Mercy Street

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

I am greatly enjoying this series. The production has the feel of the period from the mud in the streets, to the period decor of the rooms and costumes, all the way to the amputated limbs being taken away in a wheelbarrow. War is hell, and none was more so than the Civil War, when weaponry had become so efficient as to mow down regiments marching forward in outdated styles of battle. Some viewers might object to bloody surgery scenes. However, one of the most affecting scenes to me was of a Confederate soldier with shell shock who told of the horror of battle, "the smoke and blood and the screaming, you never know where it's coming from."

Soldiers who make it to this hospital are cared for to the best of their abilities by Mary Phinney and Dr. Jedediah Foster, played admirably by Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Josh Radnor. Their own personal dramas are interwoven into the story lines quite well. Applause to the producers and directors!

"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.

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.