Jamestown: les conquérantes

If you expect a factual, realistic and historically based drama, this is not the show for you. If you are looking for simple entertainment value and not having to think too hard, this show does pretty good. The characters are good if a little caricatural with the obviously good and honourable James Read, the nasty greedy Governor Yardley and the scheming and sneaky Widow Castel. There is a hint of depth to them but nothing that will make you wonder very much. Yet you start to like some of them and hope they'll prevail.

I checked out the reviews on here before I watched the first episode, and proceeded despite the overall negativity. I'm glad I did - I was hooked right away and I won't find the wait until the next episode easy.

I understand how some people care about historical accuracy - but I couldn't care less and I'm sure that's true for many viewers too, and I don't think you could call any of this show's mistakes egregious. They made some compromises for convenience, some to spice things up, and some probably out of ignorance but if it's spoiling someone's enjoyment of the story then that's on them because there's nothing ridiculous.

Overall I think it's a finely polished show, focused mainly on the relationships between the characters, and particularly the struggles of the new female arrivals to find their place in the settlement and carve out some agency for themselves. I like all of the main characters a lot, and I don't get to say that very often. Verity and Jocelyn in particular are delightful. I can't wait to see what they are going to do and say next.

It's not as witty as Downton Abbey, but it's soapy in the same way. However, I wouldn't assume it would attract the same kinds of fans.

I can't see what the other reviewers are worried about. This show isn't meant to be a historical documentary, it's a brain out the box piece of pop corn silliness, and as that it's very good. The acting is fine, the scenery is beautiful and who cares if they aren't covered in mud all the time. I enjoyed the historically inappropriate over strong women and the fun story line. I enjoyed the show and will watch the rest with enjoyment without over analysing it.

I thought the acting was very good and the characters worthy, but right from the beginning the script was lacking and you notice things are off. Coming out of the water or the woods and the character is spiffy clean? the clothes are not perfectly period, though that won't bother many, the ship mooring as some others have mentioned, and honestly, a gay man wearing an earring in the open, in such a tough society? he'd have been flogged and tossed off the ship before it even landed. I found too many things that were not believable and a script lacking. Too bad because I love period drama's.

I thought, "oooh, from the producers of Downtown Abbey, that bodes well." I quickly decided that the producers should have stayed in the 19th - early 20th centuries, and across the pond. There's only so much suspension of disbelief one can expect from a viewer, and this is Historical Fiction not SciFi/Fantasy.

Examples: There was no gold in or anywhere near colonial Jamestown. Wolves do not spontaneously attack humans. Clothes do not walk themselves magically clean after a struggle in a swamp. In a society where men are so terribly starved for women, how is it there's a handy ladies' maid waiting patiently for an imported mistress to serve? No idiot would publicly admit that he cheats at dice in a culture that hangs thieves. And another reviewer mentioned the nagging detail about an ocean-going vessel docking in obviously shallow water at a small upriver pier. Even the music sounds unoriginal--I swear it's recycled from the show, Hell on Wheels.

I sincerely hope they get a script writer who has read some history. The cast deserves it. (And note to the reviewer who complained about the bleached blonde: that actress is actually blonde. It's the red head who was dyed for the part.)