SAINTS & STRANGERS: Episode 1 & 2
An exciting, beautifully made story of faith, survival, and America’s godly heritage.
Should You Watch It?
SAINTS & STRANGERS is exciting, faith-oriented television with real dramatic jeopardy. Its depiction of the Pilgrims’ Christian faith is deep and satisfying, while its characters remain flawed people with real problems rather than polished heroes.
The series also asks you to endure blatant obscenities in the first part and intense violence in the second. The language is unnecessary, and the violence includes severe threats to life. Those concerns make this a poor choice for younger children, even though the series offers a strong introduction to the Christian history of the United States.
If your family includes older children or adults who can handle those elements, this is worth watching.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESIn 1620, Pilgrims cross the ocean to build a new life and worship God as they please, while the merchant company that joins them seeks fortune. After a difficult journey on the Mayflower, the settlers reach Plymouth, Massachusetts, where they must survive hunger, disease, internal conflict, and uncertain relationships with the American Indians already living there.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this is beautifully produced and genuinely compelling. The directing and acting give the two-part miniseries great authenticity, while the jeopardy-filled story keeps the early settlement of Plymouth dramatically alive.
The series simplifies the history for clear dramatic structure, so it is not the whole story of the founding of Plymouth Colony. It is an introduction. Within that scope, the performances and production make SAINTS & STRANGERS a strong piece of historical drama.
The Worldview
SAINTS & STRANGERS presents the Pilgrims’ Christian faith as sincere, demanding, and central to their decision to cross the ocean. William Bradford’s leadership includes a striking sermon about God testing their faith, and the series affirms the Pilgrims’ belief in Jesus Christ, the second person of the one Triune God, who called them to come to America.
The series does not make the Pilgrims pristine. They struggle with flaws, suspicion, stealing, and conflict, while other characters are motivated by greed and envy. That honesty strengthens the portrayal of faith: these are real people with real problems who nevertheless hold to a real faith. The program contrasts their convictions with the adventurers, sailors, soldiers, and pagan Indians they encounter.
As a dramatization, the series simplifies events and presents a selective introduction to the founding of Plymouth. Still, it celebrates the Pilgrims’ desire to worship God and portrays their faith as something that eventually earns the respect of those around them. Their longing to build a new life centered on God recalls Christ’s call: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Very strong, overt Christian worldview contrasted with the adventurers, the sailors, the soldiers, and the pagan Indians whom the Pilgrims meet; nine obscenities and one profanity during part one, none during part two, plus a scene of vomiting at sea and sounds of people sick on large ship; intense fighting between settlers and Indians, with people knifed, stabbed, shot, and decapitated as well as fighting between colonists and between the sailors and the colonists, plus people die from plague, malnutrition, scurvy, and fall overboard, and decapitated head displayed on pole; marital affection, courting, a reference to Indians having multiple wives, childbirth, second wave of colonists tries to manhandle women and wives, several references to the roles of wives and husbands; upper male nudity; alcohol use; and, lying, cheating, suspicion, and stealing, which becomes a major plot point.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
The Pilgrims cross an ocean to build a new life and worship God. What does it mean to order your life around faith rather than fortune?
Matthew 6:19–21 · Matthew 16:24Bradford urges the Pilgrims to see their suffering as a test of faith. How can hardship reveal and strengthen what we truly trust?
James 1:2–4 · 1 Peter 1:6–7The settlers make serious mistakes, including stealing from the Indians. How should people respond when fear, hunger, or self-interest tempts them to do wrong?
Micah 6:8 · Ephesians 4:25–28The series portrays flawed people whose faith eventually earns respect. How can Christians live faithfully among people who do not share their beliefs?
Matthew 5:14–16 · 1 Peter 3:15–16The Final Word
SAINTS & STRANGERS is exciting, beautifully produced, and unusually clear about the Pilgrims’ Christian faith. Its obscenities and intense violence call for discernment, especially with younger children. For older children and adults, it is WORTH THE TRIP — OLDER CHILDREN AND ADULTS.
