Jamestown - General Discussion

[Meredith Quill]

Your Cast Topic!

[Meredith Quill]

Season 1 Discussion!

Quote

Three women set sail for the colony of Jamestown in 1619. But drama awaits, along with the men they are duty bound to marry.

 

[snowwhyte]

I enjoyed this. It's good to have a historical drama that focuses on a different time period. The early days of the American colonies should provide some good drama. The three newly arrived brides are interesting characters. I felt sorry for Alice, the kind farm girl. I'm glad she has Verity to turn to. Verity is feisty but also not blessed in the husband department. The wealthy,  manipulative one whose name I don't remember definitely won the husband lottery with her guy. He seems like a sweetheart. 

[hatchetgirl]

I'm enjoying this as it's fun history and I can imagine myself there.  How spot on do you think it is historically?  I'm not very knowledgeable about Jamestown?

[hatchetgirl]

I loved this one, but I'm worried for the rich lady's life...

[snowwhyte]

I studied American History at university but I don't remember much about the early history. From what I understand the broad facts seem accurate. The women were shipped over to be brides and help establish the colony but so far the women in this seem quite modern. Even Alice, the meekest of the three, was declaring her love for her dead fiancé's brother a week after his death. It wouldn't be a good drama if they were all as meek and obedient as the times dictated though. I'm finding this very watchable so far. 

[snowwhyte]

Yes, she is clever and manipulative but I think she doesn't appreciate the lengths these men will go to if they feel under threat. I think she overplayed her hand. Its like she feels the need to prove herself superior to these men but that's not enough for her. She has to let them know she played them. Eventually even the governor is going to stop falling for the whole, "I am but a feeble woman who wouldn't dream of interfering with men's business but you should do this thing I want you to do, for the good of the colony!"

[hatchetgirl]

I think you are right.  A proper manipulative woman of the time would never let it be known she was doing it and no one would notice.  She is too naive to be playing these games...

[snowwhyte]

Well, Jocelyn overplayed her hand in this one and nearly got Samuel killed. Somehow I don't think that she is going to learn her lesson. She also made an enemy of the governor's wife when she didn't need to. I think she wants to be the wife of the governor and is scheming toward that end. I believe she wants to manouver Samuel into the position but if he hadn't come back I'm half convinced the governor's wife may have had an "accident" and left the governor free and in need of consolation. I am finding Jocelyn and her schemes the most interesting part of the show. 

[snowwhyte]

It's been annoying me that I couldn't figure out what I'd seen the weasely   mustachioed guy in so I finally looked him up. He's Burn Gorman and he's been in lots of things including Torchwood and Game of Thrones but I think I recognized him from his role as Adam in Forever. 

[Cactus]

Even though I have seen him in there roles, I always think of him as Guppy from Bleak House.

[kieyra]

I really liked Sophie Rundle in Happy Valley but never realized what a ringer she is for Alexis Bledel from certain angles. 

Edit: enjoying it so far. Handmaid's Tale is too intense for me, so what with Harlots done for now, it's good to have another costume drama around to remind us women that we're not so far removed from being someone's property.

Edited June 4, 2017 by kieyra

[kieyra]

Mercy is pretty good as comic relief. "If you have pain then I am in pain thinking about your pain!"

[kieyra]

I'm kind of ... skimming along through this. I have to skip a fair bit, because I don't care too much about the the quest for gold or the two main bad guys sleazing around sleazily. And while I know it's an important message, I can't take much more reminding that women are still only a few generations removed from being property. The editing is also kind of whack--scenes just sort of tumble one after another in whatever order, stopping and starting abruptly.

While I'm somewhat meh on Colonial Rory Gilmore and her true love, I really do find the setup between Verity and Meredith to be something I don't think I've seen before. He's bought and paid for her, but she's more than a match for him in sheer orneriness. You almost want them to make it work, because they'd run the best colonial bar ever--and she does too, and you end up cheering for him to get off the damned booze.  To pick her over the booze. And shave. Please shave. I wish we saw a LOT more of these two and a bit less of, well, everything else.

[snowwhyte]

Yes, this was my least favourite episode. Lots of things annoyed me about it. Alice is sweet but pretty boring. I'm guessing her storyline will pick up when her original fiancée finally returns. I also have little interest in the gold and wish Henry Sharrow had died in the fire.

