Underground

The music, some of the editing and language are all wrong. This is a historical piece but the music and sound statements are thoroughly modern and therefore out of place and time. The same can be said for the modern quick jump editing in some of the scenes. These are completely at home in a modern drama but only distract in this period piece. Language is another problem. Would someone in the 1850s really say "it doesn't look like there was any forced entry"? I think not. This is a modern Law & Order appropriate statement that does not fit. These inconsistencies don't ruin the series for me, they just make it harder to concentrate and enjoy the story.

Underground is a classic escape drama with an historical look at the U.S. in the pre-Civil War period. There is a wealth of interesting characters on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line, including a pair of brothers, one of whom is a slave owner (Reed Diamond) and the other who is a new-born abolitionist (Marc Blucas). The focus of the drama is on seven slaves who escape and try to go 600 miles from Georgia to Kentucky.

The series has all sorts of twists and turns, and the action switches back and forth from the slaves on the run, to the plantation, to the abolitionists. Along the way we get a good picture of life at the time.

The music and photography are superior, and the acting is very good. It's really hard to single out any one of the many wonderful actors who contribute to the story, some of whom play minor roles (Johnny Ray Gill, Mykelti Williamson) and others who are featured throughout (Christopher Meloni, Amirah Vann).

This is an excellent mini-series and I'm looking forward to the next season.

This show is a must see, the acting the storyline the music is all 10s across the board. This is not your typical slave TV show. It shows the strength and the courage that both the slaves had and those that helped along the railroad. The show makes you rally for the slaves and leaves you on the edge of your seat when you think they may get caught. It shows how intelligent the slaves had to be to run and find ways to communicate with each other without writing or having the current forms of communication. The only downside I have seen with this show is that there are only 10 episodes although for a first season that is good but I would have liked there to be at least 15 or more. I truly hope it gets picked up for a second season.

What a superb series. I have watched other movies, TV shows, and documentaries about the slave era of the US, but this one outshines the others in some critical ways. Both sides, the slaves and the slave owners, are portrayed as very flawed, often fighting among themselves for what they want. An escaping band of slaves isn't artificially shown to be "just a bunch of black folks running for freedom". No. Instead of such simplistic 1-dimensional impressions, they are shown to be sometimes desperate, sometimes loving, sometimes greedy. They are bound together by a common goal, but that doesn't necessarily mean they even like each other and that is a magnificent and realistic attribute to portray. Similarly, the slave owners and slave catchers are not just simply "bad guys". They are shown to be flawed, sometimes doubting what they are doing, often clashing with each other over how much evil they are willing to dish out just to show that they are "the boss".

The actors are all top-notch, even though, honestly, I had never heard of a single one of them before watching this series.

My only big quibble with the series is the background music. It appears like an out-of-place overly-loud bomb going off on top of all the dramatic scenes, calling way too much attention to itself instead of underscoring the action. In an instant, we are transported from the 1850s south to the sound of an angry urban ghetto. I suppose the developers of the show thought they were drawing parallels between 19th century slavery and 21st century racism, or maybe they thought they could appeal to younger viewers. But either way, the sound track just doesn't work. It's so bad we have to turn the sound down during all the loud sequences and essentially wait to "get back to the story". So instead of the dramatic action scenes being great climaxes, they end up being interruptions.

I am really sorry to see that this series wasn't picked up for a 3rd season by WGN. The producer is trying to find another sponsor. I hope they find one. This is great television that is worth continuing.

The premise is great. The underground railway, the people that escaped slavery and those that helped and hindered them. This is an era and perspective little explored on tv. Unfortunately, it is treated too much like a teen drama (even some of the cast is familiar as such). Over loud and nonsensical music choices have you reaching for the volume every few minutes. It is sanitised and silly rather than gritty and engaging. The shame is that tv drama is many people's only exposure to history - and this is not teaching the viewer anything. It is moderately entertaining though and well acted for the most part - just watch with the sound down!