I’ve been fascinated by the Trojan War since I picked up Homer’s The Illiad my sophomore year of high school. There’s a reason we’re still reading it 2400 years later; it’s incredibly moving, both in its beauty and its tragedy. I was excited to see if this show could bring the epic to life. It premiered April 6th, which just so happened to be a night that I was sans husband and children, but in possession of all the ingredients for cosmos. Netflix and drink, baby! The night had such promise.
Don’t get me wrong, the show had some good qualities, but the whole time I couldn’t help but compare it to Troy, the big budget, much maligned 2006 film starring a flowing haired, beefed up, Fabio-channeling Brad Pitt.
Let’s be honest, I’m only here for Eric Bana. Source
As weird as it is to say this, because I can easily admit how cheesy at times I found Troy, in a lot of categories it blew Netflix’s version of out the water. A 2.5 hour Hollywood blockbuster kicked an 8 hour mini series right in its ancient Grecian tush. Not in every way, but in a lot of the ways that count. Does that mean I don’t recommend it? Not necessarily. It improved on the Hollywood version in several ways. Reactions on the internet were mixed, ranging from a scathing “idiotically bare of any real substance” to a more favorable “bloody good fun”.
Since we’re a diverse lot and taste in television is highly subjective, I’m gonna discuss Troy: Fall of a City in the most reasonable and scientific way possible:
We report. You decide. And we ALL agree to forget that this slogan was originally created by Fox News.
Pro: Diverse Casting
This show strove for diversity in casting over historical accuracy, and I’m cool with it. There’s quite a few black actors and actresses in prominent roles, such as Achilles and Zeus (pictured above and played David Gyasi (left) and Hakeem Kae-Kazim). Harry Potter alum Alfred Enoch (the only other guy to snog Ginny Weasley) plays Aeneas, hero of the Aeniad. The goddess Athena (Shamilla Miller) and several Amazon warriors are played by black women. The racists have been predictably butthurt by the “black-washing” of a classic. Because an exclusive cast of Caucasian Brits would be SO MUCH CLOSER to the truth, right?
Con: Pretty Faces, Uninspiring Acting
T:FOAC has no shortage of eye candy, including two of my favorite B-List British Baes: Jonas Armstrong (from BBC’s Robin Hood) as Menelaus, and Tom Weston-Jones (Copper, Pillars of the Earth) as Hector. Despite the impressive displays of muscle and cleavage, the acting is cringe worthy at times, bland at others. Helen and Paris have lukewarm chemistry, a death knell when portraying iconic lovers. Paris has charisma, but Helen maintains one facial expression the whole time, a look that can only be described as “*screaming internally*”.
Her eyebrows are on point though. Source
Maybe it’s the clunky and anachronistic dialogue. Regardless, this is where Troy the movie really took the cake. Amazing talent dominated its cast; Peter O’Toole, Brian Cox, Rose Bryne, Eric Bana, Sophia Lauren, Brendan Gleeson, Sean Bean. Yes, it took itself too seriously at times, but the performances were moving; I cared about the good characters, I loathed the bad. And that was a problem with T:FOAC…none of the performances were remarkable enough to inspire much emotion. There were a handful of powerful scenes, but they were the exception.
Pro: Closer to the source
When three goddess ask you to choose who is the most beautiful, you politely decline and/or play dead. Basic stuff, Paris. Source
I loved that the show drew more from The Illiad and other Greek writings than previous efforts. Most notably, including the involvement of the gods. We see the famous Judgement of Paris, which introduces the key Greek themes of fate, destiny, and divine intervention, as well as the callousness of the gods as they watch the play unfold. While the gods only show up sporadically after that, there’s an awesome scene in which Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite walk unseen through the battlefield, blessing their respective followers, which is goose-pimply cool.
Other notable parts from the source material include the sacrifice of Iphigenia (I was deep in my cups for that scene and ugly cried hard), Paris’ shepherd upbringing, Penthesilea and her Amazon warriors, and Cassandra’s visions. While not strictly adhering to the Greek classics (which are not at all consistent) it’s a much more comprehensive culling from ancient myth.
Con: More misses than hits
There were several moments where I thought T:FOAC was trying something different, and I was completely on board. For example, this version of Helen is older, with a pre-teen daughter she doesn’t seem to care for (NOT COOL). She has a husband who is somewhat young and attractive. Maybe a bit douchey, but certainly not loathsome. Stifled and bored, her chance at a midlife crisis arrives in the form of gorgeous, devil-may-care Paris, who instantly recognizes her as Aphrodite’s promised woman. I could have rooted for a plot that had Helen fall in love, not so much with Paris, but with the idea of freedom and daring spontaneity that he represented. Or one that fully embraced their relationship as a toxic, selfish obsession which starts out as sexual chemistry but over the course of the war dissolves into resentment and codependency. All of these would have been unique and gritty. Deeply flawed anti-heroes are the building blocks of Greek tragedy. They make for excellent, complex stories.
Instead, it takes the uninventive path of “true love”. The story tries to redeem Paris and Helen as heroes, with a love worth fighting (and sacrificing your people) for. It doesn’t work.
Troy: Fall of A City Overall—Meh.
So…watch it? It’s not terrible, no matter what IMDB says. Watch Troy: Fall of A City for the quantity, and then go watch the Brad Pitt version for the quality. And by quality I mostly mean Eric Bana’s entire upper body.
The pecs that launched a thousand ships Source
