Pimping Post: Bomb Girls
As I said I would attempt one. There are images and some commentary behind the cut. No spoilers, outside of vague ones you learn in the first fifteen minutes.
Bomb Girls is about a group of women who work at a munitions factory during the second world war. It's set in Canada, and starts up a few months before Pearl Harbor. The focus of the show is very much on these women, and the complications in their lives. Some of the action is set in the factory, more of it is in their personal lives. We see homes and lovers, friends and enemies, and various plot threads that bring these women to a vibrant life.
The show pulls very few punches. The women are harassed by the men around them, they're treated as replaceable by the management, and at least one factory accident happens in the first episode (for those who dislike things of a graphic nature, it's a bit disturbing).
This is Kate. She's hiding from an abusive past, religious, and a gifted singer. She just wants to live. She's curious about everything, but also secretive. A part of her dreads her father finding her, and she sometimes wakes from nightmares. But she's very determined not to get found out or sent back.
This is Betty. Betty is sarcastic and jaded, and Kate gives her someone who sees the hope in everything to bounce off of. Their friendship is one of the threads of the show. Betty doesn't like Gladys Witham at all, and sees her as a girl slumming for the social credit of 'doing something'. Unfortunately, Betty doesn't think highly of a lot of people, but she's also loyal and warm-hearted, and an excellent friend in a tough situation.
Betty actually can't seem to decide if Kate is genuine, or an idiot. But from the first, she sort of likes her.
Kate and Betty work at a munitions factory, making bombs. They're joined by many other women, as they're the only ones left to do the job (there are men, but they're in more... glamorous roles, like munitions experts and supervisors. There are also men doing some of the grunt work like hauling crates)
The girls watch the approach of the glamorous Gladys, on her first day as an office girl. (from left to right: Vera, Kate, Edith, Betty). They're not impressed that the upper-crust girl is going to slum it for a day.
Gladys. She's a princess and a socialite, but she wants something more. She's been shut out of business discussions and "men's work" all her life. Now there's a war on, she's not going to stand back and do nothing. She's not going to sit around, hosting tea parties and talking about nothing. She's impulsive and sometimes very thoughtless.
Lorna. She's the matron (supervisor) of the shift that our protagonists belong to. She's a stubborn, forthright woman who nevertheless has her own deep-seated worries and problems. A mother of three adult children, she worries daily about her two sons who are overseas. Her daughter is a nursing assistant at the nearby hospital, and her husband was injured badly in the first war. She stands up for her girls and also harbors a deep prejudice towards one of the munitions experts, an Italian. As far as she's concerned, he's a spy waiting to happen.
There are other characters. Marco (the Italian), Gladys's parents and fiance (who looks like Ryan Phillippe), Lorna's husband and daughter, one of the munitions testers, the factory boss, several other women who work with them all, a dude into jazz, and a bunch of other dudes that I had a hard time telling apart (to be honest, I wasn't entirely sure which one the fiance was until I finally realized he looked like RP).
It's very much an ensemble show, with Gladys, Lorna, Kate, Betty and Vera getting most of the focus (Edith and Hazel also get a few bits and pieces, though mostly Edith does). It's a bit soapy, and sometimes trite, and will rip out your heart and stomp on it (I mentioned that it doesn't pull punches). But I really enjoyed it, and found it fascinating to watch. And if you like women with complicated relationships and motives and morals and ideals and OMG COSTUME PORN, then this is probably for you.
There are six episodes, and it's been renewed for a second (thank goodness). I have no idea how easy it is to find--I found it listed as streaming here: http://www.tubeplus.me/player/1970141/Bomb_Girls/ but I got linked to a different site a week or so ago. (if MU were around, there would be episodes already loaded up)
Bomb Girls is about a group of women who work at a munitions factory during the second world war. It's set in Canada, and starts up a few months before Pearl Harbor. The focus of the show is very much on these women, and the complications in their lives. Some of the action is set in the factory, more of it is in their personal lives. We see homes and lovers, friends and enemies, and various plot threads that bring these women to a vibrant life.
The show pulls very few punches. The women are harassed by the men around them, they're treated as replaceable by the management, and at least one factory accident happens in the first episode (for those who dislike things of a graphic nature, it's a bit disturbing).
This is Kate. She's hiding from an abusive past, religious, and a gifted singer. She just wants to live. She's curious about everything, but also secretive. A part of her dreads her father finding her, and she sometimes wakes from nightmares. But she's very determined not to get found out or sent back.
This is Betty. Betty is sarcastic and jaded, and Kate gives her someone who sees the hope in everything to bounce off of. Their friendship is one of the threads of the show. Betty doesn't like Gladys Witham at all, and sees her as a girl slumming for the social credit of 'doing something'. Unfortunately, Betty doesn't think highly of a lot of people, but she's also loyal and warm-hearted, and an excellent friend in a tough situation.
Betty actually can't seem to decide if Kate is genuine, or an idiot. But from the first, she sort of likes her.
Kate and Betty work at a munitions factory, making bombs. They're joined by many other women, as they're the only ones left to do the job (there are men, but they're in more... glamorous roles, like munitions experts and supervisors. There are also men doing some of the grunt work like hauling crates)
The girls watch the approach of the glamorous Gladys, on her first day as an office girl. (from left to right: Vera, Kate, Edith, Betty). They're not impressed that the upper-crust girl is going to slum it for a day.
Gladys. She's a princess and a socialite, but she wants something more. She's been shut out of business discussions and "men's work" all her life. Now there's a war on, she's not going to stand back and do nothing. She's not going to sit around, hosting tea parties and talking about nothing. She's impulsive and sometimes very thoughtless.
Lorna. She's the matron (supervisor) of the shift that our protagonists belong to. She's a stubborn, forthright woman who nevertheless has her own deep-seated worries and problems. A mother of three adult children, she worries daily about her two sons who are overseas. Her daughter is a nursing assistant at the nearby hospital, and her husband was injured badly in the first war. She stands up for her girls and also harbors a deep prejudice towards one of the munitions experts, an Italian. As far as she's concerned, he's a spy waiting to happen.
There are other characters. Marco (the Italian), Gladys's parents and fiance (who looks like Ryan Phillippe), Lorna's husband and daughter, one of the munitions testers, the factory boss, several other women who work with them all, a dude into jazz, and a bunch of other dudes that I had a hard time telling apart (to be honest, I wasn't entirely sure which one the fiance was until I finally realized he looked like RP).
It's very much an ensemble show, with Gladys, Lorna, Kate, Betty and Vera getting most of the focus (Edith and Hazel also get a few bits and pieces, though mostly Edith does). It's a bit soapy, and sometimes trite, and will rip out your heart and stomp on it (I mentioned that it doesn't pull punches). But I really enjoyed it, and found it fascinating to watch. And if you like women with complicated relationships and motives and morals and ideals and OMG COSTUME PORN, then this is probably for you.
There are six episodes, and it's been renewed for a second (thank goodness). I have no idea how easy it is to find--I found it listed as streaming here: http://www.tubeplus.me/player/1970141/Bomb_Girls/ but I got linked to a different site a week or so ago. (if MU were around, there would be episodes already loaded up)