Pay a visit to The Good Lord Bird
Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Sunday, October 11. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
The Good Lord Bird (Showtime, 9 p.m.): We’re duly impressed by Showtime’s The Good Lord Bird, the Ethan Hawke-led adaptation of James McBride’s novel of the same name. Likewise, we’re also very into Eric Thurm’s first recap of said series. Here’s a longer-than-usual excerpt, simply because we didn’t want to cut anything from it:
The first time you realize John Brown might be insane, he’s literally spitting mad. The famed abolitionist has stopped in for a haircut at a local saloon, somewhere in the battlefield of Bleeding Kansas—and the saloon’s owner, one Dutch Henry (played by TV’s David Morse) has not only made an aggressive defense of slavery, he’s taken the Lord’s name in vain. Brown, played by Ethan Hawke, turns on a dime, frothing and furious. He is a man possessed.
Frankly, it rules. The Good Lord Bird, based on James McBride’s 2013 novel, is largely a character study of Brown, a man willing to use any and all tools at his disposal in order to achieve his goal: the abolition of slavery in America. In this first episode alone, he blatantly lies after swearing on the bible, functionally kidnaps a child, and brutally decapitates a man who is at most tangentially related to the target of his wrath. And is he so wrong?
Tonight, “A Wicked Plot,” the show’s second episode, airs, and we’re looking forward to watching and to Eric’s continuing coverage. He’s good!
Can you binge it? You can, because there’s only one episode so far, and it’s available online for free (and right below this paragraph.) After that, you’ll need Showtime.