Violence, drama, romance and history blend together in the thrilling new series Underground from WGN America, which premieres Wednesday night.
The heart-wrenching show, created by Misha Green and Joe Pokaski and co-executive produced by John Legend, focuses on the complicated lives of slaves determined to escape to freedom.
But the story goes beyond the Underground Railroad; it weaves in the intricate complexities of life in that era. It's not just about the slaves who want to be free - it's about the slaves who refuse to leave, the slaves grappling with the life-or-death stakes, surrounded by the parallel world inhabited by white people in this tense period of American history.
All of that is packaged into a thrilling drama, mapped with plot twists at every turn and absolutely dripping with suspense. This isn't the type of show you can put on in the background. You'll need to stay tuned for every second, because anything can happen.
Underground centers around the resilient Noah (Aldis Hodge), the central slave determined to be free. He gathers a team around him, immediately plotting ways to escape using the Underground Railroad.
Hodge is fantastically charming in this role, a winning and fearless protagonist who's truly unafraid to risk it all. The show is bolstered by great acting all around, but it's his performance in particular that anchors everything.
From there, the show spreads its narrative to other characters, including Rosalee (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), a weary house slave who catches Noah's eye; her mother Ernestine (Amirah Vann), a loyal house slave who's all about the rules; Cato (Alano Miller), a frustrating head slave who sucks up to the slaveowners; John and Elizabeth Hawkes (Marc Blucas and Jessica De Gouw), a white couple who want to help slaves escape; August Pullman (Chris Meloni), a mysterious, yet righteous seeming man.
All these stories weave together to create a dense series with constantly evolving plots. It heightens the drama of the whole affair, always fighting to raise the stakes of an already high-stakes situation.
At the same time, the show grounds itself in historical accuracy, but also wants to be the furthest thing from a stuffy educational drama.
Everything about its production reaches for modern flourishes, particularly the music choices. The opening scene is set to Kanye West's "Black Skinhead" and other current artists like the Weekend and X Ambassadors pop up here and there.
It doesn't always work, but does speak to the ambitious desire to marry an important historical period to modern TV storytelling. Underground constantly makes the kind of dramatic leaps and twists worthy of a Shondaland series, from its coterie of surprise villains to gratuitous sex scenes.
It also is extremely conscious of humanizing every slave onscreen. Though it does show the violence and emotional trauma they went through, it doesn't rest on gratuitous torture porn. Everyone has a name, a personality and distinct traits that make them a person, rather than one of dozens of slaves forced to live on this plantation. They sing, they laugh, they tell stories, they grapple with the burdens of life.
If its first four episodes are a good measure, Underground is a tactful piece of work that both highlights deeply important stories and keeps its audience thoroughly entertained, informed and invested.
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