Underground - Troubled Water - Review: The Road Takes A Toll

The runaways have been on the road for about three weeks since we last saw them and the stress is taking its toll. Henry is taking dangerous chances in an effort to find food. Noah is starting to feel the sting of his leadership is being challenged; probably because he feels as though he’s failing. And Rosalie seems to have grown sick of Cato and Noah’s bickering.

My initial thought was that some of these problems might have been avoided if they’d made the well planned escape, but I don’t know about that. Pearly Mae might have made sure they had food for the start of their journey, but, at 300 miles, it would have become a problem at some point.

They decide to steal a party boat. Unfortunately, before they can pull away from the shore, August finds them. Rosalie made the best use of her time. Rather than simply ducking she unties the boat as quickly as she can. It doesn’t stop August from grabbing her and pulling her into the river. The men are surprised to discover that Rosalie can swim. It takes them a bit longer to discover that August sabotaged the boat by breaking the rudder. They’re floating into another trap.

When they find a stowaway hiding under a bed, he begs them not to kill him because he can help. Cato and Noah, as usual, bicker about the decision to trust him. Cato thinks it’s a trap and wants to kill him. Noah thinks they should take the chance. Rosalie falls back on the tactic she used working in the Big House. She watches and listens. Cato’s unceremonious tossing of the bound man overboard disturbs her, and well it should.

Noah’s best plan is to build a raft and have Rosalie swim them to shore. When he finishes with the raft they discover that Rosalie abandoned ship in the middle of the night. Really, who can blame her? Cato belittles her every chance he gets and she just watched him kill a man with no thought.

August and Ben pick up one of the prostitutes from the boat. She tells them about the bend in the river where he can catch the runaways. August pays the prostitute to pay some attention to his son, (Did he really expect her to sleep with the 11-year old?) but winds up sleeping with her himself. The next morning a miffed Ben goes to send a letter to his mother.

When August is ambushed by a team of hunters (that $1000 per head reward has drawn hunters from all over the country), he is saved by Ben, who comes with news that there’s a problem with his mother. I am really tempted to hit Wikipedia and find out how the telegraph worked back in the day. Could you set up an account and pick up messages at any telegraph office in the country? Ben and August exit the hunt to find out what’s happened to her.

As the runaways float into the arms of nine slave catchers, they’re startled when gunfire that breaks out behind the catchers. The slave catchers run off revealing a group of Native Americans and Rosalie! Apparently, rather than taking part in the useless bickering, she took the situation into her own hands and saved the men from themselves.

Yup, Rosalie is more valuable than Cato will ever admit. (I’m hoping the Native Americans who came to the runaways rescue teach them how to hunt so they can avoid starvation on the next leg of their journey.)

Life at the Macon plantation moves on. Suzanna has the baby. A boy. Ernestine’s reaction to Tom giving his son with Suzanna the same name as their son was interesting. But I suppose in her position she has to bite down on her feelings for a lot of things. Tom returns his focus to the campaign. This time he’s trying to woo a clergyman. Along these lines, Tom offers to baptize the baby as well as every slave on the plantation.

All of this time spent being on his best behavior has left Tom mighty randy, but Ernestine gives him no more than a kiss. What an odd tightrope she walks. On the one hand she has been the one to set the rules when it comes to their sexual relationship. On the other hand, as he says, it is his house and he makes the rules. The dynamic in that scene was pretty interesting. He started to take what he wanted, but apologized and stopped when she asked him to. It is not a dynamic I ever expected to see in this environment, and I am really curious whether it is historically accurate or just good drama.

The clergyman is very observant. He picks up on the fact that Ernestine and Tom are having sex. Of course it’s all Ernestine’s fault; she’s the Jezebel. He tells her this during the baptism, and for a moment I really thought he was going to drown her. Tom’s fears are correct. He is not fooling this guy at all.

Ernestine seems willing to cling to the prospect of forgiveness and a clean slate that being baptized promises. She is feeling guilty over Pearly Mae’s murder and confesses to an older house slave. It seems he is an excellent confidant, as he has no tongue. He can’t tell any of her secrets, and, because he’s a slave, he can’t write them down and pass them on. Does anyone know what the man was painting? I could not figure that out.

I missed the Hawkes family last week, but they were back this week. John is pressed into helping hunt down an escaped slave known to be living in the area. This is why Noah including freedom papers with his original escape plan was a wise move. Clyde, the man they’re hunting, has been living in the area so openly that John thought he was, legally, free. The poor man walked out of a store and into his old master.

John wants no part of hunting down this man. However, Elizabeth councils John to do what they ask and maintain his cover. They must do whatever it takes to protect their cargo.

When John and Kyle walk into a barn, they’re attacked. Kyle believes him when he tells him that the runaway got away. He is, however, hiding in a cubby hole in their carriage. They get him into the safe room under the house and hand him over to a guide. Unfortunately, they’re caught and Clyde is taken.

One of the many things I like about this show is the strong female characters. After last week’s episode, I can add Suzanna Macon to that list. Elizabeth and Rosalie landed in new situations at the start of the series. Both were in positions that didn’t hint at their inner strength, but, as the show goes on, they have each found a strength they didn’t know they had.

This week’s episode felt like a breather. There weren’t any major surprises for me. I’m growing a little bored with Cato and Noah’s bickering. (I really couldn’t blame Rosalie for going overboard and solving the problem on her own.) But I still found it a solid compelling episode.

About the Author - Prpleight

Prpleight is a screenwriter and senior software engineer with solid geek cred. When not writing code, screenplays, or watching TV (sometimes she does all three at the same time), she uses her broadsword Bessie to battle evil. She's been a frequent contributor to the SpoilerTV discussion boards for several years now.

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