Untamed Review
Director: Thomas Bezucha, Neasa Hardiman, and Nick Murphy
Date Created: 2025-07-17 16:06
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Untamed Review: Created and written by Elle Smith and Mark L. Smith, this Netflix limited crime thriller series is directed by Thomas Bezucha, Neasa Hardiman, and Nick Murphy, and includes a total of 6 episodes, each around 50 minutes long. The series stars Eric Bana as the lead, playing Kyle Turner, a National Park Service agent. Alongside him are Sam Neill, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lily Santiago, Wilson Bethel and others.
Against the breathtaking ruggedness of Yosemite National Park, the Untamed series opens with the mysterious death of a rock climber. Then it is a crime show that unfolds slowly, dispensing its secrets, not only regarding Turner’s past, but regarding the park, as well. The premise of the show sounds like the kind of gritty crime drama I usually like. But after watching the entire first season, I was left underwhelmed.
Untamed Review
The best thing about the series is the mood and the atmosphere of Netflix’s Untamed. It is, at times, truly beautiful. There is something haunting in witnessing a crime take place in such beautiful, natural settings. It gives the show an odd tone, something other than the usual urban crime dramas.
Eric Bana is just as good as Kyle Turner. He’s a low-key, serious-faced character who’s obviously got some heavy emotional baggage to lug around. I liked the fact that the show attempted to bring a different type of investigator to the table, a more nature-based one, one who’s not yelling and punching his way through the show. It’s more realistic, and it did a pretty good job.
Also, the show’s opening is intriguing. The first two episodes held my attention. I was curious to see what really happened to the climber, and I was intrigued by the potential for crimes being solved in a back corner of a national park. It is not something that we hear about in TV suspense shows, and I thought that the idea had huge potential.
Sadly, as the series progressed, that promise was lost. The worst of Untamed is its terrible storytelling. The mystery that begins so well gradually descends into incoherence and laziness. Key elements in the plot of the narrative are glossed over or dismissed, and the twist towards the end feels like it’s only done to shock the viewer, not because it’s effective.
Something that did actually annoy me was the fact that the show held all of its big reveals until the last episode. It was like I was being led through five episodes just to be hit with a massive amount of information at once. Instead of being shocked or surprised, I felt a little robbed. It didn’t feel like a natural or smart conclusion, it felt like something artificial.
Also, the characters were not developed. Kyle Turner’s and the Native Ranger’s relationship, for instance, would have been such a valuable addition to the series and offered such depth, but they were not developed at all. Turner’s inner trauma, particularly the past between him and his son, was broached but never developed with the respect it deserved. These are scenes that could have been something, but they were left like half-finished ideas.
And don’t even get me started on the supporting cast, who were all either boring or cliché. It’s hard to get invested in things when characters don’t sound real or different. I was expecting better scenes, more meaningful dialogue, or deeper themes, but most of it was surface-level.
Untamed Netflix Series Review: Summing Up
Untamed on Netflix had a good cast, a good location, and a plot that could have been heartbreaking and suspenseful. But it just didn’t. It felt like the writers had a wonderful idea on paper, but something slipped through the cracks somewhere in between. I don’t regret having watched it, it’s not a terrible show, but I couldn’t say it left a lasting impression either.
It’s that kind of series that you would watch at the weekend if you have nothing better to do, but not something that I would suggest watching.
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