Review: Seeking Persephone is the Period Romance That We Needed

Ever since watching the BBC’s adaptations of Jane Austen’s books, I have wanted to watch more period dramas. The issue, with that, however, is that they either aren’t available to watch since they require subscribing to yet another channel, or the content is bad. They are either poorly written, sexually explicit, laughably historically inaccurate, insistent on putting DEI into their storylines even if it makes no sense for the period, or a mixture of the above.

However, recently I heard about a period drama called Seeking Persephone. Originally, I thought it was only on BritBox (a channel I don’t have), but apparently, it’s on both Amazon and YouTube. I had read good reviews of it and after seeing the trailer, decided to give it a watch.

I love this show.

For one thing, for a period drama filmed by an independent group after a very successful crowdfunding campaign for a budget just shy of $1 million, this show somehow manages to look 10 times better than some of the stuff I’ve seen in reviews of other Regency-era period dramas like Bridgerton. The lighting is great, the costumes are great, the sets are amazing. To put that in perspective for you guys, Bridgerton has a budget of reported to be around $7-$8 million per episode. This indie-made drama somehow manages to be better quality than a Netflix show which has become a meme for using costumes that look like they came from Temu, amongst other things.

Then there’s the acting. The acting in Seeking Persephone is great, and the characters are all well written. The story is very much based on the myth of Hades and Persephone, and the actors got the memo. The guy playing Adam – the duke Persephone marries – plays brooding and angsty with a heart of gold well, and the actress playing Persephone does well playing a fish-out-of-water character.

Finally, there’s the content of the show. There are no steamy scenes, no forced representation, and no language. It’s truly a show that is fit for the whole family to watch without being worried about having to skip scenes. It’s a simple return to romance as it used to be.

Until next time,

M.J.