Mercy Street

(I hope what I have written is not considered spoilers - I would not do that intentionally!)

I understand a lot of the criticisms written in these reviews. My reaction to watching Episode 1 was "What is this? Desperate Housewives of Civil War Medicine??" - because it seemed so "overheated" and unbelievable. For example, when Nurse Phinney has to sleep on the floor of the ward among the soldiers' beds, I exclaimed, "That didn't happen! That would never have happened! But then I started to read the true story of Nurse Phinney, "Adventures of an Army Nurse in Two Wars" and guess what - it DID happen plus a whole lot more!

What I saw as "overheated" in terms of the drama between hospital personnel was actually DOWNPLAYED from the true reality!!! The surgeons and doctors did NOT want female nurses around and wanted to drive them OUT. The hospital WAS as chaotic, as shown. And as far as soldiers not being fed - YUP, it was only TOO TRUE!!! There was a shocking amount of graft and profiteering going on in the food supply chain! I highly recommend the true story of Nurse Phinney - it is quite a read!!

I love all historical and period pieces so watch this one after my Downton Abbey fix. However, I am continually distracted during these episodes by the non authentic accents of characters who are supposed to be Virginians but sound more like they have dropped in from Georgia or Alabama. All southern accents are not created equal. Actors use coaches to learn proper English, Irish, German, Italian, etc. accents. Someone needed to teach these actors to speak Virginian. It is jarring to hear accents that are out of place with the setting.

I could also do without all the graphic blood and gore but that seems to be part and parcel of all films these days.

The series does hold one's attention. I must have not been paying strict attention because I do not remember the action ever dealing with the Union officer smuggled by Frank. When do they discover him?

I love this series....after reading some of the reviews I realized how 'nit-picky' some people are...they should be grateful that there are programs like this on television.......today we have such garbage for a selection of programs....who cares if the dialog is lame or if nurses talk back to doctors and it wasn't customary of the day, but mind you, there have been feisty and independent women throughout history .....enjoy the non-commercial program and take in a little bit of how harsh our ancestors really did have it......or go watch some lame 'reality' show on TLC. We need more period movies and series on television

This series is unique for presenting the ambivalence and contradictions of the Civil War Era. The protagonist nurse is a staunch abolitionist who is made to accept the need to also help Confederate wounded by a doctor who is loyal to the Union and thus a traitor to his slave- owning pro-Confederate Maryland family. Nevertheless he is unmoved by abolitionist sentiments--until he meets a free black Philadelphia man he admires.

The head of the Southern family that owns the hotel-turned hospital works to save his holdings and business interests while not betraying his Southern loyalties. He opposes efforts by Union soldiers to enforce claims to return runaway slaves (seems unhistorical here set in 1862- -I thought the Union stopped returning "contraband" in 1861.)

The African-American characters debate the merits of freedom versus the security of slavery or of employment not much removed from slavery.

In short, the moral certainties of hindsight are removed and the characters must struggle in their contemporary context. I do enjoy that.

Some casting choices were surprising but they all work.

I'm hopeful that this series marks a start to some quality original PBS programming rather than more transatlantic imports from the BBC or ITV. So far so good. I'm curious about some of the message board complaints about the gory nature of the surgery scenes. I would rather see the good, the bad, and the ugly instead of a watered down, whitewashed, and sanitized presentation. I like my stories with some real grit. The characters have some real depth. I don't like put-on southern accents. Like fake snow it diminishes the realism of the scene. And this series has lots of that. But (at least so far) the people of color have more to do in this story than serve angry white people. The Civil War is a dramatic season in our nation's history. It's not always a pretty story. But as a backdrop for this drama it is told with some dignity and respect for all the players, regardless of their uniform. I think we could use more of that attitude today.