‘Billy the Kid’ episode 1 review: An underwhelming start to one of the West’s most compelling outlaws

Billy the Kid receives another telling of his story.

April 24, 2022

The exploits of the notorious Billy the Kid have been told in entertainment numerous times in both fiction and non-fiction. He is a fascinating figure and there is something romantic and rugged about the Old West in general. Epix has a new series providing another take on the famous outlaw which premiered this evening.

Billy the Kid draws you in with the first scene portraying the titular character as a benevolent and reluctant rogue. A bounty hunter is looking for the wanted man and Billy (Tom Blyth) does everything he can to spare his pursuer’s life. The scene draws upon “The Tale of the Empty Chamber” to exhibit the protagonist’s guile but also his ruthlessness. Poor old Joe Grant can’t listen and pays with his life.

Unfortunately, the episode peaks within its opening moments. The rest of the time is generic and cliché filled as we see how a young Irish immigrant named William Henry McCarty made his way west with his family in search of riches. The sequences highlight the dangers of the trek from bandits to the unforgiving terrain and even for those who survive to the end, the hardships are only beginning.

Billy the Kid is different from other retellings because it does explore his childhood and how his early experiences molded him. However, I’m not sure how many people are wanting to learn this part of his life. It’s not as exciting as shootouts and firefights and staying one step ahead of the law. It does paint the picture of a scrappy individual, even as a youth, who has a great amount of love and attachment to his mother and kin. They’ll have to rely on the resilient individualism because there aren’t many people volunteering their help in this new environment.

The only real entertaining portions of “The Immigrants” are when we see Billy as an adult. Blyth does have a charismatic presence to him that you can’t ignore. Probably it’s those penetrating eyes but his screen time is limited. It does give hope that the series can take a turn into more interesting aspects of the lead after covering his childhood.

The series premiere is an underwhelming start to the story of one of the Wild West’s most alluring characters. But it does show the potential of improvement once moving past the younger years through an appealing adult lead.