Sometimes a useful delusion is better than a useless truth

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's Top 50 TV Shows of 2021.  

#13 : The Underground Railroad

An extraordinary adaptation – hallucinatory, magical, allegorical and yet permanently in the pursuit of historical and eternal truths, the resurrection of lost perspectives and the uplifting of unheard voices. Watch it, but slowly, one complex, virtuosic, heartbreaking episode at a time.



I've heard good things about this but I can honestly say I'd never have bothered watching it under normal circumstances - it just didn't feel like it would "click" with me, although I'm not entirely sure why.

And after watching episode 1, I'm even more of that opinion.  The first impression you get is how beautifully shot it is (although possibly a little too much is set at night, which makes it hard to see what's going on at times) and the locations are fantastic.  The acting is fine, although no-one's really been given too much to do and the scene-setting is well done, particularly with regards to how hard life was as a plantation slave (and how impressively cruel the owners could be).  But, well, it's all a bit ponderous - all that really happens in this episode is that a couple of slaves discuss whether to try and escape.  Fortunately, they decide they might as well try because otherwise the following episodes might have proved to be even more of a trial - but the jury is still very much out as to how many more I'm going to watch.  At least one more though...

And in episode 2, they've escaped to somewhere which seems nicer - but guess what?  Things are not as they seem!  No-one saw that coming, eh?  It's still all beautifully filmed with some very impressive locations and not quite so ponderous, but I'd struggle to say it races by.  The acting is definitely better as well, but I do have to say I'm really not entirely sure what's going on.  I think part of it is a lack of cultural understanding on my part - yes, there's an argument I should use this series to educate myself.  But given it's a somewhat allegorical tale (WIkipedia tells me it's "magic realism"), it's not clear how much I could trust any education I received.  And it would be another eight hours of very earnest education, which I'm afraid is considerably more education and earnestness than I currently feel the need for.

So, I'm feeling bad about it, but I'm giving up on this - it looks stunning and feels like the sort of thing I should stick with, but I don't think it would do anyone any favours for me to do so.  If you like a beautifully shot literary tale with a strong dose of African-American history and culture, then this will be right up your street.  I'm not sure this description will fit too many people on this side of the Atlantic though.

#12 - Interesting, but challenging
#14 - Thoroughly charming telly

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