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The Underground Railroad

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 37 Critic Reviews

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92

USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 40 Ratings

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8.1

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8.1	User Score Universal acclaim based on 40 Ratings

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The Underground Railroad

Now Playing: The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad

Series Details & Credits

Prime Video | Release Date: May 14, 2021

Summary: Cora (Thuso Mbedu) and Caesar (Aaron Pierre) escape from a plantation and learn the Underground Railroad is an actual physical underground railway line. But a bounty hunter named Ridgeway (Joel Edgerton) is determined to bring Cora back in this Barry Jenkins adaptation of Colson Whitehead's novel of the same name.

Genre(s): Drama

Recent Episodes

tbd
S1:E10. Episode 10
Air Date: May 14, 2021
tbd
S1:E9. Episode 09
Air Date: May 14, 2021
tbd
S1:E8. Episode 08
Air Date: May 14, 2021

See all Seasons and Episodes

Metascore

92

Positive:

36

Mixed:

0

Negative:

1

Critic Reviews

100

i Emily Baker

Dec 3, 2021

Season 1 Review: The Underground Railroad treads the line of fictional entertainment and historical reenactment expertly, without ever feeling forceful. It is, in short, yet another masterpiece from Barry Jenkins. Read full review

100

RogerEbert.com Brian Tallerico

May 14, 2021

Season 1 Review: It is harrowing, beautiful, moving, terrifying, and somehow both deeply genuine and poetic at the same time. Read full review

100

The Independent Clémence Michallon

May 12, 2021

Season 1 Review: The series succeeds in anchoring its narrative to the full context of racism throughout centuries. It compels us to reflect both on what happened and where those events have led us – how they continue to shape us and the world we live in. Read full review

100

TV Guide Magazine Matt Roush

May 21, 2021

Season 1 Review: The most powerful and devastating depiction of slavery on TV since the groundbreaking Roots, is directed by Oscar-winning screenwriter Barry Jenkins with a mournful sensitivity that's somehow lyrical as well as brutal. [24 May - 6 Jun 2021, p.8] Read full review

91

The Playlist Leslie Byron Pitt

May 4, 2021

Season 1 Review: 'Underground Railroad' solidifies itself as the kind of adult black-originated drama that is not only needed but we are seeing more of. It is not a Marvel crowd pleaser. It is far from the polished thrills that have made trending topics their master. But it unapologetically never tries to be. And never needs to be. Read full review

88

USA Today

Kelly Lawler

May 12, 2021

Season 1 Review: A dark, gorgeous, slightly flawed but ultimately spectacular adaptation. At many times it is hard to watch, but it's always worth watching. Read full review

20

Reason.com

Glenn Garvin

May 18, 2021

Season 1 Review: Awful...A sci-fi fantasy vision of slavery and race relations, the TV version of The Underground Railroad is an incoherent mess of artistic pretension, full of scenes that are not under-lit but un-lit, nonsensical soliloquys with neither symbolic nor literal value (why would a slave recite lines from Gulliver's Travels to a young woman just beaten nearly to death by the plantation owner?) and surreal flashbacks that only further trash what is a very tentative narrative. Read full review

SEE ALL 37 REVIEWS

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8.1

User Reviews

10

timao

May 20, 2021

It's brutal and beautifully shot. Thuso Mbedu is nothing short of astonishing. She's given one of the best performances by an actor, male or female, that I've ever seen. I think a lot of the lower scores here are by triggered white people. Ignore them. This show is absolutely brilliant.

