What I Saw: Turn; Washington's Spies, Season 1 and 2
Per the usual procastination, I was tooling around looking for an interesting TV show to watch when I came upon Turn: Washington Spies and decided to give it a look. After Season 1 and three episodes of Season 2, I was pleased by my choice.
The titles are done in the 18th century silhouette art styles and are lovely.
The title song is horrible, so just rush through that or turn off the sound and enjoy the pretty silhouttes. The title song sounds as if it were sung by a grunting pig which might have something to do with one of the main characters who is a pig farmer who sells his product to the British army in New York City. It doesn't work, but nice try at a show's minor theme of pig farming.
The second season still has the same ugly song but this time the pig man singer is joined by a lady singing harmony. Showrunners! It does not matter how much you dress up a pig, it still is a pig and still sounds like one. But there is new silhoutte art in the titles, and it is still a lovely touch.
The show is about General Washington's spies working to bring him important intelligence about the British and their troops in the Revolutionary War in the America. In Season 2, we even travel to Hampton Court (yes! I know some of my British Royal Castles!) and visit with George III who looks about to go into one of his crazy spells while having his portrait made by a lady sculptress from the Americas. The woman, Patience Wright, actually existed although what happens on the show is not what happened in real history.
This show combines the actual history of Washington's spy ring, based on the book by Alexander Rose: Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring, with fictionalized events and some characters. Although most of the characters were real people in history and the overall history remains true to its historical precedents.
The TV show follows the adventures of the Culper Spy Ring based in Long Island, New York. Washington originally names them the Culpepper Ring, but the principal spy on the ground, Abe Woodhull, doesn't like the name and changes it to Culper. I suppose that the name is supposed to be a pun on "culling" the good information on the British to the advantage of the colonist's army. But Abe is also a farmer for most of Season 1, and he culls his crop, cabbages, to sell to the British commissary in New York.
The Culper spy ring members are a group of about seven people from a small town on Long Island named Setauket. They grew up together and are all friends and revolutionaries, some secret, some not. They are run by an aide to Washington named Ben Talmadge who was a real person who did run the spy ring. All the spies in the ring are real and did their spy jobs, although they changed the one lady spy to be 10 years younger and the former fiancée of Abe, she wasn't. Can't have spies without hot and guilty sex per James Bond. I like the actress and her character but I could do without the adultery love scenes. Yes, they are spies and therefore liars and live secret lives that they desparately hide, but that could be shown in other ways. And now that Benedict Arnold has shown up in season 2, he and his messy life can take over those themes.
There is the great theme of freedom on this show. Colonists fighting for their freedom from the British crown and in the background (at least in the first four episodes of the first season) are the colonists' slaves who dance at night and sing about the freedom that they want. The slaves come to the forefront of the action when the adultress lady who runs the local tavern (full of British soldiers for her to spy on) loses her slaves to the British who declare that they will manumit her slaves because her husband has been imprisioned as a revolutionary and a member of the revolutionary congress of New York State.
Her slaves don't really obtain their freedom, the British send them to New York to work as laborers and servants for the British Army. But her one woman slave named Abigail becomes the best principle asset for the Culper Spy Ring. She is sent to work for the British Spy Master, Major André. In return for her son being taken care of by the tavern lady, Abigail will spy on André for the Culper ring.
Washington needed spies in New York because New York was a loyalist state. They had no interest in parting from the British Crown, they were just interested in making money off the crown and the colonies. Wall Street has deep dandelion roots in the American story. New York toadied to the British and were proud of it. Information on the British in New York was hard to come by, hence the primary importance of the Culper Spy ring to Washington.
Abigail in New York---she is well treated by Major André and he suspects nothing. He even unknowingly sends her messages to the tavern lady by British Army Post.
Aldiss Hodge shows up as another of the tavern lady's slaves, Jordan, who does construction work in New York City until after an argument with some other laborers and a fight sends him to Rodgers' Rangers, an American loyalist squad attached to the British Army. It is an interesting pairing: a native slave lady working for the colonists who hold her in slavery and an African born slave who works for the British who hold him in slavery, for a while. Freedom.
Robert Rodgers runs the Queen's Rodgers' Rangers in the first season.
He runs across Ben Talmadge early in the first season. Talmadge is in the Connecticut (the British always stumble over how to pronouce that state's name) Dragoons (dragons, haha) and falls in an ambush by Rodgers' Rangers. But while a Ranger bayonets the dead and wounded Connecticut militia, Talmadge plays dead and attacks and kills the Ranger then dressing in his clothes flees the scene. Talmadge later returns the ambush favor and leaves the Ranger's hat on a dead British soldier, Rodgers spends most of Season 1 hunting for Talmadge to avenge the loss of his Ranger.
