Kurt Russell dies early in ‘The Madison’ as Michelle Pfeiffer’s drama draws sharp criticism
kurt russell is at the center of the inciting shock in Paramount+’s six-part series The Madison, a new drama set in rural Montana and framed against flashes of “New York City. ” In the opening setup, his character, rugged retiree Preston Clyburn, is introduced fly-fishing with his younger brother Paul before the story pivots into danger and loss. The series uses Preston’s sudden death to push Michelle Pfeiffer’s Stacy into a drastic family shift toward life on Paul’s ranch.
kurt russell’s Preston Clyburn: fish, banter, then tragedy
The series begins with Preston waist-deep in a river, laughing as a Yellowstone cutthroat trout lands in his net and he orders his brother to cook the fish rather than release it. Paul, played by Matthew Fox, shares the laughter even while voicing a more sentimental outlook, delivering lines about making “a memory a day. ” The tone leans on Montana’s open-air imagery—mountains and elk—before the narrative jolts away from the valley to a darker interlude labeled “New York City. ”
Back in Montana, an impending storm becomes the engine for the plot’s turning point. As the brothers return to Paul’s ranch after another fly-fishing session, Paul’s Cessna is caught in a thunderstorm and slams into a mountain, killing both men. That crash removes Preston from the present-day storyline and leaves the series to run on grief, flashbacks, and the fallout for the surviving family.
Michelle Pfeiffer’s Stacy: from Fifth Avenue shock to a Montana “sob-batical”
In the New York sequence, Paige—Preston’s daughter—appears distraught after a mugging, crying that she was on Fifth Avenue and questioning where anyone can walk if even that isn’t safe. Stacy’s response is blunt and cold, snapping, “You can’t, ” adding, “That’s the whole point. ” The story then swings hard back to Montana, where the storm and plane crash land with immediate consequences for Stacy and her daughters.
After the deaths, Stacy is shown distraught, and the family’s response becomes a lengthy, possibly permanent, move to Paul’s ranch. Stacy’s elder daughter, Abigail, describes Stacy’s marriage as a 40-year life in New York City and says “they should build a statue of you, ” to which Stacy agrees through tears, saying, “Yes… They should. ” The relocation is complicated by the detail that Stacy had apparently never visited Preston’s holiday cabin on the ranch before, and she is portrayed as repelled by the idea of an “outdoor bog, ” calling it “disgusting. ”
A sharply worded review calls the six-parter simplistic and heavy on aphorisms
One prominent critique characterizes The Madison as a “yawnsome homespun six-parter” packed with “terrible jokes and cloying aphorisms, ” and argues it aims to teach “the womenfolk a lesson” by dropping them into what it describes as “untamed, plain-talkin’ Montana. ” The same assessment portrays the series as leaning into smirking plaid, rural homilies, and a soft-focus reverence for the conservatism of wealthy rural Montana.
The drama is described as moving forward amid “plangent Preston-based flashbacks, ” with Stacy reassessing her pampered city lifestyle while attempting to embrace the values associated with her late husband and the rural west. The show is identified as a creation of Taylor Sheridan and is positioned as sharing tonal DNA with the Yellowstone franchise’s world of ranchers, land disputes, and a rugged ethos—though the critique suggests The Madison is milder, calling it “a Saga cruise in a Stetson” and a “languid meditation on retirement. ”
What’s next
With the crash establishing the core loss early, the remaining episodes are set up to follow Stacy’s extended stay on Paul’s ranch and the way the family’s grief plays out through memories and Montana life. The series’ next moves appear focused on whether Stacy can truly adapt to the setting she once avoided, while the story continues to use kurt russell’s Preston as the emotional reference point through flashbacks and the void left behind.
