Monday, April 8, 2013

Same War, Different Battles

My newest TV addiction is Canada's Bomb Girls.



Set during the beginning of WWII, Victory Munitions is building bombs to help the cause.  A richer, well to do woman, Gladys Witham, wants to help out with the cause and not just by making appearances at her father's fundraisers. Instead of taking the office job at VM, she decides to go against her parent's wishes and ends up working on the floor. Her dad ends up using to his advantage and uses her as the spokeswoman for his grocery store chain.


At the factory, we meet a wide array of characters with great background stories for each of them. Like Kate, a woman on the run from her abusive bible thumping father. From the first episode, you know that she's had issues trying to fit in and keep the past, the past. She also gets the nickname "Church Mouse" for her gospel-like singing voice.


And my personal favorite character is Betty McRae. She's sassy and very strong willed and one of the best workers at the factory. She ends up taking Kate under her wing and falls in love with her. She tries to be a girl and dates one of the boys at the factory but it ends up more like a bro-mance with hanging out in bars and talking about hockey with him. She also is a farmer's daughter with three brothers so when someone twists her the wrong way, she can handle what's thrown at her. In an episode when three German POWs escape, she ends up finding one in her boardroom's basement and we learn that other than being a lesbian, we find an even bigger secret. She's actually German and her family has hidden fellow German's from internment camps. Although the escaped Nazi believes that she's fellow Nazi, she ends up ratting him out explaining that just because she's a German, doesn't make her a Nazi. She also beats him up a little bit which was pretty awesome to watch.

Vera Burr, due to a factory accident she's now slightly disfigured... well, has an awesome scare on her face, is known as a "Patriot-tute", a woman that sleeps with soliders for gifts. She's also sassy and very on her toes due to the accident.

Floor matron Lorna Corbett, whose two sons are pilots in Europe, her daughter is working as a nurse at the local hospital and her husband is a veteran of WWI and was left disabled and in a wheelchair after a bomb exploded near him. This all leads to affairs and stress at work... But she's also one of the strongest women next to Betty.

There are more characters in the show that really bring to life what it was like to really be fighting on the homefront during WWII. They try to show that this isn't just a man's war and that everyone can pitch in some how. With some great acting, cinematography and costuming, this is probably one of the best TV shows I've watched in a while.

Also... I need all of the shoes and dresses this girls wear... 



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