Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
1814. A long time after the independence of the USA. And yet the same king, George III with still six years to go and when he will go he will have been king for sixty years and he was entirely responsible for the American Revolution by standing firmly, even more than firmly for the East India Company and the infamous Tea Act of 1773. Remember The Boston Tea Party, just as much as the Alamo.James Delaney, the son of the boss of an important shipping company, comes back after the death of his father to recuperate his inheritance. He had been believed dead due to a very long absence and the very obscure conditions of his disappearance in Africa. He was the sole crew survivor of a shipwreck. The ship was a slave ship, totally illegal according to English law. The ship was sailing for the East India Company and importing a great number of slaves, men, women, and children, to the plantation of the brother of some official of the boss of the East India company, or something as sordid as that. The slaves were locked up into the hold of the ship and the hatch was nailed down so that no survivor could reveal the cargo of the ship.The whole plot turns around the possession of a small island or piece of land on the Canadian west coast and Delaney can sell it to the East India Company and it becomes British or to the US government. The whole story is a series of intertwined rivalries, treasons and allegiances for any private interest you can imagine, some on the American side of dependence, most on the British side but all of them for their sole private or corporate interests. Delaney is thus in the very eye of the tornado with his piece of land. He has more or less decided to capture his freedom by giving this land to the Americans but he has to move over there, hence get a ship and he wants to get a lot of gunpowder to take along. But to produce gunpowder is illegal because it is a royal privilege. Then to give it to the Americans is high treason. The London that is depicted here is absolutely squalid. Dirty, muddy, unhygienic, with all sorts of incredible perverse activities from robbers and thieves, to rats and other pest, to prostitutes of any gender or sex, the most popular on the screen being male transvestites, in the very old British tradition. We also discover the Tower of London and the goal you have there with the torture chambers. But apparently, you always survive in these conditions if you detain some information the powerful want to get out of you. The famous line between life and death has to be walked for a very long time. Of course, they will succeed, the rebels who want to go to America, the land of freedom. But it will surely be more difficult than you may think. Enjoy then the details.Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU
sgraham-12780
Excellent character development. Great story line. Amazing sets, costumes, makeup and photography. Excellent casting can't wait for season 2. A unique TV series
sdougla-59521
The Pro's -Tom Hardy, Oona Chaplin, Jonathan Pryce, David Hayman, Jessie Buckley, Stephen Graham....wonderful cast. Always good to see Franka Potente, wish she had a bigger role!-Production value, gritty, dark, moody, certainly sets tone for what unfolds.-Multilayered revenge plot with all the corollary -class, taboo, societal subtexts-Moves along between characters and plot lines and moves total narrative along.-Requires an investment in concentration, not an easy casual watch while you multitask -Tom Hardy in flight doing his Stalin, "I am a big guy" walk, stares and grunts.The Cons-Not a casual watch -The supernatural-African and Native American primitivism does not move the plot along.-It is a stew of characters and not all of them are well developed.Overall, make the investment, it's worth watching.
