Follows the lives of two volunteer nurses on opposing sides of the Civil War - New England abolitionist Mary Phinney and Confederate supporter Emma Green.
Starring McKinley Belcher III, Suzanne Bertish, Norbert Leo Butz, Gary Cole, Peter Gerety, Shalita Grant, Hannah James, Brad Koed, Luke Macfarlane, Donna Murphy, Josh Radnor, AnnaSophia Robb, Tara Summers, Wade Williams, Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
PBS has done it again. This is a great period piece with great acting. The characters grow with each episode in strength and depth of character. There is an authenticity to this film that makes it captivating.At the center of the sprawling cast is Mary Phinney (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a Boston widow and abolitionist sent to be the hospital's head nurse, and Emma Green (Hannah James), a southern belle in the town's leading family who volunteers as a nurse in the hospital to help the Confederate soldiers neglected by the Union staff. Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother) is the forward-looking civilian doctor who clashes with the veteran military surgeon who prizes authority over modern medicine and Gary Cole is loyal Southern patriarch attempting to balance his Confederate loyalties with keeping the peace under military occupation.
This intense series, which is based on the real Mary Phinney's memoirs, shows how gritty life was in a Civil War hospital. Although the show is fictional, the stories based on Phinney's writings and other published memoirs of the era offer some insight into the way medicine was practiced at the time, as well as the way the turbulent political, economic, and social climate of the time affected the lives of those living in the Southern border town.
The first original scripted drama produced by PBS in over a decade, Mercy Street is a medical show by way of a historical drama, an American story that takes its cues from British period pieces and fills its cast with strong American actors. The first few episodes set up the conflicts, both political and personal, and establish the contradictions among the characters, but the series really comes alive when the personal stories begin to drive the drama and the conflicted characters find themselves torn as their loyalties are tested. I found this melodramatic drama to be very entertaining with its engaging characters, excellent costumes and set pieces coupled with the historical elements taking place during the Civil War . Highly recommended .
