If you are familiar with the writings of Karen Kingsbury, then you're likely familiar with what to expect from A Thousand Tomorrows. Based on Kingsbury's own novel and the first production coming out of Kingsbury's own Kingsbury Productions, A Thousand Tomorrows is a six-episode Affirm Originals mini-series premiering on Pure Flix that serves us everything we've come to know and love from both Kingsbury and Pure Flix.
A Thousand Tomorrows tells a redemptive story of love, faith, and redemption centered around a brash, cocky rodeo bull riding star named Cody (Colin Ford) whose constant running from his past runs smack dab into the kind of young woman, Ali (Rose Reid), it's awfully hard to run away from if you're fortunate enough to snag her attention.
Cody is fortunate enough.
As is typical for Kingsbury's writing, A Thousand Tomorrows avoids unnecessary distractions. A Thousand Tomorrows tells a simple, beautiful love story about two human beings with complicated lives, Cody's because of his background and Ali's because of an illness that threatens her life, and asks us to contemplate how we would live our lives if we knew that tomorrow could be the end?
Having premiered on Pure Flix on February 24th with each subsequent week revealing a new episode, A Thousand Tomorrows has told a patient story allowing us to fall in love ourselves with this blossoming love story between Cody and Ali that complicates the journeys they are on and yet fuels a sense of hope and possibility within both of these young people. As we approach episode five, the specific episode I am reviewing though I have watched the entire series, we're leaning heavily into the harsh realities facing both yet also learning more and more how love calls us to live our lives in ways that aren't simply romantic but are filled with faith, sacrifice, loyalty, and perseverance.
We don't give up on one another and Cody and Ali, alongside their families, certainly don't give up on each other.
If you're expecting A Thousand Tomorrows to be the Hollywood version of this type of story, it might be wise to think again. Rather than action-packed conflicts and a race toward sexuality, A Thousand Tomorrows is a more traditional, genteel approach reflective of Kingsbury's devout faith and commitment to telling meaningful, inspirational stories. The love story here feels very real yet almost novel unless you've read any of Kingsbury's right around 100 novels or series.
As Cody, Colin Ford (Daybreak, Captain Marvel) captures Cody's wounded brashness and guardedness from lifelong wounds and unresolved familial relationships. Yet, rather wisely, Ford also makes we care about Cody and are incredibly invested in his healing and welfare.
Rose Reid, as Ali, is all beauty and light and puppy dogs and all things wonderful except for this respiratory illness that threatens her very existence. A champion barrel racer herself, Reid's Ali is both fierce yet vulnerable and she snatches your attention every time she's on the screen.
The entire ensemble for A Thousand Tomorrows is strong with Cole Sibus (Stumptown) shining as Carl Joseph, Kate Easton (Faith Under Fire) warm and wonderful as Cody's mother Mary, KC Clyde (Yellowstone, Yes Day) riveting as one of the series' more complicated figures in Cody's father, and nearly everyone else serving up performances that are compelling and endlessly engaging.
A Thousand Tomorrows is a beautifully created series that vividly captures Kingsbury's words, characters, and inspirational story. As episode five arrives, A Thousand Tomorrows is showing us that to love one another is no small command and calls us into a faith that doesn't always make sense and into actions that may even be, at times, hard for the world around us to understand. I've enjoyed this debut journey from Kingsbury Productions and anxiously await future creations with meaningful stories and inspiration for faith-filled living.
Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic
