Having watched Season 1 of "Underground," it's clear the show has its ambitions, but it's also hamstrung by its desire for mass appeal.
The story is simple: Seven black slaves run from a Georgia plantation in 1857 to freedom in the North. Such a premise would be ripe for thrilling storytelling, poignant social commentary, and high-stakes drama.
Unfortunately, the editing is terrible (think "CSI"-style editing, only in the antebellum South) and the pop music obnoxiously intrusive. I'm not against anachronistic music in period pieces. "Django Unchained" had rock and rap music, for example. "Underground," however, does not know where to place this music so it's effective, and it feels like every five minutes, there's a pop song playing. Likewise, the editing moves so rapidly at times, it feels like scenes never have room to breathe.
For one egregious example, in Episode 8, Tom Macon the slaveowner is meeting with other white men to endorse his Senate nomination. One man is telling Tom about drapetomania, a pseudoscientific medical condition that afflicted slaves and caused them to run away. This medical theory was very popular in the 1850s. This would be interesting for viewers... if the music weren't almost drowning the man's words out and the editing moving too rapidly between conversations.
Is there good stuff in the show? Yes.
The acting is excellent across the board. By far, the most interesting characters are the runaways Rosalee and Cato, August Pullman the slave-catcher, and Ernestine and her disturbing relationship with Tom. Noah is played well by Aldi Hodge, but the character is less interesting because we don't get to know him as much compared to Rosalee and Cato. Cato's monologue to the other slaves before setting the field on fire? Gold. Rosalee confronting her father during a hallucination? Gold. Noah, unfortunately, doesn't get a scene like that. That could be remedied later.
The biggest sticks in the mud, however, are the white abolitionists Elizabeth and John. They... don't behave like white people from the 1800s. The episode where they're held hostage by two runaways, one angry enough to kill white folks and the other sympathetic to the white folks? We already saw this dynamic with Chalky White and a runaway chain-ganger in the 5th season of "Boardwalk Empire," and John being whipped felt... grossly appropriating of black slaves' pain onto a white hero so that he could better understand slaves' plight. Yet even after this experience, they're still remarkably progressive about black people's rights in the 1800s. And they're just boring. I mean, a cheating subplot? Really?
This show's problem is that it wants to be both a soap opera and a serious piece of historical fiction about a brutal time period. When it does get brutal, as when Sam's foot is about to be cut off by his own mother, it's harrowing...
... and then a pop song will play five minutes later.
Series A Mixed Bag That Wants To Be Great, Buuuut...
Having watched Season 1 of "Underground," it's clear the show has its ambitions, but it's also hamstrung by its desire for mass appeal.
The story is simple: Seven black slaves run from a Georgia plantation in 1857 to freedom in the North. Such a premise would be ripe for thrilling storytelling, poignant social commentary, and high-stakes drama.
Unfortunately, the editing is terrible (think "CSI"-style editing, only in the antebellum South) and the pop music obnoxiously intrusive. I'm not against anachronistic music in period pieces. "Django Unchained" had rock and rap music, for example. "Underground," however, does not know where to place this music so it's effective, and it feels like every five minutes, there's a pop song playing. Likewise, the editing moves so rapidly at times, it feels like scenes never have room to breathe.
For one egregious example, in Episode 8, Tom Macon the slaveowner is meeting with other white men to endorse his Senate nomination. One man is telling Tom about drapetomania, a pseudoscientific medical condition that afflicted slaves and caused them to run away. This medical theory was very popular in the 1850s. This would be interesting for viewers... if the music weren't almost drowning the man's words out and the editing moving too rapidly between conversations.
Is there good stuff in the show? Yes.
The acting is excellent across the board. By far, the most interesting characters are the runaways Rosalee and Cato, August Pullman the slave-catcher, and Ernestine and her disturbing relationship with Tom. Noah is played well by Aldi Hodge, but the character is less interesting because we don't get to know him as much compared to Rosalee and Cato. Cato's monologue to the other slaves before setting the field on fire? Gold. Rosalee confronting her father during a hallucination? Gold. Noah, unfortunately, doesn't get a scene like that. That could be remedied later.
The biggest sticks in the mud, however, are the white abolitionists Elizabeth and John. They... don't behave like white people from the 1800s. The episode where they're held hostage by two runaways, one angry enough to kill white folks and the other sympathetic to the white folks? We already saw this dynamic with Chalky White and a runaway chain-ganger in the 5th season of "Boardwalk Empire," and John being whipped felt... grossly appropriating of black slaves' pain onto a white hero so that he could better understand slaves' plight. Yet even after this experience, they're still remarkably progressive about black people's rights in the 1800s. And they're just boring. I mean, a cheating subplot? Really?
This show's problem is that it wants to be both a soap opera and a serious piece of historical fiction about a brutal time period. When it does get brutal, as when Sam's foot is about to be cut off by his own mother, it's harrowing...
... and then a pop song will play five minutes later.
Maybe it'll get better, but for now: 6/10.