Netflix Steampunk Western ‘Bass x Machina’ Is a Crackling Mix of Fantasy and Reality: TV Review

Netflix’s animated Western “Bass x Machina” reimagines real U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves in a steampunk frontier, blending elaborate inventions and action with questions about racism and justice. The review says the series uses its alternate history to explore how a Black lawman might serve a social order that fails to protect him, while remaining entertaining.

Voiced by Brian Tyree Henry, Bass has a robot arm gained through a Confederate experiment during the Civil War. He takes one last bounty job with Dana Starr, a young aspiring engineer, and encounters segregated train cars, Choctaw characters and others whose lives challenge familiar Western portrayals. The six-episode series also features Janelle Monáe as Bass’s wife, Glory, and is streaming on Netflix.