Guest Recommendation: Atlantic Crossing

This guest recommendation comes from Janet Mullany! Janet Mullany is a sometime fiction writer who is a regular contributor for PBS/WETA’s Tellyvisions blog.

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A princess steals the heart of the president of the United States.

Really, PBS Masterpiece? Is that the best you can do?

Because Atlantic Crossing is not some sort of adulterous fairy tale. A production of Norwegian Public Broadcasting (NRK), it tells the story of how Norway’s Crown Princess Märtha, in exile in the US, became a major player in persuading President Franklin D. Roosevelt to join the second world war. It’s beautifully filmed, with a strong ensemble cast, a moving and dramatic story, and lots of emotion. On average I teared up at least twice until the last episode where, heck, it was every ten minutes. This is what public television should be.

Quick history lesson: Norway, and their neighbors Denmark and Sweden, were all neutral when war broke out in 1939. Hitler invaded Denmark and Norway in April of 1940, wanting to get at Sweden’s iron and control the North Sea.

The series starts with Crown Prince Olav and Crown Princess Märtha’s 1939 visit to the US. Bless their hearts, there’s a sex scene within the first couple of minutes. On a train. With role-playing. And a Stetson. (Well done, Masterpiece/PBS, we’ve been waiting fifty years for this!) It’s not terribly explicit but their attendants, waiting outside the compartment, have resigned “here we go again” expressions on their faces, so this is pretty much normal. It’s delightful. They’re on their way to visit President Roosevelt who is very taken with the couple, twinkling across the tea table and flirting with Märtha.

Olav and Märtha are the loveliest royals you’ll ever meet on Masterpiece. As well as the enthusiastic sex life, three gorgeous children, and Märtha’s amazing hats, they are down-to-earth and likable, if privileged, people.

But when the German invade, they, the King, and the Cabinet, flee. It is genuinely scary, edge of your seat stuff—travel on a train under fire from enemy planes, taking shelter from bombs, driving through icy forests with enemy soldiers in pursuit. Olav wants to stay and fight, so he sends Märtha and the children over the border to her parents in Sweden, where unfortunately the Swedish king is Hitler’s newest bestie. Olav and the King take refuge with cousin Bertie (that’s George VI of Britain to the rest of us. All the royalty of Europe are closely related, thanks to Queen Victoria’s fecund children). But Märtha and the children become refugees.

Roosevelt is delighted when Olav requests he invite her to the US, and provides a ship. The scene where she leaves, holding up her son Harald to wave goodbye to the fishermen nearby is heartbreaking.

She and the family are given a warm welcome by Roosevelt. But Olav and his father the King make it clear that Märtha’s job is to persuade Roosevelt to meet with the Norwegian Ambassador, who will ask him to supply the Allies with armaments (and break the US Neutrality Act).

Now Roosevelt undoubtedly likes Martha, and he’s lovely with her children, but he’s a politician first in an election year. He’s running on an anti-war platform; he’s not going to put himself on the line. Not yet. Every European country wants a piece of him and it will take Pearl Harbor and Churchill for him to make a commitment. With both Olav and the Ambassador pressuring her, and Roosevelt being charming, patronizing, or subtly steering her off-topic, Märtha cuts through the diplomatic crap. She bursts unannounced into the Oval Office, and makes her case with great eloquence and passion, wearing a lovely hat, my favorite of the series.

Olav is frustrated at his lack of agency. He has to defer to his dad, he wants to prove himself as a military leader, but the Brits don’t seem interested. It’s raining bombs and he misses his wife and children. When he drops by the US for a surprise Christmas visit (as one does during wartime when you’re royalty), he finds Märtha and Roosevelt on first-name terms, and he’s even more surprised to hear his kids address the President as “godfather” (I don’t think he knew they began by calling him “grandfather”). Märtha, empowered, is up and running, raising funds for Norwegian war relief.

So did she have a love affair with Roosevelt? I’m pretty sure she didn’t, despite the attraction between them, although naturally there were rumors (because everyone knew FDR had an eye for the ladies). There is one awkward, surprise kiss in Episode 5 which doesn’t seem to alter their relationship after. There’s too much at stake for both of them.

Märtha’s aware of the dysfunctional White House triangle where Roosevelt plays off his secretary/mistress Missy and his wife Eleanor against each other, and who’d want to get involved with that? She loves her children, her husband, and above all, her country. She’s not going to do anything that would compromise the survival of Norway.

Olav, to my disappointment, added Märtha’s relationship with the President to his list of things to be mad about, and starts hanging out in British pubs drinking too much. But he gets over himself. It’s not a spoiler to tell you that Olav and Märtha are reconciled, and returned to Norway, because it’s history. Their son Harald is the current King of Norway.

So why should you watch this series? It’s emotional, moving, and the visuals are stunning, as is the acting. Imagine The Crown with much nicer royals you actually want to root for, or World on Fire with more coherent storylines. Like The Crown, it is selective and creative with history; this is drama, not a documentary. The story of Märtha and her exile in the US has been mostly forgotten, and the series is a perceptive dive into the politics of the period, with some alarming parallels to our own times.

That said, it keeps you engaged, despite the complex issues and the length (there are eight episodes of about 50 minutes each) and don’t let the subtitles put you off–naturally the Norwegians speak their own language together. Atlantic Crossing has heart and intelligence and it’s worth the watch.

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Atlantic Crossings airs on your local PBS station on Sundays through May 9 and can be streamed at pbs.org.