The Underground Railroad

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.

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!

The enormously well-received series starts strong with an incredibly powerful pilot episode, and a very interesting second one. But that's where the charm ends, and the show becomes obsessed with incredibly boring white characters. I dragged it out till episode 8 so far, and will definitely finish the show - but I think it should just have ended at Episode 2.

Arnold Ridgeway - the most pathetically boring character invented in 2021.

Barry Jenkins does what he does best! Beautiful cinematography, amazing score, excellent casting and acting, the pace is deliberate (if not a bit slow). Stand out episodes South Carolina, Fannie Briggs (for the cinematography), Indiana Winter (whew). I love that there aren't any standout stars to distract you as well....that being said you will see a lot for this cast in the future. I definitely recommend but I don't think you should binge it. The subject matter is heavy and you need to allow time to absorb the subtle details.