The Bletchley Circle (2012)

Life traffics in all the tropes you've come to expect from the network.... Which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if it didn't all overshadow the cancer. [13 Jun 2014, p.76]

Where Bletchley succeeds is in its unapologetic, decidedly feminine take on British life in the ’50s.

It's like watching Nancy Drew grow up into Wonder Woman.

It's not as ambitious as Mad Men, of course, but it has its own very real pleasures.

The former WWII code-breakers of this excellent British import don't deflect bullets with magical bracelets. They use their brains, determination, courage and pleasant demeanors like stealth weapons, covertly undermining postwar expectations to right wrongs no one else seems to notice.

A smart and highly suspenseful miniseries.

With its fine acting, tight script, and tense tone, The Bletchley Circle is pure ecstasy for mystery fans.

Both series [The Bletchley Circle and "Call the Midwife"] find a clever, entertaining way to pay tribute to women who in their time were often overlooked and underestimated, and nevertheless found ways to never be ordinary.

The drama might have had more depth and texture if more time had been spent contextualizing their relationships instead of just showing the ladies putting up with a series of oafs. But there's only so much Bletchley can do in three installments, and it has many sustaining qualities to offset the relatively thin supporting characters.

Perfectly cast and cleverly paced, consider it a mini-"Masterpiece Mystery" for that franchise’s crime-loving loyalists.