‘Bass X Machina’ series review: Exhilarating genre mash-up rides out boldly

Based on Bass Reeves, one of the first Black deputy U.S. Marshals, LeSean Thomas’ Bass X Machinais a fun mash-up of science fiction, steampunk, and western. All the familiar archetypes are present and correct with a dash of an extra something that elevates the fast-moving six-episode miniseries.

Bass Reeves (Brian Tyree Henry) is the tough bounty hunter with a tragic backstory. Reeves was a former Union soldier who did not get his due from the government. He was experimented upon by General Rivenbark (Currie Graham).

In Bass’s alternate history steampunk universe, all manner of machines are part of daily life. Rivenbark like all sadistic military scientists wishes to create super-soldiers and his method seems to be chopping off Black soldiers’ limbs and replacing them with aianhli, an indestructible metal sacred to the Native Americans.

When the robotic arm Rivenbark fixed on Bass does not seem to take, he is thrown out and left to die. Bass is found by Nanye, a Choctaw holy woman, who takes Bass to Etta Yellowtail (Starletta DuPois) a brilliant engineer, who fixes Rivenbark’s clumsy work and gives Bass a spiffy robotic arm.

Bass and Nanye fall in love and marry. Their happiness is short-lived as a raid destroys the village and the heavily pregnant Nanye forces Bass to leave while she stays back for a last stand against the forces. Since learning of Nanye and their unborn child’s death, Bass roams the countryside as a bounty hunter constantly battling the demons within.

He gets a second chance at life when he meets Glory (Janelle Monáe). The couple have two sons and when we first meet Bass he is on his last job before retiring to the farm to be with his family. As is the case with these things, there is one last job Bass has to do.

The offer from the US Army is irresistible — find the missing inventor, Eugene Starr (Nick Thurston), and Bass will be made deputy marshal and earn $1000. Starr’s 14-year-old niece, Dana (Tati Gabrielle), who also aspires to be an engineer like her uncle, tags along with Bass to find her uncle.

Along the way the reluctant associates meet Lighthorse (Chaske Spencer) from the Choctaw and reconnect with Etta. All roads seem to point to the 1874 Tuskegee science fair, where Bass confronts his past demons as he tries to stop the future horrors.

Thomas, the man behind celebrated shows including The Boondocks and Black Dynamite, has created a beautiful, blistering series which is not afraid to ask uncomfortable questions about race, justice, revenge and colonisation, against a backdrop of dusty streets, shoot-outs, dim saloons, a burning sun and lumbering automatons.

Animation by South Korea’s Studio Mir, grabs the eye and keeps it. While the sequences featuring the giant war machine Colossus flattening Central City inspire shock and awe, the action aboard the train to Tuskegee is thrilling and visually spectacular.

The train with its segregated coaches also presents the reality of the time while revealing crucial information about one of the characters. The character work is gripping, from the warring emotions on Ahni’s (Cree Summer) face to Dana growing up from an inquisitive teenager into one facing a moral dilemma.

The voice work is equally good with Henry revealing Bass’ world-weariness and Gabrielle embodying Dana’s spiky curiosity. Bass X Machina is a comprehensive package of thrills and eye-popping visuals against the backdrop of Janelle Monáe’s silky, sultry rendition of the title song, ‘Honor Killing’.

Bass X Machina is currently streaming on Netflix