lot more, and because his main motivation (to keep his imprisoned girlfriend safe by cooperating with her captor) is clear and honorable. Hes an old-school in-over-his-head junior hero, forced to get a little dirty to serve a higher purpose. Zilpha and Thorne are just a couple of greed-heads.
Advantage: Frontier
The Huffy, Balding Trading Company Rep
In one of the more curious Taboo/Frontier parallels, both shows have given their primary antagonist more or less the same hairstyle: a curly laurel of locks framing a broad expanse of bald scalp. Theyre both master manipulators too, with Hudson Bays Lord Benton (played by Alun Armstrong) and East Indias wonderfully named Sir Stuart Strange (Jonathan Pryce) quietly instilling fear in even their most vicious lackeys with the merest hint of a threat. Its impossible to pick one of these creeps over the other. Both actors underplay their roles perfectly, using a veneer of civilization and privilege as a way of masking their characters deeper evil.
Advantage: Tie
The Savvy Female Vice-Merchant
Whether youve just arrived in London or at a seaside Canadian outpost, theres really no better way to get the lay of the land then to cozy up to the one local who knows everyones dirtiest secrets. In Frontier, that would be a saloon-keeper named Grace (Zoe Boyle), who trades cash and booze for information. Taboo, on the other hand, has Franka Potente as Helga, a weathered madame who used to operate a brothel out of the Delaney familys abandoned dockside offices until James came home and ran her off. Helgas more colorful, but she has to share a lot of the plot with another femme fatale: Jessie Buckley as Lorna Bow, an actress who works with Londons moneyed libertines on an elaborate con to take Nootka Sound. Overall, Grace is the stronger character. Shes not just more involved in the story; shes so capable and plugged-in that she could support an entire show all to herself.
Advantage: Frontier
The Colorful Supporting Cast
In terms of raw character tonnage, Taboo dominates this category. As he roams through London, James Delaney crosses paths with all manner of freaky confederates and crooks, such as Stephen Graham as a tattooed bruiser; Michael Kelly as a duplicitous American doctor; and David Hayman as a loyal family servant. Frontiers supporting cast is less star-studded, though Paul Fauteux is memorable as a French-Canadian trapper, and Christian McKay brings some welcome comic relief as Father Coffin, an opportunistic, drunken priest who takes a dim view of human nature. McKays presence in the show which plays well off of Momoas worldly gruffness and Liboirns fresh-faced eagerness evens out this contest. Advantage: Tie
Historical Verisimilitude
Frontier was produced on a fairly tight budget, and leans heavily on just a few sets (primarily a docked ship, a dim pub, and a tribal camp), while evoking the past by dropping a lot of tidbits about colonial Canada in between old-timey lines of dialogue like, Thats bound to be guarded like a virgins honeypot! Taboo, meanwhile, looks very, very expensive, and recreates elaborate scenes of early 19th century London life, from ritzy orgies to probate courts to West End theaters. The FX show feels much more lived-in, and includes more fun bits of off-the-wall historical detail, such as a complex lab-test involving fire, tubes, eyeglasses and a long-buried corpses stomach gasses all meant to determine whether Delaneys late father was poisoned. Thats just cool.
Advantage: Taboo
Bottom Line: For serious acting, movie-quality production design and overall weightiness, you want Taboo. For sharply defined characters and more straightforward genre kicks, go with Frontier. Or if youre really ambitious, watch both and by spring youll be able to answer just about any trivia question about British trade routes in the pre-Victorian era.