World Without End depicts the lives of Kingsbridge’s citizens after the Hundred Years’ War as they struggle to prosper under the rule of the church and the crown. World Without End is a miniseries sequel to The Pillars of the Earth, which I remember seeing and enjoying. I was going to watch World Without End soon after finishing The Pillars of the Earth, but life got in the way so when I finally saw World Without End, I had little to no memory of its predecessor, which did not take away from my viewing pleasure, but I am sure that it would have enhanced it. World Without End is set 200 years after The Pillars of the Earth.
I watched all eight episodes of World Without End in twenty-four hours. While World Without End paints with a broad brush, and the villains practically wear signs that say, “Don’t trust me,” the plot still resonated with me as effective people’s lives are made miserable by incompetent at best or self-interested at worst leadership. I would issue a trigger warning because World Without End has plenty of rape although it is not painfully graphic.
World Without End addresses the complexities of faith or lack thereof within the church. The ones most confident speaking for God may be warped in their reasoning. If they hijack the church, it becomes all about power and reflects his or her inherently warped perspective such as women are inherently suspicious, science is witchcraft, maybe dying is God’s will and preferable to health care, I mean medicine. The ones with doubts and who never wanted to be part of the church leadership actually bear better fruit than their sanctimonious counterparts. World Without End basically uses the old Biblical adage that you will know them by their fruits.
World Without End is a bit problematic. If one thinks about it too much, all the problems occur because of a couple of ambitious, scheming women. Even though World Without End’s main protagonist is a plucky woman in the village, the problem with the power structure is the women who have the ear of the men in power. Ultimately daddy or the king knows best.
World Without End has a great cast of solid actors who are not as well known to American audiences except for Cynthia Nixon from Sex and the City, Orphan Black’s Tatiana Masley and Indira Varma from such HBO series as Rome and Game of Thrones. There are even some brief appearances from Reign and Anne of Green Gables’ Megan Follows. Ben Chaplin does a memorably good job. I thought that the casting did a great job casting the love interest descended from Eddie Redmayne and indeed resembles him.
World Without End is a solidly entertaining miniseries, but it is not a lush historical period piece, but a day in the life of ordinary people from the past. World Without End may not be must see TV, but if it sounds appealing, go for it.