'The Abandons' review: A saddle-sore Western

WHAT IT'S ABOUT Dana Scully and Cersei Lannister, aka Gillian Anderson and Lena Headey, go to war with each other in Washington Territory circa 1854 in "The Abandons," a seven-episode Western series on Netflix.

You can see how this program came to be as a confluence of TV royalty, pitting one of the stars of "The X-Files" against one of the major players in "Game of Thrones." It arrives courtesy of creator Kurt Sutter, the man behind "Sons of Anarchy." Those are some fine credentials.

Anderson plays Constance Van Ness, the head of the wealthiest and most connected family in one of those classic Western towns. Headey's Fiona Nolan owns a ranch, where she serves as the matriarch of a family unit that's comprised of orphans and outsiders. Van Ness wants Nolan's land. The show begins with a confrontation and a killing, and it escalates from there.

MY SAY This sounds pretty darn interesting, at least to this critic, so it's a shame to report that it's actually one giant misfire. 

Things go wrong early and often.

The writing lurches from scene to scene without any sense of cohesion. A leaden quality impacts even the most ostensibly dramatic moments. There's the potential here to say something about American history and Manifest Destiny. But any thematic exploration or broader sense of purpose does not become apparent through a viewing of the first three episodes.

There are too many supporting characters and they're almost totally indistinguishable, even with the attempt to carve out a "Romeo and Juliet" subplot between two of the least interesting people on the planet. Good luck remembering much about any of them.

The action scenes are glum and muddy. There's an entire subplot built around hunting a bear that seems to have been almost purposefully zapped of any sort of entertainment value.

"The Abandons" probably could not have been redeemed, but it might have been at least somewhat saved by the stars. Yet, even there, the equilibrium seems off.

Anderson has a high-society sinister thing going that's effective. She understands how to play up the villainous archetype without devolving into self-parody. She's got the required charisma and the awareness to recognize that sometimes a silent look can be as effective as all the histrionics in the world.

But Headey's performance leaves a lot to be desired. She just seems mad all the time. There's no depth to it, no sense of something more, nothing to engender sympathy. She's too good of an actor (seriously, go rewatch "Game of Thrones") for this sort of work, so something went seriously awry here.

That all makes for a pretty rough experience. It's hard to imagine why anyone would want to come home after a hard day of work, settle into the couch and watch this.

BOTTOM LINE Even the most diehard of Western fans should keep on scrolling.