Turn: Washington's Spies Season 1

So the reason I started watching Turn was a little bit unorthodox. I was interested in watching the show, but I told myself that I needed to be in a certain mood before I watched it. Namely the mood that I am interested in watching a drama set in 1776 in the middle of the American Revolution. And oddly enough the thing that put me in that mood was actually listening to the soundtrack of the musical Hamilton.

But while these two shows are set in the American Revolution, they couldn't be any more different. (But I'm guessing that's pretty obvious).

Turn stars Jamie Bell as Abraham Woodhull. Based off a real person, Abraham is a simple cabbage farmer in Revolutionary era America. His village, however, is sympathetic towards the British government and Abraham wants nothing to do with the Revolution. He just wants to live a simple life with his wife and young son.

That however cannot hide him from the inevitable revolution taking place all around him and the way it affects his life. One of the first concerns him and his wife have is that when their son gets old enough he'll be conscripted into the military. (this is something that is never really brought up again but regardless, it shows the revolution is everywhere in this show.

Throughout his village there are several people with ties in either direction of the Revolution. He has childhood friends like the husband of his childhood love, Anna Strong (played by Heather Lind) who is accused of conspiring with the enemy. You have other childhood friends who have been forced to live in exile from their village because they have openly supported the Constitutional Congress.

And then you have Woodhull's father (played by Kevin R McNally) who is a Judge and a leader in the community who is 100% in favor of the British occupation of their village. He sees the British as the right side and it actually is interesting seeing the two sides of it.

In history class you always were taught that the Americans were the good guys and the British were the bad guys. Turn does something cool in that they bring humanity, as well as cruelty, to both sides.

While the show mainly has the American revolutionists on the good side, they still manage to not only show the human side of the British officers and soldiers they run into, but they also show that the Revolutionists don't always act in the most humane and right way.

I really enjoyed that dynamic.

Where Woodhull's father comes in is that I liked McNally's performance. He has a dual hatted role in that he needs to be the disapproving father, but he also has an evolving role in the whole story. I really only know McNally from Pirates of the Carribean, which is set in a similar environment, and he plays that role pretty well.

Now on the side of the British Army, there are a couple of characters that are pretty good, and there are characters that are pretty gawd awful.

Firs there's this Bozo.

Captain Simcoe (played by Samuel Roukin) is one of the shows main antagonists. And from the get go, you know he's the bad guy. He's creepy, he's psychotic, he's flamboyant, he's just The Bad Guy.

But just because Samuel Roukin is a little bit of a creepy ginger-type character, that doesn't mean he's either a compelling bad guy, or a good actor. He's just weird. And yeah, he makes you a little uneasy, but I'm not going to say Simcoe was a really entertaining bad guy. He was just there. Especially in how they used him. Furthermore, he was just dumb. He would do things just for the sake of being The Bad Guy and he's not really that smart.

The interesting bad guys were JJ Feild's character who seemed to be orchestrating a whole British espionage plot. Or Angus Macfadyen who played the leader the Queen's Rangers who was a villain in a greyish matter. Or Burn Gorman who's playing the British Major who is terrified of real combat is really only an authoritative occupier. These were the bad guys who were actually interesting. But no, they kept on focusing on creepy Mcginger face in Simcoe.

Other than that, the cast is a lot of fun.

You can really tell that the show is trying to be a little bit of an American Revolution Game of Thrones. Nobody can be trusted, everyone's motives are hidden in shadows, and everyone is trying to get power in their own way.

Is it done very well? Well... yes?

The truth is, I'm not going to say this show is fantastic, its not. There are a lot of shows that have made me feel a lot more than Turn ever did. There are a lot of shows that I think did drama, thrills, and action a lot better than thrill. There are a lot of shows that have done political intrigue better. And there are a shows that have had better performances.

But overall did I enjoy Turn, yes, I did.

I really enjoyed Jamie Bell who prior to this, I really only knew from Jumper, a movie I enjoyed but at the end of the day know is pretty bad, and Fan 4 Stic where he barely played The Thing. But in this he actually does a pretty good job. I liked his performance.

Heather Lind plays his former lover and childhood friend.

I mean the truth is I'm not gonna turn down any performance from a woman who is as gorgeous as Heather Lind and wears colonial dress that shows off certain areas more than regular dress. On top of that (because I don't hold people to just their looks) she does give a good performance. Is it phenomenal, no. Part of it is the fact that her character isn't written the greatest, but I at least enjoyed her character and the relationship between her and Abraham.

Now the love triangle that happens between her, Abraham, and Abraham's wife is a little bit convoluted and not exactly the most well thought out storyline, but I enjoyed her.

Also, there is something incredibly sexy about a woman with a Scottish accent.

The fun part about Turn is that it is really is set in a fun environment. I'm surprised that there aren't more colonial television shows, especially in the age of television we live in.

But Abraham's friends who joined the revolution show that there is some intrigue to this subject. It is fun to learn about a different side of history that you might have thought you knew all about like the American Revolution.

And like popular games of Assassins Creed, its fun to see these characters interact in a world you've learned about and see the cameos from certain characters of history.

Of course the build up of George Washington is really big because in the beginning, everyone is mentioning his name like a legend and then he finally arrives and you're suppose to get excited.

Now I think the problem this show has is that it kind of works against itself sometimes. The show is trying to be so serious and its trying to be something that has already been done, that it comes off as incredibly joyless, in a world that is pretty joyless to begin with.

I mean lets be honest, the Revolutionary War is not an era anybody would want to live in. But the very fact that this is set in that era should open up for a lot of fun, and at the end of the day, Turn just isn't as fun as I think I would like it to be.

Now, could it "Turn" into something more entertaining with more seasons coming out and the second season coming to Netflix (honestly the only time I would actually watch it)? Yeah I think it could. I've heard that Benedict Arnold is in the second season and I have no doubt that the first season was more of an introduction season. But those are just promises for the future. Right now I'm basing it off what I've seen.

The first Season of Turn has a lot of historical drama in it as well as some decent performances from Jamie Bell, Kevin McNally, and others. It has its pitfalls sure, but if you're interested in the American Revolution like I am, you'll probably like it a lot. If you're more interested in a compelling story and political intrigue, you will get some of that here. Overall though, Turn gives us a lot to be desired. I hope they can pick up their game in the second season.

But what do you think? Have you seen Turn? Comment and Discuss your thoughts on it below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me requests for future movie and TV shows I should review on this blog. If you follow me you can get updates on movie news and reviews that I post as often as I can.

I'll leave you with this. Here is the musical that got me into the mood to watch this show and I think it owes my viewing to it. Here's the cast singing at the White House. Enjoy!