Saints & Strangers

Saints and Strangers does a pretty good job of telling the story of the early encounters between New England's pilgrim settlers and their Native American hosts/antagonists. I felt the story portrayed a balanced (accuracy is debatable) view of the plight of both groups. The constant cultural dilemmas, physical dangers, and shifting alliances made for a good night of television. There's obviously a lot of history to fit into 2 episodes so hopefully this will return as a full series. One interesting note: when I read through the cast of characters, I was surprised to see Ron Livingston (of Office Space fame) listed as portraying John Carver? I totally missed him...I'll have to pay closer attention when I watch it again.

This is a good show, particularly interesting for non-American viewers, who don't really know much about the Mayflower colony. I think it would have been better if it was a little bit longer or if it chose its pov more decisively. This could be primarily William Bradford's story, or Squanto's story, or Stephen Hopkins 's story or -why not indeed- Mrs Hopkins' story, its running time was too short to be everyone's (and noone's) story.

Not impressed with this at all. Between the series itself and the reviews here, I'm convinced that at least eighty per cent of Americans have never met an Indigenous person in their entire lives and really don't care about them, their culture, or their history. I didn't appreciate the way the Indigenous characters were portrayed. I didn't find it credible or compelling. I also have to agree with "jackhuntermtl" about the poor production, etc.

This is a reasonable telling of the Pilgrims saga from the time they left England to some years after their settlement in Plymouth. I have read the historical accounts of George Willison's "Saints and Strangers", as well as Nathaniel Philbrook's "Mayflower". William Brewster was a key figure in the Pilgrim's history. He was known as William the Elder, as he was their church leader. He was likely instrumental in drawing up the Mayflower Compact. He was completely left out of this telling of the tale. To leave him out is a grievous error! There should have been more of the Pilgrim's Sunday services, as it was a very important part of their culture. Also, the Pilgrim's were taken aback by how scantily dressed the Native Americans were. The Native Americans in this production are in full leathers! Another grievous error!

Saints and Strangers depicts the Pilgrim's journey to the new world and their first encounters with the Native Americans. The story portrays a balanced view between both groups' points of view. While this mini-series was extremely well done, I felt it suffered from having too many characters and not having a clear central character. It also would have been nice to have had a little more exposition at the beginning. I am not super familiar with that this particular time period. So having a little more information would've been a good thing. Also, I think it would have been better to have more than two episodes as the story wouldn't have felt so rushed. With that said, I thought the acting was great. Anna Camp's performance was amazing and heartbreaking. It's different than the roles she normally has, and I wish she had a bigger part. However, I understand why it was the way it was. This show also a reminder of a time when the world was a harder place to live in, and it's crazy to think about what those earlier settlers went through. And I would recommend watching this one if you get a chance.