Underground

[osprey_archer]

I can't recall who it was who recommended Underground to me - was it wordsofastory? - but HOLY SHIT, YOU WERE SO RIGHT, this show is amazing. My roommate and I raced through it as fast as Netflix could send us the discs, complete with howling and gnashing of teeth when we finished disc two and realized that we were going to have to wait a whole day before disc three arrived.

It's just really, really well-done in every possible way. The actors are all amazing - I want to give a particular shout-out for the child actors here, because it's so hard to find good ones but this show completely nails it. The little boy playing James is particularly good. And of course the writers give them a lot to work with: the characters are all layered and complex (ERNESTINE, oh my God!) and I could probably devote a full post to almost any one of them.

The music choices are unexpected and perfect - the show uses a mix of period songs, often sung by the characters themselves, and the occasional modern song as background music, which gives it extra emotional oomph and also ties the show to the present: these issues still shape our world today.

The show did a particularly good job weaving in historical detail and instances of oppression without ever sacrificing the excitement of the story or turning into misery porn. The camera doesn't linger on every detail of a whipping or a sexual assault (in fact, the one violent assault on the show takes place almost entirely off screen); it shows just enough to make sure we know what's happening, and then cuts away. I thought it struck a good balance between showing the evils of slavery, without being exploitative or titillating with them.

(I will add that the story racked up a higher body count than I expected.)

I did think that the later episodes were not quite as assured as the first few. In particular, there are a couple of characters who spring back from injuries like video characters - my favorite example is a scene where one guy is wandering through a cornfield, delirious from his probably infected shoulder wound, and then that's inconvenient for the plot and suddenly, still in mid-cornfield, he is totally fine.

But on the whole I think it's a wonderfully done show and I'm looking forward to seeing season 2.

Comments

[evelyn-b.livejournal.com]

I loved Underground, too -- there were a couple of times when it lost me (I know they're doing deliberate anachronism for a reason, but the anachronistic lobotomy still bugged the hell out of me) but overall it was great. ABSOLUTELY YES on the child actors being excellent - the "learning to pick cotton" scenes were heartbreaking. The show was such a heady mix of over-the-top pop mythologizing and real complexity.

In retrospect, I think I loved (and loved to hate, and loved) Cato the most. But almost everyone was amazing. Even the white Underground Railroad couple with the jarring line delivery grew on me after a while.

So happy there's a Season 2!

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I did wonder about the lobotomy. "Doesn't it seem awfully early for lobotomies?" I thought, and then the story swept along so fast that I forgot about it.

YES, the learning to pick cotton scene! Or even just the short scene earlier where the overseer is getting set to whip James, and James is holding his arms out and trying and not quite succeeding at not crying. That kid is brilliant.

Cato was amaaaazing. I think he and Ernestine were my two favorites; they share the same willingness to do whatever it takes to get what they want, although the things they want are very different.

I bet Cato turns up next season either as a snake-oil salesman or a poster boy for the abolition movement. He'd get really into it if he found there was lots of money to be made giving speeches.