Turn - Episodes 1.03 & 1.04 - Character Review

First, apologies for a late review. I’m taking over the weekly reviews of AMC’s Turn from George, although George may make a surprise appearance every now and then. But missing last week was my fault. Second, I’m LOVING this show, especially the development of the side characters and relationships that many shows skimp on. And that’s what I’ll focus on with this week’s combined character review of Eternity How Long and last week’s Of Cabbages and Kings.

The Judge

While romantic relationships tend to get the most buzz in online forums, it’s often a complex, conflicted family relationship that adds heart to a show. And Turn has set up a great one with the father/son relationship between the judge and Abe. True to his title, Richard Woodhull judges his son, at least that’s Abe’s perception as Abe struggles between wanting his father’s approval and believing that his father is on the wrong side of the war between the British and the Colonies. Contributing to this father/son conflict is a ghost of a dead brother, Thomas, the good son, whose shadow Abe continues to exist within as he remains married to the woman Thomas was meant to marry and tries to fill the void with his father by taking on familial roles like managing his father’s business affairs. At the same time, Abe believes he falls short. He refuses to accept a loan from his father even though he’s in arrears due to a cabbage blight, and instead resorts to smuggling to pay his debts.

The last two episodes continued to move this relationship forward, as we first see a surprising and welcome change – Abe and Richard working and joking together as partners and family who obviously enjoy each other’s company. This dynamic peeks as Abe comes through with a save in a tough trading negotiation with a British military officer, impresses his father, and reminds the British officer, “I’m a son of a judge.” The peace doesn’t last long though, as Richard catches Abe lying to the British about the identities of the Colonial soldiers who had captured him while he was smuggling, and Abe realizes his father has already made a deal to sell off the cabbage from the farm of Anna and Selah Strong.

The development of this complicated relationship continues into Eternity How Long, as the judge’s loyalties are tested when he’s charged by the British with coming up with a list of which of the town’s headstones the British will desecrate and use to protect their defenses. The judge knows the British are wrong and that he’ll lose the town people through cooperation with the British. And as is hinted at by a comment from Mary, that the judge is married to the town, Richard’s relationship with the people of the town is the one he most values outside of those with his family. Abe appeals to his father to stand with the town against the British and makes a practical argument, which the judge can see logic to in a drunken state. But when he sobers up, he chooses a different path. He convinces the town to acquiesce by sacrificing the headstone of his own son Thomas – an action that disappoints Abe who thought he might have converted Richard to his way of thinking regarding the politics of the situation, and again, widens the gulf between them.

When the show launched, I expected the conflict with Abe to be between loyalty to the crown and his neighbors. Now it’s becoming clear that Abe has no allegiance to the crown – it’s a sense of familial duty and wanting to please his father that holds him back from fully committing to the rebel’s cause. Interestingly enough, the judge also doesn’t seem to believe in the British cause. Is it maybe fear, having lost one son already and fear of losing more, that keeps him tied to the crown?

Annie, Caleb, and Simcoe

While the dynamics between Abe and Richard were bleeding with love, regret, duty, disappointment – we were introduced to a fun, almost brother-and-sister dynamic between Anne and Caleb. As Caleb makes contact with Anne in her barn, hoping for intelligence from Abe, the two have playful reunion as Caleb pops out the hay to surprise her.  Then they get into a shoving match when Caleb insults Annie by telling her he doesn’t want her spying because she’s a woman.

Also amusing, in a way that makes you want to slap him, is Simcoe, the British soldier Anne and Abe had hoped would be killed. He has a dry, cynical sense of humor, and he knows how to push his captors' buttons. The two – Simcoe and Caleb – added welcome comical relief to an historical story, protecting it from becoming too dry.

What do you think of the show so far? Please share your comments below.