Should You Tune In To Turn? (Series Review)
Turn: Washington Spies is a quality historical period drama centered around the Culper Ring, which was a network of spies that operated under General George Washington during the Revolutionary War. Originally airing on AMC from 2014-2017, the show is comprised of four 10-episode seasons. One interesting thing about Turn is that unless you’re actually my sister or her fiancé, you haven’t even ever heard of this show. So, why has no one heard of Turn: Washington’s Spies?
Firstly, and I think most basically and obviously, Turn: Washington Spies is not a cool name for a TV show. It’s too long and clunky sounding. I’m not a show-naming expert by any means, but the show could’ve just been called something like Culper or The Culper Ring and even that would’ve been an improvement.
Turn premiered on AMC the year after Breaking Bad ended and when The Walking Dead was already on Season 5. Mad Men was wrapping up around that time too, so it’s not like AMC wasn’t getting eyeballs when it came to what programs people were checking out. I think the network likely didn’t have confidence in people wanting to watch a more historic show on their channel, so they didn’t promote it properly or enough.
A lot of the suspense on a show like Turn comes from watching spies in dangerous situations trying to gather information and not get caught. There was a show that, though it’s set over two hundred years later, actually has this same main spy/suspense formula and was airing while Turn was. That show was FX’s The Americans. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed Turn, but The Americans is possibly the best show following undercover agents ever made. I strongly believe that if Turn was called Culper, came out today, and was on a platform like Netflix, it would’ve found more viewership, which is something that I do think a show of its caliber deserves.
Turn is a show that has elements of lots of genres; it’s definitely a war show, with action and drama mixed in. There’s some romance too, but the show doesn’t ever really lean too heavily into those parts of the series for too long.
The show’s seasons cover several years during the Revolutionary War, and, as a whole, I think the seasons flow together nicely. Still, the first season of the show was definitely my least favorite. The main protagonist of the show is Abe Woodhull, a farmer living in British-controlled Long Island. Abe becomes the main spy in the Culper Ring, and, during Season One, I found Abe to be a super reactive character (as opposed to choosing to just act himself) and he was a bit of a sad sack – always moping around and looking worried. This all shifted in the second season of the show and, as a result, I’d give Seasons 2-4 higher marks. If you’re feeling mixed about whether to keep watching after those first ten episodes, I’d definitely say to stick with it.
Abe makes this face a lot.
It’s great to have a completed series to watch, and Turn is exactly that. The four seasons tell a complete story, and it doesn’t feel rushed or cut short – 40 episodes is the perfect length. Turn also does a better job than I expected (after some Google searches post-watching it) with being true to what actually happened. Sure, we’re dealing with a secret spy ring that operated hundreds of years ago, so even if the creators wanted to be 100% accurate, who knows what really happened in some cases? With that being said, the major events and characters featured in Turn all have a basis in reality, with the show as a whole being fairly historically accurate.
The acting on Turn is solid, with the villain of the show, Lt. Simcoe, played by Samuel Roukin, being so good I feel obligated to call out his outstanding performance here. Roukin plays Simcoe with a quiet creepiness that’s extremely off-putting and different feeling from other TV villains.
If a show about spies during the Revolutionary War sounds appealing to you, I’m pretty confident you’ll enjoy Turn. There aren’t too many quality movies or TV shows about the Revolutionary War, but this is one of them. While Turn is never really a truly fantastic show, it is a very good one. You might even learn a little something as you watch.
Grade: 8/10