We’ve all just walked through the Passion narrative between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, and part of that is Jesus’ betrayal by Judas Iscariot, one of the 12. You can argue his reasons — love of Rome, hatred of Rome, self-hatred, greed, desire for revolution, whatever — but what we do know is he took the 3o pieces of silver and then threw them, and his life, away.
Was he repentant? Only Judas and God knew for sure, since the disgraced Apostle’s motives and reactions died with him.
He did secure himself a place on lists of the greatest traitors of all time, right next to Revolutionary War hero-turned-turncoat Benedict Arnold — who’s a bit of a different case, since he kept both the money and his life.
When “Turn: Washington’s Spies” (formerly just “Turn”) returns for a second season on Monday, April 12, with a two-hour premiere, “The Mentalist” star Owain Yeoman joins the cast as Arnold. But this is 1777, so it’s Arnold before the fall, when he’s still a dashing, brilliant, swaggering American battlefield hero. He’s also bosom pals with Gen. George Washington (Ian Kahn), which makes his ultimate betrayal even more painful.
But, with Yeoman signed for three seasons, that’s all in the future.
In case you’re coming into “Turn” a little late — you can catch up here, on Netflix — it’s based on Alexander Rose’s book, “Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring,” a history of the Culper Ring, an espionage network headed by Setauket, New York, farmer Abe Woodhull (Jamie Bell) and his childhood friends.
I hopped on the phone with Yeoman late last week to see what made a nice boy from Wales take on a man whose name is synonymous with dishonor.
“What a baptism of fire,” said Yeoman,”to be playing this guy. I’ve noticed that every time I mention the character to any of my American friends, there’s a sharp intake of air and, ‘Oh, you’re playing that guy.’ No, he’s not invited to anyone’s party.
“I love a challenge, and I love challenging people’s preconceptions. We’ve gone to great lengths, certainly this season, to try to present Arnold not as a famous traitor, but to try to understand him as a man before that fatal turning point, to establish him, really, as a great general and a war hero, which he was.
“If things had turned out slightly different in history, this would have been the guy who would have remembered as a great war hero and not, as you say, amongst an infamous list of traitors.”
As a U.K. subject, Yeoman came to Arnold without a lot of baggage.
“My mom was a history teacher,” he said, “so I couldn’t really avoid history when I was growing up. But we’re very light on American history. We don’t really have great opportunities to study both the Civil War and the Revolution. To me, it was fascinating.
“To me, it was fascinating. It’s nice to come to this guy without any of those American preconceptions and understand who he is as a man, and who he was as a general. We’ve made some interesting revelations this season, not the least of which being that he was extremely close to George Washington.
“George Washington really considered him a right-hand man. Certainly, as the show develops, we’ve played a very fraternal relationship with those two, which, ultimately, will make that final decision to betray America even more personal for Washington.”
After being shot in the leg at the Battle of Saratoga (New York) in the fall of 1777 — the monument there depicts only his boot, without even his name attached –Arnold was unable to lead troops on the battlefield.
He’d often felt he didn’t get promotions he was due, and clashed with other officers and with Congress, especially over money. His crippling injury was a blow to his pride. While recuperating in Philadelphia, he meet socialite Peggy Shippen (Ksenia Solo), 20 years his junior, and that marriage raised his social standing but depleted his bank accounts.
Did he betray his country for principle, or for money?
Said Yeoman, “It’s quite a series of personal and military misgivings that add up and make this man feel, like, ‘Well, how many times do I have to be looked over or passed over for promotion? How many times do I have to be ignored by Congress and pay for my own war efforts?’, things like that.
“Put that into a modern-day context, and it seems pretty universal, the disenfranchisement of veterans when they are returning from battle. I had the fortune of being in ‘American Sniper’ recently, the Clint Eastwood movie. It’s dealing with the same issue: How do you find that kind of harmony between military and civilian life?”
One thing’s for certain, viewers will remember Yeoman’s arrival in “Turn.”
“I have an entrance to the series,” he said, “unlike anything I’ve ever been given before. I literally kick the door down and tell George Washington what’s wrong with all the generals sitting around his dinner table. It was a spectacularly bold entrance for me to make and something I am very proud of.”
Yeoman also finds himself in the odd position of being “the Welsh guy playing one of the first Americans who betrays America for the Brits. If that’s not confusing enough, I don’t know what is.”
Oh, and incidentally, Yeoman has another big premiere coming up — the birth of a child to him and wife Gigi Yallouz any day now. Yeoman will divulge neither the baby’s sex nor name.
“We’ve been very tight-lipped about that,” he said. “We had a bunch of names, and they were all shot down by the grandparents. We’ll just wait until we meet the baby, and we can take it from there.”
Here’s a sneak peek at season 2 of “Turn”:
Images: Courtesy AMC; Wikimedia Commons
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