‘Tom Jones: Masterpiece’ Boils Down Classic Tome Into Light, Four-Part Rom-com: TV Review
Amber Dowling The least compelling thing about “Tom Jones: Masterpiece” is Tom Jones himself. When the four-part miniseries debuts on April 30, it transforms Henry Fielding’s 800-plus page picaresque novel into a romcom in which the female lead isn’t only every bit the hero as her male counterpart, but often outshines him. For the uninitiated, “Tom Jones” revolves around an orphan of the same name who is raised by a squire as if he were his own. It’s a coming-of-age story in which Tom grows up with and falls for his neighbor, Sophia Western, all while shagging plenty of other women and often getting in his own way. There are forces conspiring against him, of course: namely his cousin William Blifil, who is born into privilege and hates everything about his relative from Day 1.