If you’re of the (correct) mindset that there can never be too many period dramas, you’ll be excited to check out Lisa Quijano Wolfinger’s new series Mercy Street, based in Civil War-era Alexandria, Virginia.
Described as “Gone With the Wind meets MASH” the PBS series is, the Los Angeles Times reports, “inspired by real events and, in a novel twist for a Civil War series, features two female protagonists who are volunteer nurses at the hospital — Mary Phinney, a staunch Northern abolitionist and Emma Green, a genteel Southern belle from a wealthy slave-owning family.”
Unlike so many war dramas, particularly those focused on this great and brutal national divide, Mercy Street develops its plot away from the battlefield and in the halls of the hospital. PBS hopes that the show will woo and satiate Downton Abbey fans who are likely to be bereft at the series’ imminent conclusion.
You can catch Mercy Street’s premiere tonight on PBS.
Contact the author at rachel.vorona.cote@jezebel.com.
Video via YouTube.
DISCUSSION
So, my initial gut reaction/assessment was right: a story about the Civil War centered around White experiences...how...original.
I love PBS but DAMN CAN WE GET SOMETHING ABOUT POC FOR ONCE?