The spying is over.
The war is history.
Turn: Washingtons Spies ends its run with an eye toward a new revolution.
The Americans and French won the siege of Yorktown last week.
The finale may start with King George III saying, They want independence?
Ill give them blood, but the war is winding down.
This episode focuses instead on the individuals weve come to know over four seasons.
(That was weeksbeforeYorktown, but the calendar is different in theTurnuniverse.)
Soon they have a father-son relationship.
And thats what this episode is aboutestablishing and reestablishing families.
Gen. Arnold is hungry to lead, and he pins his hopes on an audience with King George III.
It does not go well.
(That scene also carries on the excretory theme that flowed through this season.)
The other two storylines are about establishing domestic tranquility.
The formerly enslaved Abigail (Idara Victor) seeks to reunite with Cicero and Akinbode.
But they are on opposite sides of the battle lines.
He brings his wife Mary (Meegan Warner) and little son back to his farm in Long Island.
But Abe continues to be an exasperating, unfathomable character.
Like a Shakespearean comedy,Turnends with marriages, or marital reconciliations, for almost every main character.
The Woodhulls are back on their farm.
The Arnolds are in London.
Those couples, of course, exhaust the series main female roles.
So Lt. Col. Benjamin Tallmadge (Seth Numrich) and Capt.
Listen carefully, and theres even a suggestion that Col. Jonathan Cook marries the actress Philomena Cheer.
The episode still offers some mild surprises.
Some of these moments follow the historical record, such as Tallmadge serving in the U.S. Congress.
Others dont, as in the way Peggy Arnold (Ksenia Solo) revisits Philadelphia.
Two major developments strain credibility even withinTurns own narrative.
One is the conversion of Lt. Col. Simcoe into a respected statesman.
True, there have also been signs of his concern for his soldiers, including the black men.
The second implausible resolution involves Abigail.
(The following discussion includes spoilers.)
The last British commander, Gen.
Guy Carleton, refused.
In theTurnuniverse, Carleton gives in to Washingtons demand.
Its a happy ending, but again all off screen.
It feels like a magical solution for what the show acknowledges remained Americas biggest fault, slavery.
In that regard, theTurnfinale carries on the approach of the preceding seasons.
But it shies away from showing the details of slavery close up.
Despite all the shows bloodshed, theres little hint of the legal violence necessary to maintain chattel slavery.
Actually showing racism up close would probably give viewers too much discomfort.
But the invisible resolution of Abigails storyline provides too much easy comfort.
That show was based on Lawrence Hills historical novel of the same name.
Rating:
3 out of 5
