I watched the miniseries and then read the book (book was completely different and boring). It's clear the miniseries took liberties to make it match the politics of what has been happening in the UK and the US along with trying to do some virtue signaling.
I thought the acting was very good from everyone including the supporting staff. Some reviews are saying how bad the main actress was. The character is supposed to be a mousy, shy, timid girl and she did that. To me though the writers made the Jewish characters very stereotypical which I found strange due to wanting to avoid stereotypes.
One of the reviewers here mentioned that it made no sense was Vivian would have had the Bible with her given that she ended up infiltrating Jordan's group but she moved to London, she didn't know she would be doing that. (In the book the landlord is a middle aged Jewish woman).
I liked that the miniseries was definitely exciting having real people from history in it but they should have kept things more true to what we actually knew about them (Jordan had no child and the wife was banned from the UK). There were also quite obvious "how convenient" parts like Vivian having her business card in her pocket where the nosey housekeeper found it as Vivian denied that the card was hers. This was dumb because when the housekeeper went to the salon, no one said that Jane was a stylist there, however Vivian left her unusual coat there which the housekeeper naturally saw. What else.... Oh yeah Vivian finding Peter/Jack in London at a rally she just sort of stumbled to. The antifascist crew largely consists of Vivian's estranged relatives where her uncle immediately recognizes her at a distance without seeing her in a number of years.
Parts that weren't explained or simply made no sense: -How did Jack become involved in the first place?
-Why did Vivian use her cousin's passport to go to Israel?
-Why was Jane even allowed to go to Jordan's secret meetings with neo nazi leaders?
-How long was Jordan aware that Jane was Vivian?
-What was Jordan's plan for Vivian?
-Why did Vivian and Jack go to Israel together?
There's also a number of clips showing London in the 60s which was kind of cool but they were thrown in randomly not really fitting the scene from right before or the scene that followed.
Don't get me wrong I enjoyed it and found it exciting but it could have been much better especially in the last 2 episodes.
Also to give you more of an idea of the book.... In the book you see things from the perspective of Vivian, Jack, and Stevie. Vivian is like Rochelle in Rochelle, Rochelle! Jack is nearly left in a coma but recovers and marries Vivian. Stevie is obsessed with Vivian despite hardly knowing her. Jordan is merely spoken about and none of the characters even meet him. Roza was also a supporting character in the miniseries but there is no character in the book. Also in the book Vivian is an orphan and plays so role in 62 and is honestly a boring character. There's also a lot more character development with the hair stylists that Vivian works with. The book definitely felt more like it was for the YA audience and not adults.
I thought the acting was very good from everyone including the supporting staff. Some reviews are saying how bad the main actress was. The character is supposed to be a mousy, shy, timid girl and she did that. To me though the writers made the Jewish characters very stereotypical which I found strange due to wanting to avoid stereotypes.
One of the reviewers here mentioned that it made no sense was Vivian would have had the Bible with her given that she ended up infiltrating Jordan's group but she moved to London, she didn't know she would be doing that. (In the book the landlord is a middle aged Jewish woman).
I liked that the miniseries was definitely exciting having real people from history in it but they should have kept things more true to what we actually knew about them (Jordan had no child and the wife was banned from the UK). There were also quite obvious "how convenient" parts like Vivian having her business card in her pocket where the nosey housekeeper found it as Vivian denied that the card was hers. This was dumb because when the housekeeper went to the salon, no one said that Jane was a stylist there, however Vivian left her unusual coat there which the housekeeper naturally saw. What else.... Oh yeah Vivian finding Peter/Jack in London at a rally she just sort of stumbled to. The antifascist crew largely consists of Vivian's estranged relatives where her uncle immediately recognizes her at a distance without seeing her in a number of years.
Parts that weren't explained or simply made no sense: -How did Jack become involved in the first place?
-Why did Vivian use her cousin's passport to go to Israel?
-Why was Jane even allowed to go to Jordan's secret meetings with neo nazi leaders?
-How long was Jordan aware that Jane was Vivian?
-What was Jordan's plan for Vivian?
-Why did Vivian and Jack go to Israel together?
There's also a number of clips showing London in the 60s which was kind of cool but they were thrown in randomly not really fitting the scene from right before or the scene that followed.
Don't get me wrong I enjoyed it and found it exciting but it could have been much better especially in the last 2 episodes.
Also to give you more of an idea of the book.... In the book you see things from the perspective of Vivian, Jack, and Stevie. Vivian is like Rochelle in Rochelle, Rochelle! Jack is nearly left in a coma but recovers and marries Vivian. Stevie is obsessed with Vivian despite hardly knowing her. Jordan is merely spoken about and none of the characters even meet him. Roza was also a supporting character in the miniseries but there is no character in the book. Also in the book Vivian is an orphan and plays so role in 62 and is honestly a boring character. There's also a lot more character development with the hair stylists that Vivian works with. The book definitely felt more like it was for the YA audience and not adults.