Jocelyn and the doctor really annoyed me. She tells him she murdered a man who wronged her and he says he doesn't care and moves in for a kiss. Seriously? Poor Samuel. His best friend and his wife, what a cliché.

I am finding Verity the most realistic and relatable. She ends up with a guy who's not perfect but isn't mean spirited. They are gradually getting to know each other and reach an understanding. I don't think he'll be able to quit the booze but he could shave. He's probably a good looking guy under that thing.

One thing I do think the show needs is more interaction between the woman. I want to see more of their friendship. 

[snowwhyte]

I'm always torn about Jocelyn. She's manipulative, can be a bit mean to her servant and compared to the other women seems to have things pretty good. I sometimes wish she could realise what she has but I imagine this is not the life she grew up expecting to have.

This episode Jocelyn regained my sympathy somewhat. Being lectured by the Governor's wife on how she should be meek and obedient and how her only role in life is to make her husband happy was awful. She's clearly a woman of intelligence with no outlet for her talents so she does what she can within the society that she's in. I just worry that she'll go too far. In fact I worry for all the women whenever they assert themselves. 

Verity clearly doesn't fit the model of meek, obedient and pious wife and now she is stealing again. It was difficult to watch Secretary Farlow force her to submit to his authority. Verity is such a lively woman. I don't want to see her crushed by the patriarchy.

[snowwhyte]

I don't know if the silver is real or not. I was trying to figure out if anyone could have swapped either of the metals to trick Henry Sharrow. James Reid might have if he knew Henry being rich and having influence in the town might prompt Alice to leave with Silas. There's plenty who might have wanted to do it but I'm not sure if they could have. 

[snowwhyte]

So four people now know that Jocelyn is a murderer but they are all OK with it because the guy she poisoned was an asshole. The super religious governor's wife and the doctor who has dedicated himself to saving lives are just going to let it go? 

The men in charge of the colony are a bit too evil for my taste. They have no redeeming qualities and now are introducing slavery to Jamestown. The final scene with the shackled slaves walking to the town was a pretty dark ending to the series.

[Peper81]

Does anyone know if this show has been renewed and if it will be released to American viewers?  I saw promos for the show and really wanted to watch it but I haven't seen anything about when it will air here in the US.  Is there a streaming service where it's available?

[Meredith Quill]

Your Media Topic!

[Meredith Quill]

According to this article:

Quote

The show aired on Sky 1 in the U.K. – ahead of its U.S. release this fall. An air-date for the U.S. premiere not yet been finalized, according to a recent press release.

It appears that it's already been renewed for a second season.

[Peper81]

Thank you for the info SilverStormm.

I am glad to see it has been renewed.  I figured if it wasn't renewed then we'd never get to see it over here.  Hopefully now that it's been renewed it will get picked up here in the US.

[snowwhyte]

That's good news. I've been mostly talking to myself here in the forum. Hopefully it will find an audience in the US.

[Meredith Quill]

Yeah, with PTV being a predominantly US-centric board, if a show doesn't air there it rarely gets much traction in the forum.

[Peper81]

Does anyone know if this show is available on Britbox? I am eager to see it but I haven't found any streaming service that has it.

[snowwhyte]

Well, season 2 has started in the UK and I still don't know if it's going to be shown in the US so we can get more posters in the forums. I don't know what the hold up is. Jamestown is a soapy, historical drama about the early American colonies and the Americans should get the chance to watch it. 

[Peper81]

I had hoped that since it got a second season that we’d get it here in America.  I’m bummed that hasn’t happened yet.  I’m still hoping it’ll happen at some point though.

[Arynm]

I am also waiting to get Jamestown in the states. What is taking so long? I was recently at Jamestown so I really want to see this.

[Peper81]

I just got an email from my local PBS station and it said since I am a donor I will now be able to stream Jamestown.  It said it will not air on my PBS station though.  If anyone else is a donor, check and see if you can stream it too.

[Peper81]

I'm not so sure I'm really liking this goldmine secondary storyline.  I like the focus being on the settlement and the women navigating it.  I don't particularly care about some map of a goldmine that may or may not have led to a man's death that we never saw and don't know.  Also, who is the other English guy that is in the Native American camp?  Not the brother, the other one, and who is he to this whole story.  I've had a hard time following what is going on there.  

