Over the years there have been a lot of films and television shows about Jewish people overcoming persecution by the Germans in WWII. The latest one put to screen is based on the New York Times Best Selling Novel of the same name, We Were The Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter. It’s a sprawling story of one family’s separation and their desire to get back together. Hulu has had a lot of good series on their streaming service and this is another.

The Kur family which consists of Helina (Joey King) Addy (Logan Lerman) Milla (Hadas Yaron) Nechuma (Robin Weigert) Sol (Lior Ashkenazi) Jacob (Amit Rahav) and Jenek (Henry Loyd-Hughes) are all Jewish Poles in 1938 before the Germans invaded Poland. Once the Germans invaded the family scattered and went their own separate ways. After the first episode, the series depicts the struggle of all of the various members of this family and their loved ones to find each other.

With any period piece shows such as this one the technical aspects play a huge part in making people watch that these events actually took place and the characters look the part of those that fit into such a story as this. I am a huge stickler for believability in these types of shows, and this one had me from the get-go. The clothes, makeup and hairstyling,  props, production value sets, and locations are all first-rate. I didn’t once think this series wasn’t realistic to the times at all. That’s a good thing.

Even though this series is about a family’s struggles to find each other during a difficult time, life still goes on. The show depicts things like weddings, cruise ships where people sing and dance and have a good time, and parties where men and women gather to mingle and talk to each other. The whole time though there is an undercurrent of the Invasion of Poland by the Nazis and what country is next and does anybody dare step up to try to stop them. It’s still an uneasy time.

The show splits the main characters up so the various situations each of them is in are distinctly different. Some are living their lives going to work, others are prisoners of the Russians and others are trying to escape and get to freedom. The dichotomy of all the separate stories is very fascinating to me. With it being an eight-part mini-series there is plenty of time for these characters and their separate stories to come together in the end.

The two stars of the series Joey King from The Kissing Booth Trilogy and Logan Lerman from The Percy Jackson films have carved out a nice career for themselves so far. Films like The Princess and 3:10 to Yuma have shown me these two mean business as far as their on-screen choices go. They aren’t just teen heartthrob they are legitimate actors who take their careers seriously. Their roles in this show prove that. This isn’t a lighthearted series. It’s a series dealing with serious subject matter and these two show that in their various performances. I for one can’t wait to see what this pair have in store for their careers in the future. 

We Were the Lucky Ones tells a story of survival by astronomical odds. After this family was separated they could have given up, like some many have, but they don’t. They fought through insurmountable odds to get back together. This story is based on a book so the truth is out there already. Anybody who wants to learn the true story of this family can read the book or wait until all eight episodes of the series air on Hulu. The first three episodes set the stage and great drama that kept me interested to see what happens next. The performances from the two leads King and Lerman are both terrific so far. The technical aspects of the series are first rate and the historical accuracy seems to be pretty good. I think any history buff would be interested in seeing this show set during WWII, even though there have been so many more of its kind in the past. Watch it anyway and learn something you didn’t know.

3 of the 8 episodes watched and reviewed

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen