About:
- Genres:
- Comedy
- Historical Fiction
Fix: Historical Fiction
Platforms: Amazon Prime
Amazon Summary:
Set in the year 1844, “Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail” follows an idealistic small-town preacher (Radcliffe) who teams up with a wanted outlaw (Buscemi) and an adventurous prairie wife (Viswanathan) to lead a wagon train west on the Oregon Trail across an American landscape which, much like today, is fraught with both promise and peril.
FYA Summary:
Our adorable cast is back for a third season, this time bringing their bizarre humor to the old West (sorry, the Amazon summary was kind of spot on).
Familiar Faces:
Daniel Radcliffe as Rev. Ezekiel Brown
For the third straight season, Radcliffe plays a naive, idealistic man, hopelessly in love with Viswanathan’s character. When his small town’s crops fail, he suggests they set off for the promised land: Oregon Territory. Unfortunately, no one has the slightest idea about how to survive on the trail. Some of the funniest scenes in the series come from Ezekiel being hit in the face (sometimes literally) with the rough side of life in the wilderness.
Geraldine Viswanathan as Prudence Aberdeen
An 1844 feminist, she’s trapped in a marriage to a rich moron. Perhaps she can find the adventure she desperately craves in Oregon…and maybe deal with these feelings she has for her best friend, Ezekiel.
Steve Buscemi as Benny the Teen
A down-on-his-heels outlaw, Benny volunteers to lead the wagon train to escape justice. This scandalizes Ezekiel, who grows to depend on the unrepentant sinner.
Karan Soni as The Gunslinger
A mysterious bounty hunter, he’s hot on the trail of Benny, determined to bring him back…or at least his corpse. Almost ridiculously effeminate, he’s also a cold-blooded, dead-eye assassin.
Jon Bass as Todd Aberdeen
Prudence’s ridiculously pompous husband, unaware of…well, basically anything that’s going on around him.
Quinta Brunson as Trig
Benny’s adopted daughter, she’s following in her father’s footsteps as an outlaw. However, she’s fed up with trying to live in Benny’s shadow, while Benny constantly tries to micromanage her robberies.
Couch Sharing Capability: Pancho and Lefty
Yeah, I know, wrong era
The great thing about this cast is that they absolutely do not take themselves seriously. Radcliffe does a drag act after his character gets drunk on snake oil. Todd has a variety of embarrassing digestive issues (remember the video game?) Trapped in a storm, the party rather enthusiastically resorts to cannibalism. When their raft across the river is overweight (again, the video game), Benny hosts a game show to decide who will be left behind.
Recommended Level of Inebriation: Home Brew
Don’t get too wasted. Like the previous season, there are a lot of subtle digs at modern society. Prudence falls in with some laid back travelers (#wagonlife). Benny and the Gunslinger commiserate over how gentrified the old frontier towns have become. Trig’s teenage rebellion causes Oregon City to burn. This is one of the few comedies that lands almost every joke.
Use of Your Streaming Service: Stay Tuned
The show has been renewed for a fourth season, and I’m anxiously awaiting to find out where this one will take place. Very much worth the watch.