I really do like Jocelyn and I hope she'll continue to get the better of Farlow and Redwick.  I imagine she has a very dark side and it'll be interesting to see when it finally comes out in full.  

So far, I'm loving this show and need to finish up the remaining episodes but I'm afraid of how long my wait will be once I finish this season.  

[snowwhyte]

The English guy living with the Native Americans is an indentured servant who ran away from the Jamestown colony and was presumed dead. 

I also disliked the treasure hunting storyline. 

[Ms Lark]

If you donate enough to your PBS channel, you should get "Passport" which is the PBS streaming channel. I bumped up my annual donation enough to be eligible. I think that's the only way to watch Jamestown in the US so far.

[Ms Lark]

Oh, I think she'll work her way through becoming Mrs. Dr. first, manage to get a little something from his pharm and then hit the gov. Although current Mrs. Gov is wise to her wiles and will discover the murder she committed before it gets too far. Jocelyn rather a bit of a sociopath.

Poor simple Mercy! She's just a pawn in Jocelyn's game. Hopefully, Pepper will rescue her soon!

Well, have a more eps to binge, this is interesting even if it is rather soapy.

Edited March 30, 2018 by Ms Lark
spelin'

[sleepysuzy]

Between the setting, clothes, and music, this felt more like the outer planets on Firefly than American colonial life to me. The witchcraft plot reminded me of the episode Safe. I half expected Mal and Zoe to bust into the tavern to start a fight on Unification day. 

Seriously,  I just started Jamestown on Amazon. It is enjoyable, but I'm going to pretend that it is set in the Firefly universe so the historical liberties don't bother me.

[kieyra]

24 minutes ago, sleepysuzy said:

Between the setting, clothes, and music, this felt more like the outer planets on Firefly than American colonial life to me. The witchcraft plot reminded me of the episode Safe. I half expected Mal and Zoe to bust into the tavern to start a fight on Unification day. 

Seriously,  I just started Jamestown on Amazon. It is enjoyable, but I'm going to pretend that it is set in the Firefly universe so the historical liberties don't bother me.

Firefly with Rory Gilmore. :)

[OtterMommy]

On 5/13/2017 at 2:35 PM, snowwhyte said:

I studied American History at university but I don't remember much about the early history. From what I understand the broad facts seem accurate. The women were shipped over to be brides and help establish the colony but so far the women in this seem quite modern. Even Alice, the meekest of the three, was declaring her love for her dead fiancé's brother a week after his death. It wouldn't be a good drama if they were all as meek and obedient as the times dictated though. I'm finding this very watchable so far. 

I started this last night--I also have a degree in History (from W&M, which is a stones throw from where Jamestown was before it eroded into the river).  So far, this show is accurate at a very high level.  Yes, women were brought over several years after the colony had established and most were indentured servants (not mail order brides, which is what this show is sort of insinuating, although many female indentured servants did end up marrying their bosses).  However, I don't think the creators really did that much research about Jamestown itself.  What is portrayed here is much more like an English village than a handful of log buildings in the middle of a swamp.  Even my husband, who whose Colonial history knowledge stems from Turn and when I dragged him to Hamilton last week, called BS on a lot of it.  Plus, everyone is just so CLEAN and HEALTHY, which is driving my history brain crazy.

And, honestly, I'm really not sure why the women are here other than, well, obvious base reasons.  Only one of them seems to actually have any work to do.

Oh well, at least there are pigs and mud.

The plot is pretty soapy which is sort of laughable, but I'm in need of some silly viewing right now, so I think I'll finish out the season.

[OtterMommy]

On 3/29/2018 at 7:20 PM, Ms Lark said:

If you donate enough to your PBS channel, you should get "Passport" which is the PBS streaming channel. I bumped up my annual donation enough to be eligible. I think that's the only way to watch Jamestown in the US so far.

I don't know if it is the same everywhere, but for my station, you just need to be a sustaining member--which means you donate each month--with at least a $5 monthly donation.  I was already a sustaining member (for more than $5), so I was pleasantly surprised to find out I had access to PBS passport!

[spaceghostess]

On 4/9/2018 at 10:43 AM, OtterMommy said:

However, I don't think the creators really did that much research about Jamestown itself.  What is portrayed here is much more like an English village than a handful of log buildings in the middle of a swamp.  Even my husband, who whose Colonial history knowledge stems from Turn and when I dragged him to Hamilton last week, called BS on a lot of it.  Plus, everyone is just so CLEAN and HEALTHY, which is driving my history brain crazy.

1

Thank you! I've never lived in the Mid Atlantic, but currently live in a historic whaling village in Connecticut. Our house is about two blocks away from the site of the worst massacre of The Pequot War (1636-38) and my neighbor, who works out of Yale, is compiling a huge database of documentation related to Connecticut's six Tribes. All of this is to say that I'm a bit of a history nerd, and it's possible that shows like Wolf Hall and The Alienist have spoiled me for this one. My knee-jerk reaction to episode 1 was that it was pretty damned tacky. They almost lost me right at the beginning with the three heroines' sprightly disembarkation from the ship. People got extremely ill (which they showed for two seconds) and many died on those voyages. IF you survived, you'd be staggering down the gangplank, not least because you hadn't set foot on solid ground for months. Besides being way too clean and way too healthy, the blond (can't remember her name right now) was remarkably coiffed and un-bedraggled. Granted, she has a lady's maid of sorts in Jamestown, but I don't think she did on the ship?

I missed the part where Alice fell madly in love with her rapist fiance's brother. Maybe because there were basically no scenes developing their relationship? Guess I'll just take her word for it that he's her soulmate. I'll watch a couple more episodes to see if it grows on me, but as of now, it annoys.

For anyone interested in real Jamestown history, PBS's Secrets of the Dead did a good episode about it a year or two ago.

Edited April 11, 2018 by spaceghostess

[spaceghostess]

OMG, Jamestown peeps. For the love of sanitation, stop throwing things down the well!!

[Scarlett45]

I saw an ad for this and am checking it out on Amazon Prime. 

Hello everyone. 

“A drunk is a different man every day of the week.”- that was quite a line. 

Do we know when the US will get season 2?

Edited April 23, 2018 by Scarlett45

[Scarlett45]

On 4/11/2018 at 1:18 AM, spaceghostess said:

I missed the part where Alice fell madly in love with her rapist fiance's brother. Maybe because there were basically no scenes developing their relationship? Guess I'll just take her word for it that he's her soulmate. I'll watch a couple more episodes to see if it grows on me, but as of now, it annoys.

I don’t think she is madly in love with him yet. I think she’s going through a lot of emotional upheaval and is mistaking that for love. This woman left everything and every one she knew to travel half way around the world, and Silas is the first person in the town who was kind to her. She’s raped by her fiance, and fears a life time of rapes (and probably beatings), he supposedly takes care of that problem. 

Never mind when they met when she first arrived I think they were attracted to each other (Im sure she was glad to see his face and not some old man, although elderly men wouldn’t be in Jamestown). 

[Scarlett45]

I only see up to episode 5 on PBS Masterpiece in the USA- anyone know when the USA will get the rest of the episodes?

[Scarlett45]

On 6/11/2017 at 11:40 AM, snowwhyte said:

I'm always torn about Jocelyn. She's manipulative, can be a bit mean to her servant and compared to the other women seems to have things pretty good. I sometimes wish she could realise what she has but I imagine this is not the life she grew up expecting to have.

This episode Jocelyn regained my sympathy somewhat. Being lectured by the Governor's wife on how she should be meek and obedient and how her only role in life is to make her husband happy was awful. She's clearly a woman of intelligence with no outlet for her talents so she does what she can within the society that she's in. I just worry that she'll go too far. In fact I worry for all the women whenever they assert themselves. 

Verity clearly doesn't fit the model of meek, obedient and pious wife and now she is stealing again. It was difficult to watch Secretary Farlow force her to submit to his authority. Verity is such a lively woman. I don't want to see her crushed by the patriarchy.

Yes- Jocelyn is certainly intelligent and seems to have been given a education, but as I told my Mom she isn’t “wise”. Had she been born in another time she would’ve been a politician herself. She is young but this is not England, she needs to be careful. The community is too small and there’s no place to run away to. 

