The Son, from writers/producers Philipp Meyer, Lee Shipman and Brian McGreevy and producer Michael Connolly, is a multi-generational gothic Texas epic telling of the story of America’s birth as a superpower through the bloody rise and fall of one Texas oil empire.
Primarily focusing on two defining time periods in Eli’s life — set during 1849 and 1915 — the hour-long western incorporates at least three additional sons into the narrative. We meet Young Eli (Jacob Lofland) returning from a successful hunt on his birthday, when his family is provoked and eventually attacked by a Native American tribe. Eli and his brother, Martin, are taken hostage, and we watch as Eli is held in captivity by Comanches.
Breaking up this story is adult Eli, played by Pierce Brosnan, who’s trying to protect his cattle business while pursuing a new family venture as an oil tycoon. His two sons help him, to varying degrees, with Pete McCullough (Henry Garrett) serving as a law-abiding and largely honorable young man averse to risk (and thus nervous about the family’s oil interests), and Phineas (David Wilson Barnes) working as a lawyer and manager of the McCullough fortune. He’s ready and willing to help his father court the bankers who might invest in their oil-rich land, but he’s got secrets to guard that are bigger than the possibly barren McCullough land.
Complicating matters further is a third family: the Garcias, led by Pedro Garcia (Carlos Bardem) and his oldest daughter, Maria (Paola Nunez). They live on the land separating the McCullough’s Texas property from Mexico, and their Spanish origins create a rift among family members. Caesar, Pedro’s son-in-law, wants to fight for the Mexican army and sees the fiery McCullough family as untrustworthy enemies. But the Garcias just want to lead a peaceful life as cattle farmers, seeking civil discourse as everyone around them prepares for war.