This show reminds me of Northwest Passage, a novel written by Kenneth Rodgers back in the 1930s. That novel was about Robert Rodgers, a real historical person, who fought in the French and Indian Wars with the British and a young George Washington. A lot of the action and characters appear to me to be influenced by that novel. I can recommend it if you become fascinated by the character of Rodgers on the show, and he was even more fascinating in real life. He was a loyalist in the American Revolutionary War and he had great heights and falls in his life.
Some of the British
The British commander of Setauket, Long Island is Major Hewlett (everyone is a Major on this show, or maybe not, I don't pay that much attention to the Military hierarchy). He has his offices in the town's church with his horses.
He is very fond of those horses. The white one is Bucephalus and is his favorite.
There is also a Sergeant Baker who is quartered with the head spy Abe Woodhull. Poor Sergeant Baker is always in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is flogged, held hostage, and disposed of in the end. And he is a nice guy.
Then there is the infamous Major André, head of British intelligence. He makes James Bond look like a twat.
The major has an distinguishing braid and is a cultured scamp who loves the theater and the ladies and parties and is very kind to his slave lady, Abigail. I think that there will be some hanky panky there soon. But for now, the Major is concentrating on the Colony free ladies
Oh those Lucky Colony Ladies!
His motto is: "Be incredibly Charming and carry a Big Stick." The major is a lefty.
It appears that pantaloons are the 18th century equivalent of the Speedo. I am now checking out all the pantaloons on this show. The Major has the best filled so far.
And last there is Major Simcoe...
He is more than an amiable sociopath. He is witty, he is brave, he is a romantic, and he writes the colony ladies poetry. He is also a real historical figure who, after the Revolutionary War was lost, became a crown governor of Ontario and founded Toronto. Another nice Canadian with a bit of Rob Ford in him.
And then there are the American heroes:
Ben Talmadge meets George Washington for the first time and it is love at first sight. See the love gleam in his eyes?
And George is very loveable. The actor does an excellent job with Washington. A man with a rich interior life and an intelligent morality, but very hospitable for those who want more than a cause to follow and for young men who want a father's respect and love.
That's another theme for the show, the conflict between sons and fathers/conflict between colony and mother country.
Recommended
Screen caps by me.
The titles are done in the 18th century silhouette art styles and are lovely.
The title song is horrible, so just rush through that or turn off the sound and enjoy the pretty silhouttes. The title song sounds as if it were sung by a grunting pig which might have something to do with one of the main characters who is a pig farmer who sells his product to the British army in New York City. It doesn't work, but nice try at a show's minor theme of pig farming.
The second season still has the same ugly song but this time the pig man singer is joined by a lady singing harmony. Showrunners! It does not matter how much you dress up a pig, it still is a pig and still sounds like one. But there is new silhoutte art in the titles, and it is still a lovely touch.
The show is about General Washington's spies working to bring him important intelligence about the British and their troops in the Revolutionary War in the America. In Season 2, we even travel to Hampton Court (yes! I know some of my British Royal Castles!) and visit with George III who looks about to go into one of his crazy spells while having his portrait made by a lady sculptress from the Americas. The woman, Patience Wright, actually existed although what happens on the show is not what happened in real history.
This show combines the actual history of Washington's spy ring, based on the book by Alexander Rose: Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring, with fictionalized events and some characters. Although most of the characters were real people in history and the overall history remains true to its historical precedents.
The TV show follows the adventures of the Culper Spy Ring based in Long Island, New York. Washington originally names them the Culpepper Ring, but the principal spy on the ground, Abe Woodhull, doesn't like the name and changes it to Culper. I suppose that the name is supposed to be a pun on "culling" the good information on the British to the advantage of the colonist's army. But Abe is also a farmer for most of Season 1, and he culls his crop, cabbages, to sell to the British commissary in New York.
The Culper spy ring members are a group of about seven people from a small town on Long Island named Setauket. They grew up together and are all friends and revolutionaries, some secret, some not. They are run by an aide to Washington named Ben Talmadge who was a real person who did run the spy ring. All the spies in the ring are real and did their spy jobs, although they changed the one lady spy to be 10 years younger and the former fiancée of Abe, she wasn't. Can't have spies without hot and guilty sex per James Bond. I like the actress and her character but I could do without the adultery love scenes. Yes, they are spies and therefore liars and live secret lives that they desparately hide, but that could be shown in other ways. And now that Benedict Arnold has shown up in season 2, he and his messy life can take over those themes.
