Jamestown: The Complete Seasons 1 & 2

This PBS-aired British series about the first permanent English settlement in North America could best be described as a 17th-century soap opera, similar to the previous period series from Carnival Films, Downton Abbey, although the setting is far less opulent and the characters mostly from the lower classes. The first season begins in 1619, focusing on three women who arrive as intended wives for settlers: Alice (Sophie Rundle), slated to marry brutal farmer Henry (Max Beesley) but immediately smitten with his younger brother Silas (Stuart Martin); Jocelyn (Naomi Battrick), betrothed to Virginia Company official Samuel (Gwilym Lee); and Verity (Niamh Walsh), assigned to crude barkeep Meredith (Dean Lennox Kelly). Domestic turbulence follows, along with schemes against the governor by his underlings that include an alleged case of witchcraft and turmoil with the local Native Americans. At the end of the debut season, African slaves are introduced to the colony, and they assume a major role in the second year’s episodes, as does the Pamunkey tribe, although family quarrels and stresses within the community—including unexplained deaths and suspicions of popery—remain major elements (concern with possible sodomy also becomes a plot point), leading to multiple cliffhangers that are being addressed in the current third season. As long as one does not mistake it for history, Jamestown is an engaging enough guilty pleasure. Compiling all 16 episodes from the 2017-18 first and second seasons, this is a strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)