Review: TURN

As I have written at least a few times, I don't watch much television. Aside from news, sports, and an occasional movie, I simply don't find it worth the time. Every now and then, though, I make an exception to the rule and latch onto something like a sci-fi junkie binging on Star Wars films or a romance fan exhausting the Hallmark catalog.

This month, I took a turn at TURN. For three weeks, I watched all four seasons of the AMC series, currently available on Netflix, and immersed myself in the American Revolution. Based loosely on the exploits of the Culper Ring, an unlikely group of citizen spies based in Setauket, New York, TURN: Washington's Spies gives viewers an unvarnished look at colonial America from 1776 to 1781.

In the series, we see not only the cunning cabbage farmer Abraham Woodhull, the focus of the production, but also his childhood friends, such as the diligent Major Benjamin Tallmadge and the folksy smuggler Caleb Brewster. Women, including Woodhull's wife (Mary), his former fiancée and confidante (Anna Strong), Peggy Shippen Arnold, and her servant Abigail, play equally compelling roles.

I appreciated the series' even-handed approach. Though AMC gives us the nastiest villain I've seen in decades in Lt. Colonel John Simcoe, it provides sympathetic portrayals of other British officers, including John André and Edmund Hewlett, and nuanced treatments of George Washington, Benedict Arnold, Charles Lee, and other patriot leaders. It gives us far more gray than black and white.

Though TURN does take a few liberties with the historical record, it more than compensates with a realistic depiction of the times. Viewers can smell the smoke and carnage on the battlefield and the stench of a prisoner ship. They can see the fear on the faces of men as they shed their uniforms and step behind enemy lines.

I would recommend TURN to any fan of history and drama. As compelling television, it does not get better than this. Rating: 5/5.