Actor, Writer, Director Taylor Sheridan seems to be everywhere these days with streaming series Yellowstone, 1923, Landman, Marshal, Mayor of Kingstown, and now The Madison, which finds Michelle Pfeiffer’s Stacy dealing with loss and trying to create a new normal for her family.
Stacy and Preston Clyburn (Kurt Russell) are the envy of all their friends. Married for 40 years, they remain deeply in love and devoted to each other. They live a lavish lifestyle in Manhattan and are still supporting their two adult daughters, Abigail (Beau Garrett), who is divorced with two young children, and Paige (Elle Chapman), recently married to Russell (Patrick J. Adams). Several times a year, Preston travels to Montana to stay in a rustic cabin without indoor plumbing to fly fish with his brother, Paul (Matthew Fox).
THE MADISON: Pictured (L-R): Kurt Russell as Preston Clyburn and Matthew Fox as Paul Clyburn, in season 1, episode 1 of the Paramount+ series THE MADISON. Photo Cr: Emerson Miller /Paramount + © 2024 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved.
In the first episode, Preston calls Stacy during his most recent trip to say he’s staying on for a while so that he and Paul can visit a remote stream which is rarely fished. They plan to fly there in Paul’s small plane. The fishing is indeed everything Paul promised, but they overstay and are forced to fly back in a storm. Paul loses control of the plane and they crash into the side of a mountain. (It’s hard to review this series without revealing this tragedy since everything that follows is the result of Preston’s untimely death.)
Stacy is lunching with her best friend, Liliana (Rebecca Spence), when she takes a cellphone call from a sheriff in Montana giving her the bad news. Pfeiffer’s emotional reaction is a gut punch, her grief raw, but only the beginning of what she will endure. (The scene should come with a trigger warning for those who have lost a loved one.)
THE MADISON: Michelle Pfeiffer as Stacy Clyburn in season 1, episode 4 of the Paramount+ series THE MADISON. Photo Cr: Emerson Miller/Paramount + © 2026 Viacom International Inc.
No one from the Clyburn family has visited the Montana ranch which consists of two cabins, one with a kitchen, living area, and upstairs bedrooms. Preston’s smaller cabin is where he spent time writing in a journal. Even after all their years of marriage, Stacy discovers things about Preston she never knew. What is reinforced is his love for her. But she begins to regret that she never travelled to Montana to experience what he had loved about the river and the surrounding area and how it made him feel.
While she’s grieving, Stacy has to deal with her two daughters who are absorbing the loss of their father in different ways. In flashbacks, Preston and Stacy disagree over how they have raised, and continue to support, their two daughters. Preston, who takes lightly the wealth he has acquired, is eager to share it with his children and grandchildren, no strings attached. Stacey, on the other hand, believes his generosity has made them too dependent on him and ill equipped to manage their own lives. Stacey cites Abigail’s failed marriage to Dallas (Tanc Sade), a struggling musician and actor as proof of her daughter’s bad judgment. “Who names a child after a city they’ve never been to?” Stacy asks, with Preston saying, despite that, he likes his ex-son-in-law.
L-R: Elle Chapman as Paige McIntosh and Patrick J. Adams as Russell McIntosh in episode 6, season 1 of the Paramount+ series The Madison. Photo Credit: Emerson Miller/Paramount+
Newly-married Paige has yet to break away from her role as her father’s favorite, and her husband, Russell, seems unsure about how to integrate himself into Paige’s life, let alone into her family’s. Paige is upset about having to use an outhouse, and when she manages to get stung by hornets, her psychic pain becomes real. Stacy loses her temper with both of her daughters, accusing them of regarding their father as little more than a checkbook.
THE MADISON: Pictured (L-R): Beau Garrett as Abigail Reese, Alaina Pollack as Macy Reese, Amiah Miller as Bridgett Reese in season 1, episode 1 of the Paramount+ series THE MADISON. Photo Cr: Emerson Miller /Paramount + © 2026 Viacom International Inc.
It’s more complicated than that, of course. People process grief in different ways, and as time goes by, the two young woman, along with Abigail’s two daughters, begin to absorb the huge hole that will be left in their lives without their father.
In all of Sheridan’s shows, it’s clear that his heart lies in the more rugged parts of our nation. While New York is shown as dangerous, and New Yorkers as uncaring (Paige is mugged and no one comes to her aid), Montana is viewed as a place where neighbors are quick to help, bringing food, providing playmates for Abigail’s daughters, and volunteering to help with the burial of Preston and Paul. Abigail, meanwhile, begins a relationship with the local sheriff, Van Davis (Ben Schnetzer), the two trying to deal with the possibility of continuing the relationship, despite the distance.
Will Arnett as Dr. Phil Yorn in episode 5, season 1 of the Paramount+ series The Madison. Photo Credit: Emerson Miller/Paramount+
Once everyone is back in Manhattan, Stacy needs help processing her grief. She begins seeing Dr. Phil Yorn (a fabulous Will Arnett) whose pointed questions finally pierce Stacy’s armor and allow her to spew out her anger and fear. Preston, she tells Yorn, was the center of their family. Now that he’s gone, who will take his place?
Pfeiffer has been absent from the screen for too long, The Madison provides her with a worthy vehicle. And the interaction between her and Russell is believable and, in some scenes, heartbreaking. The series has been renewed for a second season so, presumably, the healing will continue and Stacy and her daughters will find new ways to move forward.
Top: Michelle Pfeiffer as Stacy Clyburn in episode 5, season 1, of the Paramount+ series The Madison. Photo Credit: Emerson Miller/Paramount+
