3 out of 5

Created by: Craig Silverstein

covers season 1

Leashed as it is to historical events – though it’s admirable that the show tries to remain true to that – ‘Turn’ often lurches from side to side in its narrative, trying to find exactly the right tone to tell its story.  Based on ‘Washington’s Spies’ by Alexander Rose – which is pitched as following the rise of ‘American’s first spy ring,’ The Culper Ring – the show eagerly sets the stage with Jaime Bell as Abe Woodhull, living in Loyalist-occupied Setauket in 1776, clearly a moral man at odds with the confusing politics of the time (and with his father, Judge Richard Woodhull, who is all to eager to work with the British Major stationed in the their town), who inadvertently gets wrapped into doing some spying for the American rebels.  Abe’s character is believably balanced, and the nudge into working with the rebels is well executed, but for the next eight episodes… the show sputters about trying to figure out what to do.  This is the limitation of working within a narrative that’s already been set by history.  The battle that caps the season (‘The Battle of Setauket’) was a well-chosen endpoint, and it’s an amazing episode – the various plot threads are focused, our character’s actions believable, and it doesn’t exceed the show’s budgetary scope, which ruins some large scale shots elsewhere with dodgy CGI – but everything leading up to this battle is a waiting game.  It’s understandable that ‘Turn’ can’t go all-out Culper Ring right away, as they would sort of ruin any longevity, but to fill the space we get way too much back and forth between Abe, his wife Mary (Meegan Warner)… and the woman he’d rather be with, Anna Strong (Heather Lind), who’s in on’ the spyin’ game.  Had this been kept tighter, underlying tensions in the town, between Abe and his father, fine, but the writers overplay their hand and I guess no one paid much attention to overt “meaningful glances” back in the day, as one particularly silly sequence has Abe and Anna ‘undercover’ gathering intel, not supposed to know each other but clearly giving each other the staredown.  And this kind of blip persists.  It’s not played as Abe learning the ropes, it more seems like the show assuming its audience needs the acknowledgment of what’s going on.  Overstatement pops up elsewhere – Samuel Roekin’s sadistic British captain Simcoe, entertaining but hilariously over-the-top, and Angus Macfadyen’s I-don’t-care-that-you’re-actually-Scottish-it-always-seems-like-you’re-faking Robert Rodgers, leader of the Queen’s Rangers.

Thankfully, Bell and Strong are very solid and compelling in their roles, and the subject matter is interesting, despite a wavering sense of focus as ‘Turn’ tries to find the best way to gather its pieces and move forward.  The thrilling conclusion (and equally exciting moments that admittedly pop up throughout the season) show a lot of promise; hopefully the show gets a chance to continue forward and does so with a better idea of its end game.