‘Jamestown’ Recap: Season 1, Episode 1

Get ready everybody, our new period drama obsession is here. Welcome to Jamestown.

For those of you who don’t know, Jamestown is a period drama from the producers of Downton Abbey. It’s set in the 17th century Virginia colony of the same name, and follows the story of three independent and very different women seeking a new life in the New World. The series, at the moment, is currently only available to stream online in the U.S. and, despite being a Masterpiece program, won’t actually air on television. You can see all eight episodes now on the PBS Passport service, an online member benefit that provides users with access to an online library of public television programming. Jamestown will also be streaming weekly on the Amazon PBS Masterpiece channel, but if you don’t want to wait to get your binge on, your best option is activating Passport right now.

Now, with all that technical business behind us, let’s get down to the fun part. Talking about the show. Jamestown, for what it’s worth, seems like a hilariously addictive drama so far. Sure, it’s not what I’d call terribly interested in minor things such as “historical accuracy” or “correct period representation”.  If that’s going to bother you, you probably ought to tap out right now, because the many things this show gets wrong will drive you crazy. But if you can look past all that – and I grew up about half an hour from the real Jamestown, so I totally get it if you can’t – there’s something quite enjoyable here, a soapy, historical story that’s first and foremost goal is to entertain you in the most outlandish way possible. The characters are larger than life, the twists are over-the-top, and I can’t wait to see where Jamestown goes in its second episode, now all the narrative set-up is done.