Quick Shots: Texas Rising

 Boy, do I love the Texas Rising miniseries that the History Channel put out.  Except, well…

The costumes are great but off by about 20 years.

Santa Anna deserved a better actors than Oliver Martinez.

I’m usually not one to shout “RACISM!!!” like an SJW, but what’s the deal with Amen Igbinosun’s portrayal of Nate?

At some point, someone has to acknowledge that slavery was illegal in Mexico and a big motivator for the revolution was the expansion of slavery-based cotton farming.

The quickdraws with flintlocks looked ridiculous.

At least it’s more historical than Ancient Aliens and Pawn Storage Wars.

Besides all that, I really enjoyed it.  The series has a great feel to it, a pretty wide group of interesting characters, and I really enjoyed the “not quite soldiers, not quite outlaws” nature of the Rangers.  They also did a nice job of seating the Texas Revolution as an engagement between nations and all the accompanying geopolitics.  If you want to break out from the typical western, see some great (if slightly anachronistic) costumes, and catch some snappy dialog by great actors, check out a few episodes.  It's a shame there's not season 2, I would have loved their promised take on the Comanche Wars.

Oh, and the “Yellow Rose of Texas”, the mixed-race prostitute that saved Texas by spying on the Mexican army, plays a prominent (and sometimes) naked role.