The Pillars of the Earth: Anarchy

In my unending quest to seek out high quality television, which streams on Netflix, and I have not seen I found myself searching through the new series from the Stars network. The obvious first choice was Spartacus: Blood in the Sand. Generally speaking I am a sucker for anything ancient Rome so I checked it out.

Over the course of three months I was able to work my way through as many episodes. It was gratuitously brutal, needlessly sexual, and most importantly had no one to root for or care about. By the time a gladiator cuts the face off another and shows it to the crowd as a prize in the The Pit I knew without a doubt that Spartacus was not a show I was going to get into.

Reviewing my “Instant Que” I came across The Pillars of the Earth a TV show based on the book by the same name with the author of said book’s name prominently displayed in all the promotional material. I decided to check it out considering The Pillars of the Earth is a book I have been meaning to read for a while.

While Anarchy did not make me a super-fan of this story it certainly piqued my interest. Characters were introduced and explained. The story had a clear narrative and never left me bored or questioning the progression of events. Most importantly the violence served the story as opposed to Spartacus where, as far as I can tell, the story served the violence.

The cast is impressive. Ian McShane who you know from Deadwood, but I enjoyed him in Kings, plays an ambitious priest. Donald Sutherland plays an Earl on the wrong side of a civil war before it starts. While the rest of the crew seems to be more than up to the task of carrying an interesting tale to conclusion.

Which brings me to my next point. The Pillars of the Earth is being advertised as a mini-series event, which means it should be able to tell the story of the book in a satisfying way. It also means the creators of the show will not feel the pull to needlessly pad this series with superfluous filler.