On Screen: “Untamed”
Untamed
The best part of Netflix’s new mystery mini-series “Untamed” is that it’s set in Yosemite National Park and stars rugged Eric Bana as a veteran Special Investigative Agent with the National Park Service.
It begins as climbers ascending the steep granite face of El Capitan are shocked as the body of an unidentified woman suddenly careens off the rocky summit, colliding with one of them, entangling their ropes.
Discovering who this Jane Doe is/was and what happened to her is the job of Kyle Turner (Bana), who works the case on horseback with a rookie National Park Service Ranger, Naya Vasquez (Lily Santiago).
Because this is more character-driven drama than police procedural, we gradually learn Kyle’s convoluted backstory, along with Naya’s.
Aa a functioning alcoholic, stoic, short-tempered Kyle has never recovered from the tragic death of his young son Caleb, a trauma that strained his marriage to Jill (Rosemary DeWitt) to the breaking point; she’s now remarried but lives nearby.
“You’ve locked yourself away in this park. It’s not healthy,” chides Kyle’s longtime boss, Chief Park Ranger Paul Souter (Sam Neill). Cue the melodrama.
Naya is a former L.A. cop, a spunky single mother with a four-year-old son; she’s trying to hide from the boy’s abusive father who, predictably, tracks them down.
Meanwhile, their quest to identify Jane Doe and discover what led to her demise leads Kyle and Naya into the clichéd quagmire of drug trafficking.
Created by Mark L. Smith and his daughter Elle Smith, it was actually filmed in the wilds of British Columbia, not Yosemite — not that one could really tell the difference.
FYI: U.S. Park Rangers are Federal law enforcement officers who have completed a 17-week Land Management Police Training Program at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia, followed by 11 weeks of field training. Special Agents take an additional 5 weeks of training.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Untamed” is a scenic, escapist 6 — with all six episodes streaming on Netflix. It’s just been renewed for a second season, set in a different national park.
Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures. Her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M.
As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O’Brien, and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism.