I was surprised that I ended up liking this sequel to the much beloved classic mini-series "Lonesome Dove". Despite not having as many of the great characters and actors that the original series had. However, 'Return to Lonesome Dome' has a lot of new and interesting characters played by very good actors in William Peterson, Oliver Reed, Lou Gossett Jr., a young Reese Witherspoon and a very menacing Montana half-breed terrorist rustler played by Reginald Dorsey.
As for the returning characters who survived the original 'Lonesome Dove' series, Jon Voight takes over the reins of Tommy Lee Jones now classic character "Captain Woodrow F. Call". Now, I know it's hard to accept anyone but Tommy Lee Jones playing that role, but, I have to admit it that Jon Voight's performance as Woodrow Call is almost identical to that of Tommy Lee's, and Voight makes it a lot easier to just accept that someone else is playing that role.
Rick Schroder returns to play his character from the original series, Newt Dobbs. And, while following Woodrow's journey back to Montana from Texas is fun and exiting to watch, Newt's story line is not only the most interesting story of the series, but it's also the most satisfying, because it answers the question the original series left us with at the end. Which is, "What happened to Newt and the rest of the Texas rustlers in Montana?". Therefore, justifying the reason to even make a sequel to the classic original mini-series.
Also, a little of a side note, Rick Schroder co-starred with Jon Voight in the 1979 movie "The Champ". It was Schroder's first major screen appearance that included great performances by both Voight and 9-year old Ricky Schroder. And, it was both touching and fascinating to watch Voight and Schroder sharing the screen together again in "Return to Lonesome Dove" 14-years later.
Also, I can't end this review without mentioning the worst and most pointless and terribly cast character of the sequel, Agostina Vega played by Nia Peeples. Agostina is the tough female gun fighting Mexican child of Gus McCray, and she's out for revenge against Gus for abandoning her and her mother. But, Gus is dead so she decides to get her revenge on Captain McCall instead.
While Nia was a very attractive young woman back in 93', the problem is that she's only 5'2 and maybe 90lbs sopping wet. Not exactly an intimidating figure who looks like she could tough it in the Wild West on her own, no matter how good she supposedly is with a gun.
Plus, the character itself is just pointless and adds nothing to the overall story. It just seems like a cheap way to work a Augustus McCray story line into the series, without the Gus McCray character being present.
I'm rating "Return to Lonesome Dove" a 7-out of-10 stars. I would've rated it higher if it wasn't for that pointless Agostina character. But, there still enough good things about the sequel that far out weighs the bad, and I highly recommend seeing it at least once. Just don't expect it to be as nearly memorable and deeply moving as the original series.
