Sharkflei Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Wyatt There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

kingscollegeca Just about to pull the plug on this show. They just keep churning more characters and plots into an already muddled mess. So many of the characters are cartoonish: the lusty English nurse, the noble black medical phenom, the parson struggling with doubt, the evil cook, the bizarre new peach slice counting hospital chief who is so over the top that I feel bad for the actor, and tonight, the British lord pining to see casualties and amputations. Last week we were introduced to a Union soldier who was obviously female (posing as male). It was obvious to me as soon as she spoke that it was a girl, but everyone in the hospital was convinced she was a he. But it was a nice opportunity to lecture us on intolerance. The writing is dreadful, the acting poor. There is a fixation with close ups of wounds and gore, not very convincing though they may be. The hospital staff seems more occupied with hi jinks and flirting than patient care. Then when the script tries to get serious, it falls flat because it's hard to see any of these characters as real people. The pace of the place seems quite leisurely. On the other hand, you often see one patient with a horde of staff hovering over him, not very realistic. I could go on, but why bother. This is far far below usual PBS fare.

Mike Davenport I was really looking forward to this. Quality always from PBS. What happened? Was it filmed on the cheap? The shots are so tight as to not have any expensive establishing shots that might show what a small set they are working on. It shows! It looks like what it is cheap! Not even some green screen shots to make for some very interesting historical setting that could have been interesting. Did they cost too much?The lead actress is not up to par, her character drives the story and she can't. So instead of the quality of a Downtown Abbey, we trade on it's reputation and we get a poor quality PBS product trying to make up for it's obvious lack of quality with gratuitous gore and now a simulated oral sex scene? Sorry I'm out!

FollyFX (I hope what I have written is not considered spoilers - I would not do that intentionally!)I understand a lot of the criticisms written in these reviews. My reaction to watching Episode 1 was "What is this? Desperate Housewives of Civil War Medicine??" - because it seemed so "overheated" and unbelievable. For example, when Nurse Phinney has to sleep on the floor of the ward among the soldiers' beds, I exclaimed, "That didn't happen! That would never have happened! But then I started to read the true story of Nurse Phinney, "Adventures of an Army Nurse in Two Wars" and guess what - it DID happen plus a whole lot more! What I saw as "overheated" in terms of the drama between hospital personnel was actually DOWNPLAYED from the true reality!!! The surgeons and doctors did NOT want female nurses around and wanted to drive them OUT. The hospital WAS as chaotic, as shown. And as far as soldiers not being fed - YUP, it was only TOO TRUE!!! There was a shocking amount of graft and profiteering going on in the food supply chain! I highly recommend the true story of Nurse Phinney - it is quite a read!!

sentinel64-1 I love PBS and the quality period pieces they air. I have loved so many of the wonderful performances they have shown. I had high hopes for this series with the departure of 'Downton Abbey.' This had good elements to start..the sets, the costumes-very good. Unfortunately, the overacting melodramatic style of the 'Twilight' series sabotaged this show. There is no buy in, there is no aligning with or likability of the main characters. The main characters are whiny and sulky. The valiant doctors and nurses of the Civil War era must be turning in their graves at being depicted by such poor and shallow over-acting. I was hoping that our country could produce the kind of quality and intellectual performances of our British peers. Unfortunately, that has not happened here. It shouldn't have been, but is dull and lackluster. The sets, costumes and props are impressive, unfortunately the actors keep standing in front of them, blocking the view.