Let's start with the good. The production values are excellent. Sets, costumes, lighting, all look realistic. As a former (amateur production) costume designer myself, I did appreciate the bit in the beginning where they show some of incredible work it took to get a "lady" dressed in those days.
The storyline is OK for what is clearly a pilot episode. Not much happens, mainly people are introduced. However I was left wondering quite early on why we should care about the main character. The far more interesting character is Mr. Diggs, and he only has a few scenes. I hope he becomes a major part of the story and doesn't just serve some neat purpose and then go away.
Now to the bad. Some of the dialog is excruciatingly bad. I am no historian or arbiter of social rules of the 1860s, but I have to think nurses talking rudely back to doctors, or novice nurses talking back to head nurses would never be tolerated. And then there are the jarringly modern mannerisms (of Dr Foster mainly). I hate it when a series dumbs down by making people seem like they would fit right in in 2015. It's OK for there to be some distance. That's why we're watching an historical drama! It makes it seem like some other place than 1860 Alexandria. At other times people seemed to do or say things that just don't seem historical to me -- though I admit to not being a historian of this period.
Finally, the characters. I'll reserve final judgement because sometimes in pilots people are a bit more 'cardboard' and then get fleshed out as the series goes on. But many of the characters were predictably and boringly black-and-white. The unapologetic southern belle, the staunch abolitionist, etc. I don't think people were launching into defenses of their personal ideology very often in the middle of military hospitals, but it happens like 5 times in this episode.
I'll watch the next one and just hope it gets better.
(I'm also not sure why this is being sung as the "next Downton Abbey" since they are separated by about 50 years in time, but I digress...)
The storyline is OK for what is clearly a pilot episode. Not much happens, mainly people are introduced. However I was left wondering quite early on why we should care about the main character. The far more interesting character is Mr. Diggs, and he only has a few scenes. I hope he becomes a major part of the story and doesn't just serve some neat purpose and then go away.
Now to the bad. Some of the dialog is excruciatingly bad. I am no historian or arbiter of social rules of the 1860s, but I have to think nurses talking rudely back to doctors, or novice nurses talking back to head nurses would never be tolerated. And then there are the jarringly modern mannerisms (of Dr Foster mainly). I hate it when a series dumbs down by making people seem like they would fit right in in 2015. It's OK for there to be some distance. That's why we're watching an historical drama! It makes it seem like some other place than 1860 Alexandria. At other times people seemed to do or say things that just don't seem historical to me -- though I admit to not being a historian of this period.
Finally, the characters. I'll reserve final judgement because sometimes in pilots people are a bit more 'cardboard' and then get fleshed out as the series goes on. But many of the characters were predictably and boringly black-and-white. The unapologetic southern belle, the staunch abolitionist, etc. I don't think people were launching into defenses of their personal ideology very often in the middle of military hospitals, but it happens like 5 times in this episode.
I'll watch the next one and just hope it gets better.
(I'm also not sure why this is being sung as the "next Downton Abbey" since they are separated by about 50 years in time, but I digress...)