The startling true-life drama Mrs. Wilson

The surprisingly good 3-part series on PBS, Mrs. Wilson, is a rarity - one of the very few cases in which it helps to know a little background before watching the series, so here goes: The show begins w/ a very standard declaration that this series is based on true events, but it's a little more than that. The series is based on the diary or (unpublished) memoir by Mrs. Wilson herself, who in fact was the grandmother of the star of the show, Rita Wilson. The story begins in the 1960s when Mrs. Wilson's husband, a man of about 70 or so, falls to the floor and dies unexpectedly. Mrs W goes through the usual travail of planning a funeral service and dealing w/ the various loose ends and her sorrow and despair and the emotions of her two teenage sons. So far, everything's unexceptional - and then, bang, someone shows up at her doorstep and claims to be the wife of Mrs. Wilson's late husband. What's going on here? From that point on the series becomes increasingly complex and bewildering, and I won't give anything away - but here's where it helps to know that this is a true-life series, because the events are so odd that we wouldn't believe them in a fictional narrative. (There's a line in Shakespeare: If this were a play, I wouldn't believe it. Same idea.) Mrs W sets off to find out the truth about her husband, and in particular about his role as an undercover agent during WWII - and the more she learns about him, the less sure she is: Is he a war hero? Or a philanderer? A genius? A fake and a liar? A devoted father and husband? Or a creep? Is she endangering herself and the future of her sons if she pursues this inquiry further? The narrative moves gracefully across a few time spans, gradually filling in the picture of an entire life, and it will keep you thinking and guessing and wondering right to the startling closing sequence.