Manhattan – Season One: Blu-ray Review
Set against the backdrop of the mission to build the world’s first atomic bomb, Manhattan follows the brilliant but flawed scientists and their families as they attempt to coexist in a world where secrets and lies infiltrate every aspect of their lives.
I kind of already knew what I was going to expect from this show but the thing that had me curious was the way that it would all unfold. The show starts off a little slow as expected but the good thing is that it starts off with them already settling in to their new community instead of having a drawn out sequence. Slowly you start to see things unravel as families are being lied to and others are being looked at as spies. This is the perfect combination of a drama with a bit of espionage mixed in and it’s because of that, that it makes this show hard to stop watching. The crazy thing about it all is seeing all of this play out and the paranoia of everyone involved. All of the characters are compelling and their performances are believable and full of intrigue which makes the family dysfunction of the show interesting. The surprising performance on the other hand came from Daniel Stern which I DID NOT recognize at all until a bit about the fifth episode or so. He was great with a dramatic role and I would love to see more stuff like this from Stern in the future. With the show and it’s realistic nature this is a fantastic series that will give you just a small glimpse into a piece of history that include mistakes that were made along the way. I recommend picking this up and checking out a show that may have flew under the radar. 8/10
Special Features:
Commentaries With Cast And Crew
Ground Zero: Bringing the Bomb to the Screen – The usual Behind The Scenes feature with clips and interviews with the cast and crew.
P.O. Box 1663: Creating a City That Didn’t Exist – This feature takes a look at the production design of the show.
“Now I Am Become Death”: J. Robert Oppenheimer – A pretty good overview of the character.
Recreating an Era: Manhattan Costume Design – Pretty much the same as the production design feature but instead looks at the costumes of the show.
