Underground - Auld Acquaintance - Review: "Let It Burn"

This week the show gets back to the action stories, and it is a welcome return.

It’s easy to see why James doesn’t want to leave the Macon house. He somehow became Suzanna’s favorite son. I was really surprised to hear James refer to Suzanna Macon as Momma.

When Suzanna told Ernestine that she was going to raise James as her own, I thought it was just something she was saying to guarantee that Ernestine would be miserable as she was being sold off.

I didn’t expect her to really keep that promise once Ernestine was sold. But keep it she did, and James is in a position where the household slaves respond to him as though he is TR’s full brother. He even dismissed the slave TR threatened to hit. It’s quickly obvious that TR hates him.

Noah confronted James and told him he needed to pick a side. The best James was willing to do was not mention his sister’s impending escape. He fully intended to stay. In that world, can you really blame him? Rosalee nipped that idea in the bud by conking the boy on the head and carrying him out of there.

Rosalee’s trip back to Canada isn’t going to be pleasant though. Noah and James are both angry with her. I’m betting they both make their feelings known.

It’s a good thing it didn’t take Noah long to come up with a plan to get Rosalee out of there. Rosalee seems incapable of returning to the psychological position of being a slave. She would have gotten herself killed pretty quickly (especially after the baby was born.)

Hopefully, Suzanna lets TR back into her heart after his brave attempt to stop Noah from taking his mother.

Did anyone doubt that Ernestine wasn’t going to meekly allow herself to be used to hurt one of her children? As incapable as Ernestine was of showing her love for her children, everything she did was with an eye to protecting them. She was willing to drown before letting herself be used like that.

I wasn’t too surprised that she and August bonded over the mistakes they made with their children, but I didn’t expect him to help her escape Patty’s man. I think that’s going to make for an interesting ep next week.

Elizabeth may not be willing to take up arms in her fight to abolish slavery, but stealing and blackmail she’s okay with. Loved it.

When Olivia said “as long as this house is standing it’ll be a safe haven for runaways”, my first thought was it’ll be burning before the end of the episode. Well, it wasn’t Olivia's house that literally caught fire (that was the Macon house), but with Cato’s arrival it’s a pretty safe bet that it’s about to burn, figuratively, at the very least.

This was the move I expected from Cato in the first season when he first blackmailed himself into the ranks of the Macon 7. I waited for him to betray his fellows throughout that season, especially when he and Rosalee went undercover in that doctor's house.

Anyway, Cato found a way to start playing Patty Cannon. He got the writer's notes for her to read. When she lost her temper, Cato offered up his knowledge about the Underground Railroad as a way to help her catch Harriet Tubman.

lYep, it’s all gonna burn. I take a bit of comfort in knowing some history. I know Harriet will survive. Not sure if Elizabeth and Olivia will come through unscathed though. Actually, I don't think this is going to play out in the obvious way. I'm betting he's got something up his sleeve.

It’s nice to be back to the more active stories the show is telling. With the exception of Daniel, who served as a lesson in what was done to slaves who tried to learn how to read, all of the stories picked up their pace this week.

I’m beginning to believe that Daniel is never going to escape. I think he serves as the example of the struggles of life as a slave.

I loved seeing Ernestine and August get some of their fight back. The Church caper was fun. I think I missed something there though. Why is it they didn’t think they’d be caught after the fact? Everyone saw their faces. Was that church in a different town?

What did you guys think about this week’s episode?