Rebellion
Season one tells the story of the Irish Easter Uprising of 1916 revolving around a small group involved in various aspects, particularly "Three Little Maids" of Lizzie Butler - a medical student and daughter of a wealthy Protestant banker and his Catholic wife (GOT alums) who secretly supports the IRA, Frances the uber dedicated IRA supporter and an "orphan bastard", and May who works in Dublin Castle and is having a complicated affair with her British boss. Another focus is the Mahan family. Arthur is a British soldier back home on leave from WWI who is ordered to put down the rebellion and his native Irish. His brother Danny is another fervent IRA member pulled romantically and otherwise to Lizzie. He lives with Arthur's wife and family including teenage tart Minnie. Rounding out the main cast is a caricature as wastrel son Harry Butler, and Lizzie's fiancé an English officer also back on leave with plans for to be wed.
There are several historical figures as well including Patrick Pearce, Eamon deValera and Michael Collins. The show gives a pretty good overall depiction of the Uprising, if not 100% historically accurate. It's well set and well acted, although Danny doesn't quite carry his weight.
It has a strong allegory to the Uprising as part of women liberation and the suffragette movement to come. Lizzie does it all: near doctor and IRA aide who spurns her fiancé the morning of her wedding (no one gets married on Easter) to spend the rest of the rebellion (and imprisonment) in her wedding gown, running off with Danny. The mannish Frances is nearly psychotic in her IRA support, saying how the Rebellion truly put her in charge of her life. That and, as May pointed out, killing someone. May's story is the most complex, as her affection appears to be returned in kind until we meet her boss' ice-beyotch wife and is forced to live with her for a time. This then gets particularly soapy, in a pregnancy/want the baby angle. In the end she too triumphs trading baby literally for advancement. The men mostly end badly: dead, disgraced, or shipped out.
Season two starts as if no further season was planned, jumping forward four years into the Irish War of Independence. Few of the characters are carried forward, most without any explanation including the three "maids" of season one. Only Danny, Harry (now running the bank), and Minnie are still around. It's rather jarring, and part of why this season takes time to get going. Danny is put in charge of IRA counterintelligence, to find and eliminate English spies among them. He flies around Ireland like, as another reviewer put it, Batman in his flowing coat solving IRA "rats". Miss Sweeney, a savant with a head for codes, is a key new principle operating from Dublin Castle. Her turning using her illegitimate small son as leverage is a main thread. There's an American senator covertly supporting the IRA who seems to be whatever he needs to be to advance the plot, working with Harry's wife. There's also another Mahan brother as a Black & Tan expected to keep the peace among his native Irish through brutal means. The plot does keep you guessing about who knows what and who's on what side. The latter can change quickly, or be both. The season ends with the Treaty that gave Ireland some autonomy, but immediately led to the Irish Civil War. Perhaps a season three will get the viewer through that.
All in all, entertaining and worth watching.
There are several historical figures as well including Patrick Pearce, Eamon deValera and Michael Collins. The show gives a pretty good overall depiction of the Uprising, if not 100% historically accurate. It's well set and well acted, although Danny doesn't quite carry his weight.
It has a strong allegory to the Uprising as part of women liberation and the suffragette movement to come. Lizzie does it all: near doctor and IRA aide who spurns her fiancé the morning of her wedding (no one gets married on Easter) to spend the rest of the rebellion (and imprisonment) in her wedding gown, running off with Danny. The mannish Frances is nearly psychotic in her IRA support, saying how the Rebellion truly put her in charge of her life. That and, as May pointed out, killing someone. May's story is the most complex, as her affection appears to be returned in kind until we meet her boss' ice-beyotch wife and is forced to live with her for a time. This then gets particularly soapy, in a pregnancy/want the baby angle. In the end she too triumphs trading baby literally for advancement. The men mostly end badly: dead, disgraced, or shipped out.
Season two starts as if no further season was planned, jumping forward four years into the Irish War of Independence. Few of the characters are carried forward, most without any explanation including the three "maids" of season one. Only Danny, Harry (now running the bank), and Minnie are still around. It's rather jarring, and part of why this season takes time to get going. Danny is put in charge of IRA counterintelligence, to find and eliminate English spies among them. He flies around Ireland like, as another reviewer put it, Batman in his flowing coat solving IRA "rats". Miss Sweeney, a savant with a head for codes, is a key new principle operating from Dublin Castle. Her turning using her illegitimate small son as leverage is a main thread. There's an American senator covertly supporting the IRA who seems to be whatever he needs to be to advance the plot, working with Harry's wife. There's also another Mahan brother as a Black & Tan expected to keep the peace among his native Irish through brutal means. The plot does keep you guessing about who knows what and who's on what side. The latter can change quickly, or be both. The season ends with the Treaty that gave Ireland some autonomy, but immediately led to the Irish Civil War. Perhaps a season three will get the viewer through that.
All in all, entertaining and worth watching.