Jamestown - General Discussion

[CCTC]

On 10/5/2018 at 10:56 AM, 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!

Yes - just caught episode one on PBS tonight and found that distracting.  I don't necessarily need everyone to look like they bathed once a year, but I have noticed in the last ten years or so, the PBS/BBC dramas have really thrown out any historical accuracy for women hairstyles and they almost all now have their hair down and curled like they are part of the Celtic Women singer/dancers.  It is distracting enough when it is some 18th or 19th century country estate, but that is magnified ten fold when they are in an early, muddy, 17th century colony where they would not exactly be living a life of leisure. 

[Bizabra]

Egads, this show bugs. Verity is an idiot and deserves to hang. Her husband hiding stuff down the well is stupid. Why not bury the stuff deep in the woods? Henry is terrible. Silas is a moron. The Secretary is too moustache-twirling. The bouncy blond is stupid. The blacksmith is a stalker. Ugh. This should have been better, but it's just a soap opera set in colonial times. Awful, disappointing.

Edited November 2, 2018 by Bizabra

[lucindabelle]

 Just binge season one. This show is so out there and wild it reminds me of the first one or two glorious seasons of Sleepyhollow before it went off the rails. Of course it’s ridiculous. Everyone has perfect teeth and looks like they shampoo their hair daily and the clothes all look clean too. And yes, though annoying, Mercy is quite pretty and it’s not really plausible that she would have been a single maid serving the recorder when there were no other women in town, does anyone even know how that happened?

 

Also, having watched Game of Thrones, I find it quite impossible that Silas would run into a burning building have been burned once himself . He has almost no scars except for a few kind of nice looking ones on one side of his face, he lost no hair or eyebrows. One building going up like that should have immediately set fire to other buildings and the the flames just somehow doused them selves? But as I said this show is all kinds of silly and I enjoy it anyway; I like the performances. 

 

I especially like Irish Verity, although they never call her Irish she clearly is Irish and in one episode was even singing “the parting glass.” She and her husband are exceptionally well matched, and I want him to be sober so he can be a better man and verity can love him. I actually wonder if they’ve consummated the marriage yet.

 

the slaves though add quite a level of darkness that I don’t think will suit the shows out there silliness.

[Scarlett45]

I am behind the 8 Ball due to Thanksgiving gluttony and Christmas Merriment BUT Season 2 is available on PBS Passport and Amazon Prime. 

http://www.pbs.org/program/jamestown/season-2/

[Scarlett45]

I have caught up with the first three episodes. Initial thoughts- I knew James and Widow Castle we’re going to have some steamy moments with all the slapping going on. Trying to redeem Henry isn’t going to work for me, and I think Alice has post partum poor thing. 

 

I am enjoying Pedro and “Maria”(I cannot recall her real name) as characters and perspectives of how one psychologically deals with slavery. While I would never blame Maria for holding out hope she would be reunited with her family, and I 100% understand how she wouldn’t want to live as a slave (I can see why enslaved persons thought suicide was an option), but I also understand Pedro’s desire to have hope. I see how the Governor is manipulating him to exert control over the other slaves. 

 

It should be a good season. 

[Pebble Puppy]

On 3/27/2018 at 12:29 PM, Peper81 said:

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.  

I'm loving the show. I just started watching on PBS and didn't catch it at the beginning of the season so I don't know the characters and the storyline very well. I think I've watched three episodes total and the end of the last one showed Alices first (supposedly dead) husband come back to Jamestown. I hope I can find the episodes I missed and I hope there are other seasons. I love historical dramas. I'm just now watching Downton Abbey. 

On 10/5/2018 at 4:33 PM, snowwhyte said:

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.

I don't think she's all there. Her family probably "gave" her into servitude because she was considered slow and just another mouth to feed.

[Pebble Puppy]

On 11/2/2018 at 12:55 PM, Bizabra said:

Egads, this show bugs. Verity is an idiot and deserves to hang. Her husband hiding stuff down the well is stupid. Why not bury the stuff deep in the woods? Henry is terrible. Silas is a moron. The Secretary is too moustache-twirling. The bouncy blond is stupid. The blacksmith is a stalker. Ugh. This should have been better, but it's just a soap opera set in colonial times. Awful, disappointing.

It's a bit like a "historical" romance come to life. Lol It's been glamorized, you could say. Maybe they saw the success of Downton Abbey and decided to try a different century.

[Scarlett45]

17 hours ago, Pebble Puppy said:

I don't think she's all there. Her family probably "gave" her into servitude because she was considered slow and just another mouth to feed.

Yes I agree that we are supposed to infer that Mercy has a mental disability (although she is high functioning). She may have been the daughter of one of the servants in the Castell household I am glad she hasn’t been a target for sexual abuse (which IRL wouldn’t surprise me) but Recorder Castell was very kind to her. Much kinder than Jocyeln. 

[Scarlett45]

I found this video- thought it was interesting. Abiola has such a pretty smile!

 

[Pebble Puppy]

On 3/29/2018 at 10:20 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 think Hulu has it too, according to my internet search, at least I hope so.

[spaceghostess]

Oy, this show. Did I miss something, or did Alice have her baby almost instantly after rolling down that hill? I feel like there was a scene cut between the topple and the birth. Any UK viewers who can chime in on this?

[Scarlett45]

4 hours ago, Pebble Puppy said:

I think Hulu has it too, according to my internet search, at least I hope so.

Amazon. 

[Scarlett45]

On 12/11/2018 at 9:29 PM, spaceghostess said:

Oy, this show. Did I miss something, or did Alice have her baby almost instantly after rolling down that hill? I feel like there was a scene cut between the topple and the birth. Any UK viewers who can chime in on this?

Yes- it was a two second labor on our end. 

 

I just saw episode 4 with my Mom. She thinks Mercy is developing a crush on James Reed (I agree) but if Mercy were to marry I prefer her with Pepper! They really like each other a lot. 

 

I want more scenes between Alice and Henry’s new wife. As Silas and Henry were fighting I agreed with Silas- if the writers are going to try and “redeem” Henry (as in almost dying in the boat fire and getting is face messed up made him think about not being an evil rapist) he should NOT betray the people that SAVED HIS DAMN LIFE, because he wants to kiss up to the governor. 

[proserpina65]

Tried to watch the first episode of this on MPT last night.  It was god-awful.  It was the worst mix of soap opera and bodice ripper I've ever seen.  I couldn't even get to the historical inaccuracy because I was too distracted by the terrible writing and worse acting.  I actually gave up with 15 minutes to go - it was that bad.

Edited January 4, 2019 by proserpina65

[proserpina65]

On ‎10‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 12:40 PM, izabella said:

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.

Depends on what part of the country you're talking about.  Massachusetts was founded by annoying Puritans determined to force their religion onto everyone else.  Virginia was founded by men in it for the money.

Edited to note that most of the original colonies were founded by men in it for the money.  Massachusetts is one of the few outliers in that respect.

Edited January 4, 2019 by proserpina65

[Scarlett45]

I caught the season finale. The thing I love most about this show is that all the characters are incredibly complex and well developed. The Hungarian landscape is gorgeous. 

 

We know Silas isn’t leaving the show so he will make it back to Jamestown somehow. Pedro & Maria are united and have their eye on Yarldey’s wife. Jocelyn will rebuild her farm- next season should be awesome. 

[Scarlett45]

I caught several actors in Jamestown (Silas and the Doctor) in Medici: Masters of Florence on Netflix. I started a thread for that show but I’m all alone! (It’s under dramas). If you like Jamestown I think you’d like Medici as well. 

[zoey1996]

I've watched the first four episodes of Season 1.  So far, I pretty much agree with everyone else here.  It's entirely too clean, hair that clean and curly isn't realistic at all.  The storyline is soapy.  So far it's drawn me in, so I plan to watch the rest of Season 1 and Season 2. 

The population of Jamestown in this time isn't clear, but there were many more people living there than we see on the show.  Women started coming to Jamestown in 1608.  It was around 1618 or 1619 that the Virginia Company realized that to sustain the population more women were needed, so that's when we begin to see women sent as potential wives for the unmarried men.

More recently, archaeologists led by Dr. William "Bill" Kelso have found the foundational post holes for the fort, and thousands upon thousands of artifacts, many of which were found in abandoned wells that were used as dumps after they were no longer useful.

I live in the area and have been to a number of presentations at Historic Jamestowne, and the stories are fascinating, with machinations "behind the scenes" emphasizing that our democracy was not easily come by.

[Ceindreadh]

Season 3 (the final one) starts airing on Sky One in the UK on Friday the 26th April. 

[zoey1996]

I have two more episodes in Season 2 to watch.  The supernatural/superstition stuff in episode 6 was kind of eerie.  Also, how long have we understood the science behind the solar eclipse, and how eyes can be damaged by looking directly at one?  Glad Massinger is done for, good riddance, but how it was done was pretty brutal.  And how many times are they going to dig up Castell?!!!

I’m liking Temperence better, but she’d best watch herself around the Governor.

Edited May 19, 2019 by zoey1996

[zoey1996]

What's the phrase - power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.  The Jamestown leaders are conniving and cruel men of power.  

I finished watching season 2 over the weekend.  There are a number of loose ends, so I'm looking forward to seeing some of those resolved.  

[Happy Belly]

i just have one more episode to watch and then I’m up to date.  Some comments... I am really enjoying this show. I do love history and for sure the show is getting the Hollywood version of its history, but now I tend to overlook that because quite a few people Ive spoken to regarding any historical show I watch (i.e. The Tudors, Victoria, Downton Abbey and now The Spanish Princess) when I mention its nit historically accurate, they told me the show perked their interest and they are now reading upon it. So thats a good thing. Can I be James Reid’s new bride? when he cleans up, Yowza Yowza!  i love Verity and Meredith. So hoping he continues doing what he was doing in the episode I watched last night.  Looking forward to Season 3. Is that the last one?

[zoey1996]

My dvr recorded S3E1 yesterday!  Glad it’s back, but haven’t watched yet.

[zoey1996]

I watched my dvr tonight.  Good movement of the story line.  Heartbreaking for Silas and Alice.  Governor is evil in this depiction. Liked seeing Sharrow with his daughter, but boy has he changed into nicer guy instead of the brute he was.  Not sad the Secretary is gone, but am relieved it wasn't Pepper's doing.

My PBS station ran some brief "making of" pieces, which were quite interesting, with discussions of set, costumes, Pamunkey history and customs, etc.

[Scarlett45]

On 6/18/2019 at 10:25 PM, zoey1996 said:

I watched my dvr tonight.  Good movement of the story line.  Heartbreaking for Silas and Alice.  Governor is evil in this depiction. Liked seeing Sharrow with his daughter, but boy has he changed into nicer guy instead of the brute he was.  Not sad the Secretary is gone, but am relieved it wasn't Pepper's doing.

My PBS station ran some brief "making of" pieces, which were quite interesting, with discussions of set, costumes, Pamunkey history and customs, etc.

I’m not getting on the Henry Sharrow redemption train, BUT I can believe that almost dying from the fire may have put the fear in him that he needs to live his life in a better way. Also coming back to Jamestown and Alice not killing him in his sleep perhaps made him count his blessings. I don’t think he’s a “good man” but I can believe he’s more careful in what he does to others now. 

I watch on Amazon Prime, and I think I have all the episodes, but my mom and I are watching together (so 1-2 episodes a week). 

[zoey1996]

More sad times for the Sharrows.  Since we know better now, I was pretty sure if Virginia had survived, it would have been in spite of and not because of the bleeding.  Also sad about Meredith and the boy.  The backstory of Meredith's boy dying was another common tragedy of the time.  

They are kind of doing a character assassination of Gov. Yeardley, but the drama makes interesting watching, even as I'm rolling my eyes.  A lot of the history of the show is in line with what is known of the Jamestowne colony, however, so I won't complain too much.

