The Underground Railroad

Fantastic production value wonderful acting overall a high quality series but beware it is extremely hard to watch at times and gets heart wrenching.. Can get slow at times. But definitely still worth watching!

When I read Colson Whitehead's "Underground Railroad" book, I was impressed by the author's ability to capture the essence--both physically and emotionally--of the institution of slavery in the United States. Unfortunately, this Barry Jenkins TV adaptation didn't do nearly as much of that for me.

For a very basic overview, "The Underground Railroad" tells the story of Cora (Thuso Mbedu), a young woman slave who escapes her Georgia plantation via the help of the Underground Railroad of yore. But in this story, the locomotive is literal as opposed to metaphorical. While continuing to head towards free country, Cora makes numerous stops in varying locales, experiencing the different ways in which African-Americans are treated. All the while, she is pursued by Ridgeway (Joel Edgerton), a slave bounty-hunter with a complicated past of his own.

From a production value standpoint, there isn't much wrong with "Underground Railroad". It clearly takes it mission very seriously (almost too seriously, in all honesty) and puts to the screen a gritty, realistic vision of Cora's life and times. In other words, I see where a supreme effort was made by all involved to elevate this to classic status.

But as I hinted, it also seemed like everything here was trying "a bit too hard", so to speak. To the point where I never felt like I emotionally connected with much of the material. For example...

-The acting seems fine, in a technical sense, but it never once "goes for the throat" in terms of really trying to make a point or punctuate an emotion. It almost exclusively tries to rely on the visuals and realism of the scenes playing out.

-Cora's journey is supposed to be broad and intriguing, but here it feels disjointed and scattered. Her time with Caesar (Aaron Pierre) and her time with Royal (William Jackson Harper) are indeed unique, but I never saw--in the end--how they dovetailed with each other.

-A decent amount of time is spent giving Ridgeway a daddy-issues (played by Peter Mullan) backstory, and theoretically that should all work. But the slave-catcher's deeds are so despicable and maniacal that I found it difficult to feel for him on any level other than "villain of the piece".

-A plot thread involving Cora's mother Mabel (Sheila Atim) is used to end the proceedings, and fell completely flat for me. This was clearly supposed to provide the emotional end-punch of the whole series, but again more just muddied the waters for this viewer.

About halfway through "Underground Railroad", I had it pegged as 7/10 stars. But after that point, it had little further ground to trod and the endgame didn't compel me to put all the emotional pieces together (hence the middling 5/10 final rating land).

Of course, I'll always wonder if "Underground Railroad" would have hit different for all viewers had it not debuted during the teeth of a global pandemic. This is a miniseries that doesn't go down easily from a physical or emotional perspective, and perhaps a weary nation wasn't in the mood for such a thing. All told, this is one that ultimately didn't have much of an impact on me one way or the other.

First of all, I was a bit shocked to see this rated PG. It should have been at the very least a 12. The first episode, especially, is very gritty with some disturbing scenes. Perhaps not at graphic as some shows today, but still not for children, IMHO.

Secondly, after the gripping first 2 episodes, this becomes very, very slow, with scenes stretched out for far, too long.

I didn't mind the flashbacks, but it would have been so much better if the pace had been faster, rather than showing everything in excruciating detail.

Thirdly, I know it wasn't supposed to be historically accurate, but having actual trains running underground with no-one up above ever hearing or finding them was too far-fetched, never mind how long it would have taken to dig the tunnels and steal a train to run down there!

Also, not all whites were abusers, even in the deep South. Many hated slavery and helped a lot of slaves to escape to the North, but in this portrayal almost all whites are bad and use the 'N' word far, too often.

The program did, however, show how slaves were treated as less than nothing. Property to be used and disposed of on a whim. Sometimes it's easy to forget just how bad it was.

All-in-all it was watchable, but slow-paced, far-fetched and graphic in parts.

This review is only on the pilot (For now). It's a very good surprise frankly, it's very good and realistic at times when we could look away. The story is set up easily and makes you want to see the rest. I must also note that the costumes, sets and more generally the plans are magnificent. Go see this pilot to give you an opinion you will not regret!

The wife and I are 5 episodes in and so far its excellent, but there's a few things you should know before jumping in, spoiler free.

Number one is this show is not historically accurate in anyway and that's okay, but you should know that. The only true thing about this show is that slavery existed and there was an "underground railroad", but that is not accurately represented.

The Underground Railroad in this show is a literal railroad and in the historical sense it was not, but rather used as a way to secretly communicate the movement of runaway slaves to the north. There are also several other historical inaccuracies, but again that's okay as long as you look at the show as a complete work of fiction that has SOME historical context.

That being said, the show is excellent when you omit historical accuracy. Its a great work of fiction with good acting, cinematography, directing and writing. Very enjoyable and look forward to seeing the end of the story.