Scalped: 8 Reasons It's Going To Make An Amazing TV Show
7. Standalone Episodes
Obviously, the story arcs of Scalped lend themselves to season-long arcs on TV. You've got ten trade paperbacks in total, which could easily be ten seasons of TV (but most likely less, in today's world of prestige shows with finite ends - also see Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire and Mad Men, for recent examples). The story arcs spread easily across a season of television, with natural cliffhangers to take you along the way. But the real kicker with Scalped is going to be the standalone episodes.
A great TV show can pull you out of the bigger picture of what's going on overall plot-wise and give you really great, intimate character studies. To cap it off, great TV writers will fold back their characters into the greater tapestry and the viewer then sees how that character's decisions and actions have affected that larger story. Scalped does this to great success, and the resulting transition of such creative decisions will be great once they've transported mediums.
There's one great standalone story in Scalped where the conman Wesley Willesford comes to the rez looking to make a quick buck, and in doing so recognises Dash as the FBI agent that collared him for a crime some years ago.
The story that unfolds from his perspective is fresh and engaging, and once he's folded into our hero's story as an antagonist at a point when Dash is at his lowest, the tension goes through the roof. An episode of the Scalped show that follows this subplot, for example, could easily hit any one of the 'Best of' lists at the end of the year that it airs.
The best part is, beyond that one example, there are so many great opportunities for standalone episodes that spotlight supporting characters - be it Dino Poor Bear's interactions with Red Crow and an unfortunate run-in with some angry Korean mobsters, or Red Crow's number 1 henchman Shunka coming to terms with his sexuality, the showrunners will be spoilt for choice. Anyone who enjoys their hour-long dramas will know that a good TV show is the sum of its parts, with individual episodes being just as important as the season-long arcs.