Every week, I swear I'm gonna stop watching Underground. It's a great show, but my pressure and my nerves can't take it. It's gonna drive me back to the bottle. But I'm back, again, clutching my figurative pearls as I watch this band of four-- down from seven-- make their way-- God willing and me praying-- to freedom.
Anyway, let's dive in to this week's nail biting adventures.
Stabler--that's his name. I don't care what show he's on-- is a horrible father. It's bad enough he's taught his 12-year-old kid how to track humans trying to escape from slavery, and that he's pulled him out of school. And now he's advocating for him to get laid by a prostitute by going so far as to pay the tab? And then, he sexes down the prostitute his son had his first crush on?
Geez. The amount of therapy this kid is gonna need, but will never get because WTF was that in 1840? I was glad the Native American brethren cut up Stabler. And that Noah shot his ass.
A lot of people hate Cato. And he has some hate-able traits, indeed. But you can't expect decorum and manners or even rigid morality when survival is at stake. Damn shame about Zeke. Naw, it wasn't right to the throw the white folks overboard, which was actually Noah's idea. But it needed to happen. Wish the white folks had food tho. Black folk would never get on boat with no food or drank.
Anyway, Cato kicking the white guy overboard with as much care as he was tossing a cigarette was comedy. Do hope that man was able to get out the ropes tho. It's one thing to kill for survival, another to kill just to be killing.
Ernestine, Ernestine!! She's worried about her daughter on the run and she's understandably feeling guilty for killing Pearlie Mae, so she's taken to the bottle to calm her nerves. She deserves a drink, or the whole damn bottle. Her whole drunken rant about being jealous of field slaves was some real talk. Being in the house means no break from white folks. "We don't never get to left go", she said. "I'd rather be in the field, but the House is the only way I know to protect them," she says, while the Butler (?) whose name I don't know, says nothing and painted red stripes on a napkin. What was that for? What did it mean?
Also, I like what they've done with Ernestine's relationship with her Massa. They might be humping, and she might act like a dominatrix with some power, but that's all it is: an act. She's ultimately property, and when Massa says "jump", her ultimate answer is "how high?" He backed off from raping her in the house-- his house-- with his wife and children and the Reverend upstairs, because he wanted to, not because he actually respected her "no". I mean, think about it: if Massa actually gave a damn about Ernestine, would he be trying to drag her daughter-- their daughter(?)-- back to the plantation? At the very least, would let he get she's probably not in the mood while she's worried about her daughter who's on the run? Or like, wouldn't he just free her? Or he might not name his new baby Sam when he likely already has a son by that name.
One more thought on Ernestine: she's never looked prettier on the show than she did last night. I don't know what it was, but she was glowing and radiant. She preggers in real life?
The visiting Rev. ain't sh-- . How you gonna preach Christianity and slavery? Is owning people as property really God's plan? And is trying to drown Ernestine, who is being raped by her Master, during her baptism Godly? Rev is observant tho. I don't like the way he's looking at Ernestine's baby boy. That's gonna be a problem next week
I've gone this far and not mentioned the abolitionist story line because it bores me. I recognize it as an important part of the storytelling for the genre and the theme of the show, but "meh". They're doing the Lord's work, and much kudos for that, but this story line is dry. It was dry even when White Savior Husband was getting whipped by Jamal Lyon. They're too earnest.
The real MVP: Rosalie
Last but not least: ROSA "MF" LIE. Bay-bee (say it with a NOLA accent), our girl CAME THRU!!! I said last week that she's a bit naive , but she's her mother's daughter and there's no way she was raised by Ms. Ernestine and ain't got no spirit in her. The boys gotta stop doubting Rosalie as a "house girl" and treating her with kid gloves. She did fight-- and win-- in a battle with the overseer, and she did kill the dogs that were hunting her and Noah, and she did escape from the catcher she came face-to-face with. She be 'bout that life, but rarely gets the credit for it.
This week we find out that not only can Rosalie swim, she can clearly negotiate and handle her own alone. Our girl jumped off the boat and swam-- because she's the only one who can-- to shore unnoticed, found some Native American kinfolk, plead her case effectively and got the lost boys on the boat some much needed help. Cause that "let the boat float to shore and we're just gonna duck for cover" plan wasn't hitting on not any cylinders.
I don't know if the boys are Believers, but they better thank Someone Up Top for St. Rosalie. She came thru!!