Just noticed Mercy's new hairstyle; I think I like the bangs better.

[Happy Belly]

If I may, where are you all watching Season 3? 

[zoey1996]

15 hours ago, Happy Belly said:

If I may, where are you all watching Season 3? 

My PBS station, WHRO, is showing it on Sunday nights.

[Scarlett45]

On 7/4/2019 at 6:46 PM, Happy Belly said:

If I may, where are you all watching Season 3? 

Amazon Prime. 

[Happy Belly]

Thank you!

[Scarlett45]

I finally finished watching with my Mom. Glad to see Pepper, Mercy, Jocelyn and James Reed get happy endings. Pedro died fighting like a warrior. I loved the costume design and cinematography oh so much. 

[zoey1996]

I watched episode 8 last night.  Really good, and the ending matched with what we know of the history of that period.  So even with some of the historical inaccuracies, I still thought it quite well done.

Happy that Meredith redeemed himself with Tamlin.  Still don't quite understand Crabtree's role in the power struggle with Gov. Yeardley.  Also, what I've read of Yeardley indicates that he's not a big bad power-hungry man, so he seems to be the victim of character-assassination in this show.  Did make for good drama, however.

[Ohwell]

On 7/1/2019 at 4:43 PM, zoey1996 said:

Just noticed Mercy's new hairstyle; I think I like the bangs better.

Yes.  She needed those bangs. 😱

[zoey1996]

Archaeologists may have found the burial site for Governor Yeardley or Lord De La Warre.  Interesting article in the Daily Press:  https://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-nws-jamestown-grave-1019-20191022-qlypvf4xm5dedm4eptzt3hmcua-story.html?fbclid=IwAR0w1zH3GF4prBu1nG6ISBCr1UEh_Lya8ddDO6gZW6fDlB9rDSo2P7GStxQ

Or go to the facebook page for Jamestown Rediscovery.

[blackwing]

Just started watching this series today and finished the first two episodes.  Clearly this is a TV version of Jamestown... what I find most interesting is that I wonder if women in the early 1600s in a new world would be as sophisticated and cunning as they seem to be here.  The way the women (particularly the rich blonde lady) band together to solve each other's problems and stand up for themselves, it's like they are the colonial American version of Destiny's Child singing the "Independent Women" song from "Charlie's Angels".  But it's TV, and I'm a sucker for most any historical costume drama, so I'm hooked.

I can't get over how much I think the rich blonde lady (Jocelyn?) looks like Gwendolyn Christie from "Game of Thrones".  Same platinum blonde hair, similar eyes and bone structure.

[Noneofyourbusiness]

On 10/23/2019 at 4:42 PM, blackwing said:

what I find most interesting is that I wonder if women in the early 1600s in a new world would be as sophisticated and cunning as they seem to be here. 

I'm pretty sure women have always been as cunning as they are now, even if not always able to express it openly.

[Fireball]

On 12/7/2018 at 8:18 PM, Scarlett45 said:

I have caught up with the first three episodes. Initial thoughts- I knew James and Widow Castle we’re going to have some steamy moments with all the slapping going on. 

I'm on season 2 episode 3. I also knew Jocelyn and James were going to have a thing with the slapping etc. However, I do not get why all of a sudden Jocelyn is interested in James when in season 1 she showed no interest in him and seemed totally interested in the Dr.

Now that she can have the Dr. she's suddenly not interested in him. Maybe that's the whole thing; Jocelyn is only interested in someone when they are forbidden, but once that person isn't forbidden she loses interest in them.

James Reed and Jocelyn make no sense to me. But maybe they will make sense by the end of the season... 

[Scarlett45]

FYI Niamh Walsh (Verity) has a role in “The English Game” on Netflix. I started a thread in Other Dramas for it. 