3 of 4 users found this helpful31

10

medox23

Jun 8, 2021

A true masterpiece! All kids in US should watch this in schools. Hail to Barry Jenkins and one of the best TV shows of this year.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

10

globalnomad

Jun 20, 2021

We may not all, or always, be in the mood for yet another lesson in the horrors of the Deep South slavery economy, but in this case it doesn't matter one way or another. You have to stay glued like a binge rat in a wonderful trap due to the sheer quality of this production. Amazing prestige TV.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

9

TVJerry

Jun 5, 2021

Based on the novel by Colson Whitehead, this journey follows one enslaved girl (Thuso Mbedu) thru her harrowing journey to find freedom. When she sees an actual locomotive in a tunnel, it becomes apparent that this story embraces some aspects of an alternate reality. The horrifying andBased on the novel by Colson Whitehead, this journey follows one enslaved girl (Thuso Mbedu) thru her harrowing journey to find freedom. When she sees an actual locomotive in a tunnel, it becomes apparent that this story embraces some aspects of an alternate reality. The horrifying and harrowing brutalism is unquestionably real, but it becomes less physical and more mental after the first 3 chapters (if you stomach it that far). While all of the performances are deeply compelling, Mbedu (a South African in her first US role) is continuously astonishing and profoundly heartbreaking. Director Barry Jenkins has fashioned a masterpiece of filmmaking with grand imagery and stunningly gorgeous, sometimes painterly cinematography by James Laxton (who also shot Jenkins’ Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk). Jenkins’ style also has one flaw and that’s his insistence on running every scene longer than needed…drilling down on the beauty of the visuals and the intense agony of emotions. The music and sound design also contribute to the arty angle of the experience. With intense physical and mental cruelty, this film is often hard to handle, but its power comes from the message of human persistence and the undeniable virtuosity of powerful storytelling.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

8

JLuis_001

May 16, 2021

Barry Jenkins has come to deliver his most ambitious, and at the same time most pretentious work of his career so far. This of course can lend itself to different interpretations, but I think many of them will involve personal interpretations of what a story like this implies, especially forBarry Jenkins has come to deliver his most ambitious, and at the same time most pretentious work of his career so far. This of course can lend itself to different interpretations, but I think many of them will involve personal interpretations of what a story like this implies, especially for the African American community in general.

My vision and opinion are based on the work I saw, and that opinion is based on what Barry Jenkins did as a filmmaker.

I understand that there are different positions on the material, because the're some who consider it a trivialization of black history, but that's the personal criteria of each viewer who may feel this way. The Underground Railroad is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book of the same name.
The show it's divided into 10 episodes that follow the same storyline. It's like a huge movie of just over nine hours long.

Each episode has its own theme, and as I said, they follow the same story, this helps because while they're different experiences portrayed on screen, the strength of the full work comes from the sum of all its parts.

Not everything is penetrating or deep in this show, but The Underground Railroad does have its abrasive moments.
Perhaps it can be considered unnecessary to see the flogging of these characters, but the narrative shows it because that happened, not because it's some sort of crucial moment that the narrative constructs as an emotional punch to manipulate audiences.
That would be too cheap for what this miniseries is trying to manifest.

The repercussions and interpretations will be diverse.
Works like this one don't escape controversy, but as I said, that's your own option, and you will have your own conclusions.

I recommend it because I enjoyed it and more importantly, I recommend it because I urge people to see something to comment on it.
Talking about it without seeing it, only elicits worthless comments.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

8

bertobellamy

Jun 5, 2021

The first episode is like '12 Years a Slave,' but then the second one's got a little 'Get Out' vibe in there. This is Barry Jenkins' most ambitious project to date, and I'm quite enjoying it so far. And still better than the other Amazon racial-themed show: 'Them,' which is not awful butThe first episode is like '12 Years a Slave,' but then the second one's got a little 'Get Out' vibe in there. This is Barry Jenkins' most ambitious project to date, and I'm quite enjoying it so far. And still better than the other Amazon racial-themed show: 'Them,' which is not awful but kind of failed at the end.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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Seasons & Episodes

92

Series Overview
Season 1

92
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: May 14, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E10. Episode 10
  Air Date: May 14, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E9. Episode 09
  Air Date: May 14, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E8. Episode 08
  Air Date: May 14, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E7. Episode 07
  Air Date: May 14, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E6. Episode 06
  Air Date: May 14, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E5. Episode 05
  Air Date: May 14, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E4. Episode 04
  Air Date: May 14, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E3. Episode 03
  Air Date: May 14, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E2. Episode 02
  Air Date: May 14, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E1. Episode 01
  Air Date: May 14, 2021