There is the great theme of freedom on this show. Colonists fighting for their freedom from the British crown and in the background (at least in the first four episodes of the first season) are the colonists' slaves who dance at night and sing about the freedom that they want. The slaves come to the forefront of the action when the adultress lady who runs the local tavern (full of British soldiers for her to spy on) loses her slaves to the British who declare that they will manumit her slaves because her husband has been imprisioned as a revolutionary and a member of the revolutionary congress of New York State.
Her slaves don't really obtain their freedom, the British send them to New York to work as laborers and servants for the British Army. But her one woman slave named Abigail becomes the best principle asset for the Culper Spy Ring. She is sent to work for the British Spy Master, Major André. In return for her son being taken care of by the tavern lady, Abigail will spy on André for the Culper ring.
Washington needed spies in New York because New York was a loyalist state. They had no interest in parting from the British Crown, they were just interested in making money off the crown and the colonies. Wall Street has deep dandelion roots in the American story. New York toadied to the British and were proud of it. Information on the British in New York was hard to come by, hence the primary importance of the Culper Spy ring to Washington.
Abigail in New York---she is well treated by Major André and he suspects nothing. He even unknowingly sends her messages to the tavern lady by British Army Post.
Aldiss Hodge shows up as another of the tavern lady's slaves, Jordan, who does construction work in New York City until after an argument with some other laborers and a fight sends him to Rodgers' Rangers, an American loyalist squad attached to the British Army. It is an interesting pairing: a native slave lady working for the colonists who hold her in slavery and an African born slave who works for the British who hold him in slavery, for a while. Freedom.
Robert Rodgers runs the Queen's Rodgers' Rangers in the first season.
He runs across Ben Talmadge early in the first season. Talmadge is in the Connecticut (the British always stumble over how to pronouce that state's name) Dragoons (dragons, haha) and falls in an ambush by Rodgers' Rangers. But while a Ranger bayonets the dead and wounded Connecticut militia, Talmadge plays dead and attacks and kills the Ranger then dressing in his clothes flees the scene. Talmadge later returns the ambush favor and leaves the Ranger's hat on a dead British soldier, Rodgers spends most of Season 1 hunting for Talmadge to avenge the loss of his Ranger.
This show reminds me of Northwest Passage, a novel written by Kenneth Rodgers back in the 1930s. That novel was about Robert Rodgers, a real historical person, who fought in the French and Indian Wars with the British and a young George Washington. A lot of the action and characters appear to me to be influenced by that novel. I can recommend it if you become fascinated by the character of Rodgers on the show, and he was even more fascinating in real life. He was a loyalist in the American Revolutionary War and he had great heights and falls in his life.
Some of the British
The British commander of Setauket, Long Island is Major Hewlett (everyone is a Major on this show, or maybe not, I don't pay that much attention to the Military hierarchy). He has his offices in the town's church with his horses.
He is very fond of those horses. The white one is Bucephalus and is his favorite.
There is also a Sergeant Baker who is quartered with the head spy Abe Woodhull. Poor Sergeant Baker is always in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is flogged, held hostage, and disposed of in the end. And he is a nice guy.
Then there is the infamous Major André, head of British intelligence. He makes James Bond look like a twat.
The major has an distinguishing braid and is a cultured scamp who loves the theater and the ladies and parties and is very kind to his slave lady, Abigail. I think that there will be some hanky panky there soon. But for now, the Major is concentrating on the Colony free ladies
Oh those Lucky Colony Ladies!
His motto is: "Be incredibly Charming and carry a Big Stick." The major is a lefty.
It appears that pantaloons are the 18th century equivalent of the Speedo. I am now checking out all the pantaloons on this show. The Major has the best filled so far.
And last there is Major Simcoe...
He is more than an amiable sociopath. He is witty, he is brave, he is a romantic, and he writes the colony ladies poetry. He is also a real historical figure who, after the Revolutionary War was lost, became a crown governor of Ontario and founded Toronto. Another nice Canadian with a bit of Rob Ford in him.
And then there are the American heroes:
Ben Talmadge meets George Washington for the first time and it is love at first sight. See the love gleam in his eyes?
And George is very loveable. The actor does an excellent job with Washington. A man with a rich interior life and an intelligent morality, but very hospitable for those who want more than a cause to follow and for young men who want a father's respect and love.
That's another theme for the show, the conflict between sons and fathers/conflict between colony and mother country.
Recommended
Screen caps by me.