Scalped: 8 Reasons It's Going To Make An Amazing TV Show

Part of the appeal of Scalped is how well-drawn and engaging its characters are, coupled with their individual, absorbing character arcs. It starts with the utterly badass Dashiell Bad Horse, who is essentially a filing cabinet full of unresolved emotional issues on two legs, and goes on to encompass every supporting character.

Dash's story takes a relatively by-the-numbers 'undercover fed' Donnie Brasco-esque story and takes it to darker places than you're used to seeing. It's probably more similar to Joe Carnahan's Narc than it is Johnny Depp's aforementioned picture. Bad Horse's tumble into paranoia and drug abuse grabs you by the short and curlies and refuses to let go.

From there, the characters and their gradual transformations only get better - it is almost an unwritten rule that the lead character is usually the least interesting - but when the lead character is this captivating, that's saying something. There's the beleaguered Chief Red Crow, ironically trying to stay on the crooked trail rather than the straight and narrow, unable to deal with his burgeoning moral and spiritual conscience.

Dino Poor Bear, a local kid with no prospects and a dead-end job mopping floors at Red Crow's casino - at least until Red Crow takes a shine to him, and Dino sees no other option for a way off the Rez other than a life of crime. Shunka, Red Crow's closeted right-hand man, has a great arc where he comes to terms with his own sexuality, and the trials and tribulations that affect Red Crow's daughter Carol will break your heart.

One of the best supporting characters is Dino's grandmother, Granny Poor Bear. A wise old lady who acts as a spiritual guide and mentor to many of the players in the story, Granny is a fantastic, fierce matriarch who doesn't take any guff from anyone - no matter how big of a gangster they are - and consistently makes for one of the most enjoyable characters to read on the page. Without being insulting, she graces the story like a Native American Mr. Miyagi.

The list of fantastic supporting characters goes on, and on - Officer Falls Down ("Redskin 101, Officer Bad Horse. We don't all get cool animal names."), the last honest cop on Prairie Rose. Diesel Engine, a huge, hulking white guy 1/16th Kickapoo who's determined to prove himself 100% 'injun' by any means necessary. Laurence Belcourt, the man falsely imprisoned for the murder of two FBI Agents in the 70s. Wesley Willeford, a morally-bankrupt conman who gets more than he bargained for when he tries to swindle Red Crow's casino.

The story also boasts one of the best bad guys you love to hate in the form of Baylis Nitz - his blind dedication to exacting his revenge for the murder of his colleagues forty years ago leads him to trample over any who unfortunately find themselves in his path. All this for the love and respect of two men who didn't think much of him in the first place; the painting of Baylis Nitz is a lonely, tragic one and suitably embellishes the rich tapestry of Scalped.