Mercy Street

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'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.

This series began with real promise - an American period drama along the lines and quality of what Masterpiece has imported from across the pond. And for the most part, the first season delivered.

But the second season devolved into a Grey's Anatomy-style soap (complete with the annoying underscore) that treated the horrors and suffering of the Civil War as a backdrop for quirky characters and their high jinks. The psychological drama never reached deeper than a wading pool.

The real mercy in Mercy Street was putting it out of its misery at the end of the second season.

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.

"Mercy Street" takes place at the start of the Civil War, in a Union Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia, where a newly appointed "head nurse" must contend with multiple issues in her attempt to organize services. There are all sorts of problem she must confront – how to care for Confederate troops in a Union hospital, how to deal with slaves and freed Blacks, the rivalries between different types of nurses, the hierarchical relationship with Physicians, the influence of European medicine, etc.

The settings are marvelous as are the costumes. The acting is very good, especially from head nurse and ardent abolitionist Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Confederate volunteer Hannah James. TV Stalwarts Gary Cole, Peter Gerety, and Cherry Jones are on hand as well. At times modernism creep into the dialogue, as well as the mannerisms, but generally speaking it has an authentic mid 19th Century feel. There is also some failings in the accents which seem to range all over the place, even among family members.

The first two episodes manage to keep the soap opera elements at a minimum while showing us what it must have been like to be a part of the process. This show is entertaining while it is simultaneously educational. It won't appeal to everyone, but anyone interested in Medicine, or the Civil War, will find it compelling.