Pilot Review: Turn

Turn (AMC)
Premiered April 6 at 9pm

You can’t get much more ambitious than a weekly series about spies during the Revolutionary War. AMC has previously taken on the 1960s and the Old West, and now it’s headed to new territory much more similar to that of “Rome” on HBO. What this means is a predictably dense pilot that includes a handful of meaty characters and a lack of urgency in storytelling. It could well turn (no pun intended) into a “Mad Men” or even a “Hell on Wheels,” a series that is rarely thrilling to watch but can often be quite captivating. I certainly won’t object to a show whose main character’s name is Abe. Jamie Bell, whose career took off with his film debut in “Billy Elliot,” is doing TV for the first time in the role of the conflicted citizen being pulled in multiple directions by those around him. I knew I recognized his father from somewhere, and as soon as I saw his name – Kevin McNally – I realized that he was Mr. Gibbs from “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Among the supporting cast, Angus Macfayden is a familiar face, here getting a fun role as Robert Rogers. This show took its entire initial ninety minutes to set up the story, so we won’t know until episode two how it will actually work. If I can make it through all of the next installment without falling asleep, I may just be intrigued enough to stick around. It’s a concept that could be truly cool, and its scenery certainly suggests that it’s taking itself appropriately seriously.

How will it work as a series? The universe created in this pilot is pretty insular, and Abe’s father already knows that he lied. How he’s able to stay undercover and pass along secrets to the other side remains a mystery, and that’s what should make this show interesting, provided it doesn’t get too bogged down in references to the “worthless colonial dollar” and the like.
How long will it last? The AMC series that haven’t lasted a while have been the less ambitious, present-set ones rather than something like this formidable undertaking. Going up against the season premiere of “Game of Thrones” and the ACM Awards didn’t help this debut, and so it’s unclear if this will make it. I suspect AMC will want to invest further in this already surely expensive production.

Pilot grade: B-