For those who've been asking, Mercy Street has finally returned to PBS. The six episodes of Season 2 begin at 7 p.m. today on AETN.
PBS' first original drama in more than a decade seems to have resonated with a number of readers. Inspired by real people and events, Mercy Street goes behind the front lines of the Civil War and into the chaos of the Mansion House Hospital in Union-occupied Alexandria, Va., across the Potomac from Washington.
The series goes beyond the usual sweeping tales from the battlefield to the intimate lives of Americans on the homefront as they "face the unprecedented challenges of one of the most turbulent times in our nation's history."
Season 1 aired from Jan. 17 to Feb. 21, 2016, and was set in the spring of 1862. Season 2 picks up directly from the events at the end of the first season.
The series highlights the lives of two volunteer nurses on opposite sides of the war. Mary Phinney (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is a staunch New England abolitionist, and Emma Green (Hannah James) is a young and frequently naive Confederate belle.
The two come into conflict at Mansion House, the Green family's luxury hotel that has been taken over by Yankee troops and transformed into a Union Army hospital.
As PBS says, "Under martial law, Alexandria served as the melting pot of the region with soldiers, civilians, female volunteers, doctors, wounded fighting men from both sides, runaway slaves, prostitutes, speculators and spies."
Season 2 will run from today through March 5 and follow shifting loyalties as the drama extends beyond the walls of the hospital. It will also highlight the precarious position of the Green family because of the changing situation due to the burgeoning black population.
Tonight's episode, "Balm in Gilead," deals with the aftermath of President Lincoln's visit. A former slave causes a rift between Foster (Josh Radnor) and Mary; Emma and Frank's (Jack Falahee) romance heats up; and Samuel (McKinley Belcher III) plans to reunite with Aurelia (Shalita Grant).
Trivia: One of most fascinating aspects of the series is the use of authentic locations, which should delight those familiar with historic Virginia.
A number of scenes were filmed at Berkeley Plantation overlooking the James River near Richmond. Others used Tuckahoe Plantation, Thomas Jefferson's boyhood home, and Battersea Plantation in Petersburg.
Historic Olde Towne Petersburg stands in for many locations in Alexandria, and Richmond's Laburnum House is used for the interior of the historic Mansion House Hotel. An exterior facade was built in Petersburg.
The series is rated TV-14 for language and violence.
• Adventure Time. Season 8 for the most weird and wacky series on TV debuts at 6:30 p.m. Monday on Cartoon Network.
I have no idea how to truly explain Adventure Time to the uninitiated. Basically, young Finn and his magical dog, Jake, roam the Land of Ooo battling evil. Evil often takes the form of the Ice King, who is constantly searching for a wife and has settled on the unwilling Princess Bubblegum.
Lady Raincorn (a unicorn/rainbow combo) helps our heroes. That'll have to do. Check it out.
• Twin Peaks. Speaking of the weird, Twin Peaks creator David Lynch met with TV critics in California last week and noted the sequel to the 1990s cult series would debut on Showtime on May 21 with a two-hour premiere. That was about it -- no plot hints, no tidbits.
The Associated Press reports that returning cast members include Kyle MacLachlan, Madchen Amick and Sheryl Lee.
MacLachlan said, "It was just a huge sense of gratitude to be there, to be creating something we all love, to be working with a master like David Lynch."
There will be 18 episodes to the sequel, which is being designed as a one-time event.
• The Good Fight. We're not on broadcast network CBS anymore, we're on CBS All Access -- expect sex, cursing and other stuff.
CBS is using its forthcoming Good Wife spinoff, The Good Fight, to sell its new streaming on demand service. The cost? It's $5.99 a month with limited commercials, and $9.99 for commercial-free service.
A cleaned-up version of the first episode will air on CBS on Feb. 19 to whet our appetites. The latter nine will be exclusively on CBS All Access and promise "to push boundaries."
We have been warned.
The 10-episode new series, starring Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart, also launches Feb. 19 on All Access. It'll be a year after the finale of The Good Wife and we find Diane wiped out by a Ponzi scheme, in "a moral free-fall," and estranged from her husband (Gary Cole).
Do not expect Julianna Margulies to pop up (at least in the first season), but plenty of others who were in The Good Wife will have appearances.
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Style on 01/22/2017