 

All of the women are standing up to the patriarchy in their own way. Alice seems to be the kinder, more gentler woman but I have no doubt she’d stab Henry if he came at her again. She also stands by Silas, I’m buying that their love has grown into something authentic. 

 

Whered those worms come from?!! Wow. 

[Scarlett45]

On 6/18/2017 at 3:17 AM, snowwhyte said:

I don't know if the silver is real or not. I was trying to figure out if anyone could have swapped either of the metals to trick Henry Sharrow. James Reid might have if he knew Henry being rich and having influence in the town might prompt Alice to leave with Silas. There's plenty who might have wanted to do it but I'm not sure if they could have. 

I don’t know where they are going with Henry. This change of heart etc isn’t so believable- even if you do think you’ll be rich. I can see how almost dying and being burned beyond belief may make you reflect, but you don’t become NICE just because of it.... then he started punching his brother. That part actually made sense (although it wasn’t okay), he was angry and lashing out at the person closest to him and that internalized anger boiled over. 

 

Has UK gotten season 2 yet?- a google search tells me yes, I wonder if the USA has to wait another year. 

Edited May 8, 2018 by Scarlett45

[snowwhyte]

Season 2 has been shown in the UK. I'll be honest, I thought it went off the rails a bit and I haven't gotten around to finishing it yet. Maybe when I finally watch it I'll post a season 2 topic.

[Scarlett45]

On 8/24/2017 at 5:09 PM, snowwhyte said:

So four people now know that Jocelyn is a murderer but they are all OK with it because the guy she poisoned was an asshole. The super religious governor's wife and the doctor who has dedicated himself to saving lives are just going to let it go? 

The men in charge of the colony are a bit too evil for my taste. They have no redeeming qualities and now are introducing slavery to Jamestown. The final scene with the shackled slaves walking to the town was a pretty dark ending to the series.

I cannot wait until the USA gets the second season. I can believe that the men governing Jamestown IRL probably had some evil tendencies- power has a corrupting quality. The governors wife letting it go surprised me*, BUT the doctors reaction didn’t because he’s in love with her. As smart as Jocelyn why did she admit to all that?!! If a letter arrived just claim it was evil gossip!

*I think the Gov wife let it go because she knows how it feels to be absolutely powerless as a woman in this society; and how that anger, rage and humiliation can force a woman to snap. I am not saying that what Jocelyn did was alright (murder is not okay as revenge for social humiliation in any scenario), I don’t think anyone thinks she did was right, but they understand how someone can be moved to that place.

Alice is so fierce, Silas lucked out- however I don’t know how she isn’t terrified of Henry. If he had any decency at all he’d sleep somewhere else so she could feel safe.

Mercy did make me giggle “I want to kiss you the night long.”

 

From what I read online the introduction of African characters, and the expansion of the Native American characters add more depth to the series. 

Edited May 13, 2018 by Scarlett45

[Bizabra]

Liking it, if the women ARE a bit too modern. But what really bugs is that their hair is all hanging about loosely and looking all shiny and bouncy and beautiful. In reality, all that hair would be bound up and covered with their caps. It would be greasy, to our way of thinking, and not bouncy and curly and amazing!  Ugh!

[izabella]

This show is way too modern.  The women are far too pretty, clean, healthy, independent and outspoken.  At the same time, it does blow open the myth that this country was founded by good Christians looking for a place to practice their religion, in favor of the truth.  It was founded by rich traders who stole land and brought criminals/indentured servants (and later, black slaves from Africa) to grow crops to send back to England and get richer off other people's work.

45 minutes ago, Bizabra said:

Liking it, if the women ARE a bit too modern. But what really bugs is that their hair is all hanging about loosely and looking all shiny and bouncy and beautiful. In reality, all that hair would be bound up and covered with their caps. It would be greasy, to our way of thinking, and not bouncy and curly and amazing!  Ugh!

That blonde lady had pretty curls coming off the months voyaging on the ship.  I guess the ship must have had a hair salon on it.

[Bizabra]

Also, how the heck is Mercy single? Since there was a shortage of women and they had to send more out from England, how was she not married already? Would a SERVANT not be considered marriageble? Huh?

[snowwhyte]

If she's an indentured servant she isn't free to marry. Plus she's really annoying and even a desperate man might hesitate to be permanently tied to her.