[7.2/10] Let me be frank. This one was kind of boring. It’s very much a “staid historical drama” outing from the miniseries in a way the debut episode wasn’t. Rather than delving into the personal in a deeper way, this episode is basically “People whose names you’ve heard of going through major events you know.” In addition to John Adams, we meet George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, among other famous faces printed on American currency. During the episode, they attend the First Continental Congress, raise the first Continental Army, and, true to the title, issue the Declaration of Independence. It feels like a very “check the box” outing for the show.
Not only do we meet a host of other Founding Fathers, we see them doing the things they’re most known for. George Washington goes from a colonel to a general and leads soldiers. Ben Franklin offers his famous witticisms. Thomas Jefferson writes the first draft of the declaration. There’s an rib-elbowing overfamiliarity to it all, rendering a lot of the proceedings a little too winking and obvious.
The one part of it I did like is the horse-trading, backroom dealing, and other political tactics that it took to raise the army and push through the declaration. Seeing John Adams try his usual headstrong, principled methods to convince his fellow delegates, only for Benjamin Franklin to prove himself more adept at the tact, gamesmanship, and even subterfuge necessary to bend political bodies in your direction is a good tack.
The trick of gaining support for Massachusetts’s forces via Washington’s unimpeachable reputation as a military leader, and securing acquiescence for the declaration through secret agreements made in pubs and park benches, are intriguing bits of realpolitik. The show just goes overlong with them, belaboring the divisions that it makes plain early on and not being terribly economical in how it conveys the progression from deadlocked delegates to general assent.
Look, declaring independence is a big deal, and I get wanting to spend time on the pre-partisan divisions over action versus forbearance, especially when war and its attendant death toll are at stake. The debates over incrementalism and practicality versus revolution and dramatic steps are still with us today. But “Independence” repeats the same basic conflicts multiple times in an already extra-length episode, making me wish Hooper and company had streamlined a lot more.
The one part of it I did like is the arc for Dickinson, the Pennsylviania delegate opposed to both Independence and war, at least for the time being, for both moral and religious reasons. What I like about his story here is the way that even when the wind is blowing that way, even when he knows what it will cost him personally, he just can’t sacrifice his principles and sign onto breaking from England and the war that will follow. Adams, a man of committed principle himself, respects that, and it’s that common ground that leads them to find an elegant solution, to allow the motion to carry while Dikcinson can preserve his dignity or morality.
The episode also makes an admirable attempt to not only give Abigail the chance to voice her opinions on important topics, not the least of which are women’s rights and slavery, but also the struggles at home with John gone at Congress. The “bloody pox” gets a little gross, but you at least see the hardship Abigail, and women like her, have to experience while their husbands are off in the political realm. Her speech about the way that women experience politics is a little on the nose, but also very much on point as a sentiment, and I appreciate the way “Independence” gives us a taste of what she has to go through to keep the family safe and together in John’s absence, even if I wish this too had been a little more streamlined.
Overall, this episode feels like any other staid historical drama about the American Revolution. The acting is great, the production design is superb, and Ben Franklin in particular is a delight as a quippy and smooth operator. But this is History 101 more than it’s a compelling story, and the first installment of the mini-series did a better job at mixing the historical and narrative elements.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-07-06T02:11:33Z
[7.2/10] Let me be frank. This one was kind of boring. It’s very much a “staid historical drama” outing from the miniseries in a way the debut episode wasn’t. Rather than delving into the personal in a deeper way, this episode is basically “People whose names you’ve heard of going through major events you know.” In addition to John Adams, we meet George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, among other famous faces printed on American currency. During the episode, they attend the First Continental Congress, raise the first Continental Army, and, true to the title, issue the Declaration of Independence. It feels like a very “check the box” outing for the show.
Not only do we meet a host of other Founding Fathers, we see them doing the things they’re most known for. George Washington goes from a colonel to a general and leads soldiers. Ben Franklin offers his famous witticisms. Thomas Jefferson writes the first draft of the declaration. There’s an rib-elbowing overfamiliarity to it all, rendering a lot of the proceedings a little too winking and obvious.
The one part of it I did like is the horse-trading, backroom dealing, and other political tactics that it took to raise the army and push through the declaration. Seeing John Adams try his usual headstrong, principled methods to convince his fellow delegates, only for Benjamin Franklin to prove himself more adept at the tact, gamesmanship, and even subterfuge necessary to bend political bodies in your direction is a good tack.
The trick of gaining support for Massachusetts’s forces via Washington’s unimpeachable reputation as a military leader, and securing acquiescence for the declaration through secret agreements made in pubs and park benches, are intriguing bits of realpolitik. The show just goes overlong with them, belaboring the divisions that it makes plain early on and not being terribly economical in how it conveys the progression from deadlocked delegates to general assent.
Look, declaring independence is a big deal, and I get wanting to spend time on the pre-partisan divisions over action versus forbearance, especially when war and its attendant death toll are at stake. The debates over incrementalism and practicality versus revolution and dramatic steps are still with us today. But “Independence” repeats the same basic conflicts multiple times in an already extra-length episode, making me wish Hooper and company had streamlined a lot more.
The one part of it I did like is the arc for Dickinson, the Pennsylviania delegate opposed to both Independence and war, at least for the time being, for both moral and religious reasons. What I like about his story here is the way that even when the wind is blowing that way, even when he knows what it will cost him personally, he just can’t sacrifice his principles and sign onto breaking from England and the war that will follow. Adams, a man of committed principle himself, respects that, and it’s that common ground that leads them to find an elegant solution, to allow the motion to carry while Dikcinson can preserve his dignity or morality.
The episode also makes an admirable attempt to not only give Abigail the chance to voice her opinions on important topics, not the least of which are women’s rights and slavery, but also the struggles at home with John gone at Congress. The “bloody pox” gets a little gross, but you at least see the hardship Abigail, and women like her, have to experience while their husbands are off in the political realm. Her speech about the way that women experience politics is a little on the nose, but also very much on point as a sentiment, and I appreciate the way “Independence” gives us a taste of what she has to go through to keep the family safe and together in John’s absence, even if I wish this too had been a little more streamlined.
Overall, this episode feels like any other staid historical drama about the American Revolution. The acting is great, the production design is superb, and Ben Franklin in particular is a delight as a quippy and smooth operator. But this is History 101 more than it’s a compelling story, and the first installment of the mini-series did a better job at mixing the historical and narrative elements.