Turn: Washington's Spies

Turn can be described as both sturdy and unsteady.... Mr. Bell is a less-than-charismatic centerpiece, but he also makes emotional sense.

I just wish that its 90-minute premiere was a tad more entertaining, because I found a lot to like in two subsequent episodes.

An uneven, if promising, period drama set during the American Revolution.

In choosing to center its story of Revolutionary War-era spies on relationships (particularly between Abraham and Anna and Abraham and his father), it has a fighting chance at finding its way to something compelling. The problem is that the show has yet to figure out a way to make those relationships fresh or interesting in the slightest.

Turn should be a lot more exciting than it is. It may eventually get there--but a lot of AMC’s series not named Mad Men, Breaking Bad or The Walking Dead never got there. And that’s an ongoing problem.

Turn isn't bad, but it's also too forgettable to deserve a long look, cool credits or no.

[A] stubbornly bland potboiler.

The problem is that for all its talk of Washington and Redcoats and all its shots of British warships in New York Harbor, nothing in Turn ever leaves you with any true feel for the period.

Turn never quite turns the corner in its first three episodes, but perhaps will perk up a bit if the recurring George Washington (Ian Kahn) finally makes his presence felt.

Turn is a fairly standard spy story. That doesn't mean it's bad, just not up there with what we've come to see as the gold standard for AMC: "Breaking Bad," "Mad Men" and "The Walking Dead."

Dull and sometimes confusing--why are those British soldiers loyal to the Red Coats not wearing red?--the 90-minute premiere too often encourages viewers to turn away in boredom or frustration.

Despite this highly dramatic premise, Turn feels small and dull: if you want to have some fun learning about the Revolution, wait until Fox’s cheeky Sleepy Hollow returns.

In execution, Turn is plodding, predictable and a bit confusing, though I might have tried harder to follow the plot had any of the characters made it worth my while. As it is, the characters are mostly paper-thin and forgettable.