What I learned watching Untamed on Netflix

I am not a book reviewer. I am a writer. I am not pretending to be a reviewer or have affiliates incentivizing me to talk about these books, series, podcasts, etc. I am consuming these materials to learn more about storytelling and the craft of writing.

This might be the newest program I have written about, considering it still has the recently added ribbon across the bottom of the icon when I scroll. Fortunately for me, a series of events opened a window for me to binge all of Untamed on Netflix quickly and alone.

Untamed on Netflix is an excellent series for anyone who watched the Hulu Series Wild Crime and became fascinated with the Natural Park Service Agents who solve crimes out in the wild. Eric Bana plays Kyle, an investigator in Yosemite National Park who drinks a lot, doesn’t have a ton of allies, and still drunk dials his ex-wife, Jill, in the middle of the night to chat about the stars. A young woman flies off the side of a cliff but evidence indicates she didn’t jump – she was running from someone. A new ranger, Naya, becomes his assistant, which allows smooth exposition about what it’s like policing the wilderness with it’s millions of acres, caves, drug runners, hippie squatters, bears, and … oh yeah, random tourists. It’s a gorgeous show to watch if you are into panoramic vistas.

If you like mysteries and enjoy learning how writers dissect them, be sure to also check out my assessment of Death and Other Details. 

As a writer, I have a tendency to take in what’s being presented and weigh out what’s useful to me for my own stories. I like to learn approaches or understand why certain tools of the trade work in new situations.

Here is what I learned watching Untamed on Netflix:

• Establishing trust between the reader/viewer and the investigator relies on showing the investigator being good and knowledgeable about what they do. For a Natural Park Service Agent investigator, two things need to be established: that the investigator knows how to solve a crime and that the investigator knows how to see things in nature others don’t see. The show begins with what seems like an accident – a woman falls from a cliff – but it cuts to the detective, Kyle, in the woods explaining to a child how to track a wounded animal. Then when he gets the call to go to the scene, he explains how they can’t rule anything an accident or a suicide because no one has repelled down the cliff to look for further clues, and then proceeds to do so in a gorgeous drone shot. This establishes trust with the reader/viewer that Kyle is the right person to investigate this crime without the Aaron Sorkin resume list of credentials. It’s showing, not telling.

• Exposition can be handled in many different ways, but most of it came from Kyle’s mouth. Detectives need assistants for the sake of exposition. It’s why Sherlock needed Watson. Someone has to be there for the “genius” to explain their thought process which allows them to work out their theory. For Untamed, Kyle’s new partner Naya listens, but also sometimes he is speaking with his son Caleb. Both are in their own way, uneducated to the nature of the wild, which allows the viewer to be educated as well … things like tracking animals, going into caves, and the ecosystems of humans who spend time in the wilderness. What’s interesting is what Kyle is not willing to talk about, like his divorce and why he has a strange antagonistic relationship with the wildlife control officer. Sometimes what the writer chooses not to reveal says more. 

• For a moment watching the show, I felt like I had missed something between characters or skipped an episode, because suddenly there was a personal crisis that felt like it came out of no where. It was one of those moments in fiction where the reader/viewer is the only person out of the loop. I found this interesting as a technique and I was willing to wait for all to be revealed in the fullness of time, but I could see reader/viewers becoming frustrated with not knowing.  

• We’re finally writing abusive spouses as the narcissists they truly are! Or at least, we’re trying. Untamed presents Naya as a partner who is fleeing an abusive spouse with their child, and when he eventually appears on the screen, he is a menacing presence with a smile on his face. When that mask breaks, his diatribe of insults are mostly how it’s “all your fault!” In my research on emotional, physical, and psychological abusers, they cannot take accountability for any of their actions – everyone’s out to get them, they’re the victim, and it’s always someone else’s fault. For the sake of this relationship, all his problems boiled down to what she didn’t do correctly and the child was just a pawn in their battle. Often in those cases the child is a trophy – something the narcissist must possess – but in this one, it was a bargaining chip. It felt fresh despite the fact that these relationships are not new.

• It’s a show that almost made me forget the golden rule – you don’t cast a recognizable face unless they play a huge role in the end. Anyone who has ever watched Law & Order and played “guess the killer” knows that it’s not a random person from central casting who gets the gig as the monster, but the recognizable face. Which is why reading a mystery keeps you further in the dark than watching a mystery. But because it is Netflix and it’s filmed so beautifully, I was halfway through it before I asked myself, “Why did they cast this recognizable person for this role?”

• I am drawn to stories where couples can’t let each other go. This is not a great trait in myself, but that’s why I have a therapist. When it comes to telling stories, bad relationships make good drama; we don’t necessarily want our characters completely emotionally healthy. The most chill and evolved person on Untamed is the new husband of Jill, Kyle’s ex-wife. Kyle and Jill are linked despite going their separate ways. It’s a country song of a relationship where they both know it’s better and healthier for them to cut the cord already, but they just can’t do it. If this was my friend, I would be worried about them, but these are fictional people, so I will watch and understand how hard it must be to release someone who you vowed to love forever. 

This is a limited-run series which had a tidy little ending, so I can’t imagine seeing a second season, however there’s already rumors of such considering how surprisingly well viewers have responded to it. I would watch it, but unplanned sequels are often rushed which means the quality would dip.

If you are looking for a police procedural with complicated romantic entanglements, please check out Pretty Girls Get Away With Murder available at the brandibradley.com shop.

Pretty Girls Get Away With Murder -- a southern noir by Brandi Bradley

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