Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Television
Plot nears big kaboom as Manhattan returns
As if developing the world’s first atomic bomb was not drama enough, let’s add a little religious/patriotic zeal.
Season 2 of WGN America’s Manhattan drops at 8 p.m. today with the ominous tagline, “The Fallout Begins.”
That’s literally and figuratively.
To set the stage for those out of the loop, Manhattan is an adult drama set during the final years of World War II and involves the race to develop the atomic bomb. America was scrambling away at Los Alamos, N.M., and enemy scientists were closing in on their own bomb somewhere in the bowels of Nazi Germany.
It was good vs. evil, winner take all.
Fact or fiction? Although a number of historical characters are referenced and we see a couple in the series, the main characters are either fiction or compilations of several real scientists.
One real-life person in the series is the scientific director of the Manhattan Project, Robert Oppenheimer (“the father of the A-bomb”), played by Daniel London. Oppenheimer is portrayed as being very, very strange and a bit kinky.
The main drama revolves around the tension of the two competing teams on “the Hill,” the constant pressure to hasten completion, and the dark secrets the scientists must keep from their families and sometimes from themselves.
Here are the main characters for Season 2, which is set in the weeks rapidly approaching the first atomic bomb test (Trinity) on July 16, 1945.
John Benjamin Hickey plays Frank Winter, head of the team working on an implosion design.
Note: The first, better funded, team was working on a “gun-type” device, where one piece of fissionable material was fired at another piece to produce the chain reaction. The Hiroshima bomb, dubbed “Little Boy,” was of this type.
The second type, an implosion device, consisted of a plutonium sphere surrounded by high explosives. The “Fat Man” bomb detonated over Nagasaki was an implosion device.
Olivia Williams is Frank’s wife, botanist Liza Winter.
Ashley Zukerman plays brilliant physicist Charlie Isaacs, the young star of the project who finds himself as head scientist in the second season.
Rachel Brosnahan portrays Charlie’s wife, Abby.
Katja Herbers is attractive, free-spirited physicist (and Charlie’s dalliance) Helen Prins.
Christopher Denham portrays scientist Jim Meeks.
William Petersen (CSI) has joined the cast as new site commander, Col. Emmett Darrow.
Darrow is a man of mystery. It’s readily apparent that he is deeply religious and patriotic. Is he also dangerous?
WGN points out that he “feels called by God to usher in the atomic future and to spread American values across the globe.”
Darrow’s zeal comes at a time when the scientists closing in on the bomb realize that what they are about to do will change the world forever. It’s a crisis of conscience that causes some to crack.
One of the main underlying sources of tension is the relationship between the scientists stuck out in the middle of nowhere and the Army, charged with maintaining secrecy and trusting no one.
I’ve seen the first four episodes of Season 2 and my interest has been renewed now that we are finished with a couple of the distracting subplots. The addition of Petersen’s complicated character adds a dimension that was missing in Season 1.
When last we saw our intrepid crew, the rapidly imploding Frank sold himself out by planting a false confession that saved Charlie’s bacon, but got Frank tossed into the back of a car with a hood over his head and on his way to a deep, dark hole somewhere in Texas.
Oppenheimer was left with only one choice — appoint Charlie to lead the implosion team.
Out of the blue, we also learned that Meeks was spying for the Soviets. He seemingly had the most altruistic of reasons, fearing that if only one side had the bomb, global disaster would result.
Everyone on Manhattan has some sort of secret and that’s what makes the series so compelling.
Chicago Fire. Season 4 of the Dick Wolf drama debuts at 9 p.m. today on NBC. Full confession: I don’t follow the show and have no idea what’s going on. You’re on your own.
All I do know is that NBC loves calling it a “high-octane drama” and it follows the firefighters, Rescue Squad and paramedics of Chicago Firehouse 51. If you like these characters, well, they’re back.
And be sure to check out Wolf’s other Windy City offering, Chicago P.D. Season 3 is underway at 9 p.m. Wednesdays on NBC. That’s immediately following the 8 p.m. showing of Wolf’s Law & Order: SVU, now in its 17th season.