This series really impressed me. It centres around women who join the Circus Revue (a kind of seasonal form of live comedy and dance entertainment) as dancers, and tells their stories in a masterful way.
I feel like this show really speaks about challenges women faced in a past era, but in a fresh way. There is humour, but it doesn't feel forced. Almost all the characters feel real, with motivations of their own, and there are very few 2-dimensional-feeling side characters, just perhaps some of the protestors in the latter part of the show.
I like that this show invites you to make a quick instant judgement about each of the women, but then shows more depth to their characters as you go on. Some of the chorus girls I thought would be painful and annoying, I definitely really liked by the end, which I didn't expect. The women have flaws, but they are figuring things out and growing. It was empowering and really interesting. This is a series that shows different women's journeys and challenges in subtle ways, with the Circus Revue as the crossroads in their lives.
I also really enjoyed the dances that were featured in this show. They're not just dances for the sake of having a dance, but they also speak to the story of the characters performing them. It is an artistic move by the writers/directors that could've cheapened the drama of the show, but is in fact pulled off very well.
