I wanted to like this more than I did. The acting was quite well done all around and I usually find period pieces very interesting. That is to say if they are done accurately.
I read another review here comparing Damnation to HBO's Deadwood, and I actual caught myself laughing out loud. Deadwood in my opinion is a masterpiece, and is the series I use to judge all others by. It is the epitome of historical accuracy, and although It did take some liberties here and there it never left you scratching your head in disbelief.
Damnation's one major flaw that I had a hard time getting passed was with the African American characters. Their acting was more than adicuite, and never felt contrived, but seriously whoever wrote their parts is utterly ridiculous! For instance... The strikebreaker played by Logan Marshall-Green is in the brothel holding up a homemade quilted sign which had something very disrespectful, and insulting stitched into it. The idea being to suss out which if any of the whores could read. So he shows this sign to a room full of whores who are all White except for one Black woman. Honestly as soon as I saw this unfolding I started secretly praying to myself for the show to please not be so predictable as to make the only literate whore of all those women the Black one. I mean this is supposed to be a period piece after all, but they went ahead with it anyways, despite my prayers to the contrary.
For any extremely politically correct, social justice types that may, or may not be reading this... I'm not trying to say that it's impossible for a Black woman living in the 1930's in the American heartland to read, but I am saying that the odds of her being the only one in that room which was full of White women is just poor writing to say the least, and from a statistically standpoint highly unlikely.
They pull this historically inaccurate nonsense again a few episodes later when a group of about 20 or more farmers are on a bridge tasked with making sure no trucks with produce get through to town. The one Black man there is captivating the rest by telling a less than flattering story about one of the White men and when he's done with his story he gives the guy a good shove on the shoulder as though they were the best of friends. This is supposed to be Iowa in the 1930's and this guy is acting like he's Eddie Murphy, or Will Smith at a weekend BBQ in 2018 with his closest friends. Again, not the actors fault...he did a fine job following the script, and acting the part he was given, but come on, give me a break, it just would not have happened. He would have been lynched for his story alone, if not the shove on the shoulder.
Later in this same episode both the farmers and the bankers come together to discuss terms. Sitting at the table representing the farmers side is the same Black man. He's there with a White guy and the preacher, but again in what reality would a Black man in America, in the 30's be speaking for, and negotiating for White men...it just wouldn't happen.
The show does include the black legion which were a type of KKK militia of the time. It seriously makes me wonder why the writers would even bother to contradict reality with the aforementioned examples only to later try showing us the viewers how racist America actually was in the early 1900's.
So the cinematography and acting in Damnation are quite well done, but the writing, and historical inaccuracies leave much to be desired. Netflix squandered it's opportunity of providing it's viewers with a diligent period piece...Given the topic this really could have been so much more if it were only handled better, but all in all still a worthwhile watch.... 7 out of 10.
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