An excellently made biopic of the infamous gunfighter with great attention to historical detail. Billy The Kid is one of the most famous outlaws from the American Wild West. The character has often been the subject of Westerns. Is there anything else to tell? Yes, because this series takes a different route than the typical Westerns. This series tells the story of Billy from his childhood. In the first episodes, the role of Billy is played by the young actor Jonah Collier. Only later does Tom Blyth (The Hunger Games) take over the leading role.
The series begins when Billy is twelve years old and has emigrated to New York with his Irish family. However, they do not find work and spend their last dollars for a seat in a convoy to Coffeyville, Kansas. There in the West, they are promised, everyone can make their dreams come true. Once there, it turns out that life is tough. Exploitation and corruption are rampant and only the strongest can survive in the violent and lawless Wild West. The early death of his father, the second marriage and the death of his mother and the neglect of his stepfather mark the life of young Billy.
The creators of the series have chosen not to portray Billy as a ruthless gunslinger and paint a more romantic image. Billy is a simple young man who wants nothing more than to build an honest life through hard work. It is circumstances, lack of money and bad friends that push Billy into crime. Billy hates violence, and always tries to avoid it, but in self-defense he often has no choice.
The great merit of this series is that it has incorporated a lot of historical facts and people into the scenario. Is the series historically correct? Certainly not, an autobiography of Billy The Kid does not exist and a lot of information about Billy's personal life is unknown. The screenwriters have used their imagination to fill in the gaps and tell a coherent story. That worked out very well, making the whole very believable. Tom Blyth does an excellent job and the storyline followed ensures that we can find the character sympathetic, because all in all, Billy is a criminal. The whole is made to a very high quality and there is little to criticize about the acting performances of the actors.
Towards the end of the season, Billy comes into contact with John Tunstall. Billy sees an opportunity here to better his life and use his talents for a just cause, but that will be the subject of another season. Officially, the series has been renewed for a second season, but no production or release dates have been announced yet.
For the record, Billy's real name was Henry McCarty, after his mother remarried he was called Henry Antrim or Kid Antrim. Billy himself, in his time as an outlaw, introduced himself as William (Billy) Bonney.
