As an avid fan of the American TV series Dallas and as someone who partly grew up in Calgary, Alberta I often saw parallels with life in Canada's oil patch and that show.
Wild Roses is a Canadian take on that series which I believe captures much of what made Dallas so great. If you were a fan of Dallas and couldn't get enough this may well serve as a satisfying fix of more.
We have two families, the wealthy MacGregors who own massive holdings in the petroleum industry but still keep livestock. Their neighbors the Henrys own Rivercross, a small cattle ranch on what was once MacGregor land but was bequeathed by the former MacGregor family patriarch (the current patriarch being David MacGregor as portrayed by Gary Hudson) to his ranch foreman and David's close friend Max Henry, the man who married David's former flame Maggie (Kim Huffman).
The ties between the two families do not merely lie with the proximity of their homes and the friendships of their patriarchs. David, the new head of the MacGregor family was once engaged to Maggie Henry who inherited the land after her husband's death. David covets the land but also has unresolved feelings for Maggie who married another man.
David and Maggie's children also have friendships with each other which become strained each time David tries to reclaim what he believes is MacGregor land.
David's son Will (Steve Byers), is a slick executive for MacGregor Oil. Will's brother Peter (Adam MacDonald) is a hotheaded, hard-partying troublemaker who runs the MacGregor ranch. Their engaged sister Rebecca (Amy Ciupak LaLonde) is a materialistic sex addict with a mean streak. She enjoys the carnal pleasure of interludes with a hunky ranch hand. In other words Rebecca would have fit right in on Dallas.
As the series begins Peter is in an on-again, off again relationship with Maggie's daughter Kate (Michelle Harrison), a born cowgirl/cattle rancher who has taken over management of Rivercross. Kate's musician sister Lucy (Sarah Power) returns to the ranch when it comes close to foreclosure to help her family. Their baby sister Charlotte is as headstrong as her two sisters but is more like David MacGregor than anyone in her family.
Wild Roses is a terrific television drama and a very worthy achievement for Canadian television production. One hopes that with only thirteen episodes produced more will follow.
