From ign.com
Turn: Season 1 Review
By Christine Seghers
Posted: 23 Jun 2014 8:26 am
Note: Full spoilers for the first season of Turn follow.
TURN isn't like other original dramas on AMC. There are no zombies, and no one's going to cut off their nipple to impress a girl. Wait... Simcoe just might do that. But the point is, while it is historical fiction, TURN is planted firmly in reality. Sure, they can play around with dates and invent a love triangle, but for the most part these are real people who did real things. And no matter how badly things can look for Abe and Ben and Anna, we know they win in the end.
The first couple of episodes of TURN were interesting but also slow, and felt like something you might watch in history class. Something well-made and informative, to be sure, but predictable. But gradually, the show moved past establishing its (many) characters and episodes became more exciting and often surprising. There was also the confusing (at least to me) decision to move the show's action to 1776, when all the press materials before the show had the show set in 1778, when the Culper Ring actually started. I understand it in terms of allowing the Culper Ring spies to take part in major actions like the Battle of Setauket, but this also places the pilot episode within a few months of the Declaration of Independence, which doesn't rally track. A good reminder to always take historical fiction with a grain of salt, I guess.
It took several episodes before TURN began to ignite.All the acting is great, but Jamie Bell is the show's cornerstone and he did a terrific job of keeping us guessing as to whether his Abe Woodhull was going to stay in the spy game. He also has to seem capable of pulling off missions while also being mostly over his head. Abe is his own man, and his reasons for resisting the revolution at first and for ultimately joining in a covert role are deeply personal. He wants to be able to make his own decisions, and for his infant son to grow up in a country where he can determine his own fate. His political motivations are also mirrored in his often troubled relationship with his father. Richard (Kevin R. McNally) loves his son and believes he knows, better than Abe, what's good for him.
It would be easy to write this show as the noble rebels versus the evil Redcoats, but TURN never makes it that easy. While there are characters like Captain Simcoe who see all the colonists as a problem, Major Hewlett and Baker are among those who view them as British citizens in need of their protection. And there are characters like General Scott on the patriot side who weren't easy to root for. Simcoe's villany may be over-the-top at times, but he is always a hell of a lot of fun. He is also, like all great villains, the hero of the story in his mind and his feelings for Anna seem to be genuine. He was dragged off and arrested by his own men in the finale, but hopefully we haven't seen the last of Samuel Roukin.
Samuel Roukin's twisted Captain Simcoe was delightfully unpredictable.TURN has a lot of characters, and with only 10 episodes to explore them, not everyone got their due. Ben (Seth Numrich) seemed to be a second lead at the start but needs more conflict to make his character spark. Angus Macfayden got to shine as the mercurial Robert Rogers, but JJ Feild, as Britain's spymaster Major Andre, could clearly do more. I also felt that Anna's former slave Abigail (Idara Victor) and her son Cicero entered the canvas with a bang in "Epiphany" only to vanish rather abruptly. Poor Meegun Warner seemed stuck in the thankless role of Abe's clueless and cheated upon wife until she sprang to life in the finale.
I was worried at the outset about the love triangle between Abe and his ex-fiance Anna and his wife (and late brother's former fiance) Mary. It was rather clumsily explained to us in dialogue and I was concerned that Abe pining for Anna would get too soapy. But he does seem to have a genuine affection for his wife, and Mary's stating to Anna that she would look the other way provided she wouldn't be humiliated was intriguing. But what really made the dynamic work was the enigmatic Anna (Heather Lind), who always seems to have myriad motivations and its not always clear to which she's going to defer.
Abe and Mary's troubled marriage was pivotal to the season's jaw-dropping last sequence.One of my favorite moments of the season was the end of "Eternity How Long", when Abe watches Richard exhort the townspeople to help him dig up their loved ones' headstones. Abe had thought he'd convinced his dad to support the protest, but Richard gives in to Hewlett's (Burn Gorman) idea to use the markers to protect the cannons. Again, Abe's disappointment in his father also reflects his disillusionment with his country. Besides the finale, I felt "Mr. Culpepper" was the season's finest episode, as Abe had to defend his role in the revolution to a desperate patriot who has taken him captive. At the same time we see him embracing being a spy (as opposed to a soldier) we see what happens to spies who can't keep their covers when a duplicitous British is casually stabbed to death by Simcoe, at Andre's dinner table.
"The Battle of Setauket" had everything you could want in a finale, especially as it spun so many characters into different directions. Caleb's uncle has been murdered, making the rebel's loosest cannon all the looser. Richard knows the rebels weren't the ones who shot him, Rogers has gone off the reservation, Anna has left her husband for...the cause and perhaps Abe, and most importantly Abe had to kill dear Baker. Mary's eagerness to cover it up saves his neck but certainly doesn't mean she's joining the cause any time soon.
Verdict
TURN took a few weeks to get off the ground but soon became a consistently compelling drama by combining complex interpersonal relationships with cloak-and-dagger intrigue and the occasional nifty battle sequence. I sincerely hope AMC renews this promising series so we can continue to see the Culper Ring improve its spycraft. Update: TURN has been renewed for a second season! 10 new episodes will air on AMC in the spring of 2015.
Christine Seghers is a writer at IGN TV. She lives in her own little world and rarely interacts with people, but you can still attempt to follow her on Twitter at @CMSeghers and IGN at ChristineSeghers.
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