[Magnumfangirl]

I just finished watching all 24 episodes of this show and the ending was an awful cliffhanger!  The show was a bizarre mashup of Game of Thrones style violence and gore, Lord of the Rings (Jocelyn's obsession with Crabtree's ring), Poldark (the eclipse) with a little Supernatural thrown in the mix.  I'm guessing they didn't know season 3 was the last series?  Yeardley needed to get his comeuppance and Silas should have returned to England to find Alice and their son.  

[Scarlett45]

On 3/19/2021 at 11:28 AM, Magnumfangirl said:

I just finished watching all 24 episodes of this show and the ending was an awful cliffhanger!  The show was a bizarre mashup of Game of Thrones style violence and gore, Lord of the Rings (Jocelyn's obsession with Crabtree's ring), Poldark (the eclipse) with a little Supernatural thrown in the mix.  I'm guessing they didn't know season 3 was the last series?  Yeardley needed to get his comeuppance and Silas should have returned to England to find Alice and their son.  

I think that they did. If you want to see more of FINE ASS Stuart Martin (Silas), he is in Miss Scarlett & The Duke (but not as hot, more clothes and a beard)- that is only 6 episodes but we should be getting a season 2. (PBS)

[Magnumfangirl]

38 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

I think that they did. If you want to see more of FINE ASS Stuart Martin (Silas), he is in Miss Scarlett & The Duke (but not as hot, more clothes and a beard)- that is only 6 episodes but we should be getting a season 2. (PBS)

Miss Scarlet is how I discovered Stuart Martin.  After I finished that, I had to find more of Mr. Martin so I watched Jamestown.  So obviously, I thought he was pretty smoldering as William Wellington.   😘

[blackwing]

I enjoyed the series overall, even if I thought some of the writing choices were odd... it's like they were making things up as they went along with no overall direction to the story arc.  Jocelyn's husband getting killed, Silas going native temporarily, Alice leaving and never coming back.  And the cliffhanger was not cool... in real life of course that was the Jamestown Massacre and we know what happened in history. 

But not knowing which characters were going to die and which would survive?  I guess the way it was set up, we were left to imagine our own stories.  I agree with you, I would have enjoyed seeing certain characters get their comeuppance.  When the series was renewed for a third season, they knew it would be the last.  So there was no reason why they couldn't have given viewers more satisfaction instead of just ending on a cliffhanger.

[Scarlett45]

2 hours ago, blackwing said:

I enjoyed the series overall, even if I thought some of the writing choices were odd... it's like they were making things up as they went along with no overall direction to the story arc.  Jocelyn's husband getting killed, Silas going native temporarily, Alice leaving and never coming back.  And the cliffhanger was not cool... in real life of course that was the Jamestown Massacre and we know what happened in history. 

I recall reading that Jocelyn's husband was killed off because the actor got another job, I know the actress who played Alice got a lead role in the Showtime series about Anne Lister- "Gentleman Jack" (season 2 was delayed because of Covid)....I think with series like this, with no confirmed contracts etc, actors get other offers and they have to work around that.

[blackwing]

On 3/25/2021 at 1:55 PM, Scarlett45 said:

I recall reading that Jocelyn's husband was killed off because the actor got another job, I know the actress who played Alice got a lead role in the Showtime series about Anne Lister- "Gentleman Jack" (season 2 was delayed because of Covid)....I think with series like this, with no confirmed contracts etc, actors get other offers and they have to work around that.

Thanks, I hadn't read that.  I liked both of these characters.  I get that actors take whatever projects most appeal to them, and if that means they end up leaving a series, then I understand.

I just wish that the ending for Silas and Alice hadn't been so bleak.  The creators knew the series was ending, so why not give them a happier ending?  No appearance by her would have been necessary.  How about a letter from Alice to Silas in the final episode saying she missed him and was returning?  Or him making a decision and saying he was going to go back to England to be with his family?

[zoey1996]

I just read about a new book about the women who went to Jamestown.  "The Jamestown Brides: The Story of England's "Maids for Virginia" " by Jennifer Potter.  Several of the reviews are by descendents of the Jamestowne settlement. Altogether sounds like an interesting read.