(no subject)
Aug. 17th, 2016 08:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsThanks to sovay, I've been zooming through a reread of the Benjamin January books, but I got held up on waiting for one at the library, so instead I've spent the last three days zooming through Underground, which is now on Hulu.
Underground is a show about an escape from slavery that is about 95% amazing.
The 1% that is not good at all involves one fairly nonsense scene where Native Americans act as stage dressing for a white guy, and the 4% that is only moderately good involves Riley from Buffy and his wife as nice white people who decide to help the Underground Railroad and learn that it is difficult, which is mostly fine, except when they're doing distraction can-cans on top of a piano or Riley from Buffy is wandering around in boxer shorts, why, costumer, what were you thinking. I mean, the distraction can-can was effective! I was distracted! But maybe not ... in the way the show meant me to be distracted ...
However I was ONE HUNDRED PERCENT invested in:
- Noah, mastermind behind the escape plan, aka Aldis Hodge finally getting to run his own con like we all wanted him to do on Leverage except now with the HIGHEST STAKES IMAGINABLE
- Rosalee, the heroine, a house slave who spends the whole season going through an incredibly satisfying arc of discovering her own strength, determination, and cleverness
- Sam and James, Rosalee's brothers -- one older, who still hopes he can buy his way to freedom; one younger, who hasn't yet been taught the ways in which he's different from the kid up in the big house, who happens to be his half-brother
- extremely morally ambiguous Cato, who's in line to be plantation overseer, but instead blackmails his way into the escape plan
- Moses, a slave preacher that Noah is convinced is going to be their ticket out because he can read, and Pearly Mae, his wife, who actually can
- ERNESTINE. Ernestine is the mother of Rosalee, Sam and James; she makes extremely calculated, occasionally terrible, but also occasionally very satisfying choices to safeguard her family; she is probably the most competent person in a show full of highly competent people (so much competence all around though! it's honestly one of the show's main selling points, it's very much a heist show in this way) and I am glued to Amirah Vann's face every single moment it is on screen.
Here, have some beautiful faces:
Ernestine's murder face!
Rosalee's determined face!
Cato and Noah's two-steps-away-from-murdering-each-other faces!
The show is, unsurprisingly, quite dark at times, and the body count is ... not low, so, you know, fair warning for all the things one would generally think to warn for, but it's not hopeless. It's also beautifully shot (occasional inexplicable costuming choices aside) and the use of music is STELLAR. I'm waiting for an OST.frayadjacent has a very good recruiter vid over here which I would recommend watching to get the feel of the show. But, I mean, generally I would also just recommend the show.
sovay, I've been zooming through a reread of the Benjamin January books, but I got held up on waiting for one at the library, so instead I've spent the last three days zooming through Underground, which is now on Hulu.Underground is a show about an escape from slavery that is about 95% amazing.
The 1% that is not good at all involves one fairly nonsense scene where Native Americans act as stage dressing for a white guy, and the 4% that is only moderately good involves Riley from Buffy and his wife as nice white people who decide to help the Underground Railroad and learn that it is difficult, which is mostly fine, except when they're doing distraction can-cans on top of a piano or Riley from Buffy is wandering around in boxer shorts, why, costumer, what were you thinking. I mean, the distraction can-can was effective! I was distracted! But maybe not ... in the way the show meant me to be distracted ...
However I was ONE HUNDRED PERCENT invested in:
- Noah, mastermind behind the escape plan, aka Aldis Hodge finally getting to run his own con like we all wanted him to do on Leverage except now with the HIGHEST STAKES IMAGINABLE
- Rosalee, the heroine, a house slave who spends the whole season going through an incredibly satisfying arc of discovering her own strength, determination, and cleverness
- Sam and James, Rosalee's brothers -- one older, who still hopes he can buy his way to freedom; one younger, who hasn't yet been taught the ways in which he's different from the kid up in the big house, who happens to be his half-brother
- extremely morally ambiguous Cato, who's in line to be plantation overseer, but instead blackmails his way into the escape plan
- Moses, a slave preacher that Noah is convinced is going to be their ticket out because he can read, and Pearly Mae, his wife, who actually can
- ERNESTINE. Ernestine is the mother of Rosalee, Sam and James; she makes extremely calculated, occasionally terrible, but also occasionally very satisfying choices to safeguard her family; she is probably the most competent person in a show full of highly competent people (so much competence all around though! it's honestly one of the show's main selling points, it's very much a heist show in this way) and I am glued to Amirah Vann's face every single moment it is on screen.
Here, have some beautiful faces:
Ernestine's murder face!
Rosalee's determined face!
Cato and Noah's two-steps-away-from-murdering-each-other faces!
The show is, unsurprisingly, quite dark at times, and the body count is ... not low, so, you know, fair warning for all the things one would generally think to warn for, but it's not hopeless. It's also beautifully shot (occasional inexplicable costuming choices aside) and the use of music is STELLAR. I'm waiting for an OST.
frayadjacent has a very good recruiter vid over here which I would recommend watching to get the feel of the show. But, I mean, generally I would also just recommend the show.
no subject
Date: 2016-08-18 01:45 am (UTC)So you've mentally cast Livia, then?
Cato and Noah's two-steps-away-from-murdering-each-other faces!
Okay, whoever's playing Cato has a great face.
But, I mean, generally I would also just recommend the show.
Does one need a subscription to Hulu in order to watch this show or is it freely available? (Not like it makes a difference at the moment since I can't stream anything on my computer so long as I'm getting my internet from a hotspot, but someday.) I have been interested in this show since it started airing, but you are the first person I actually know and whose tastes I trust who's provided a review.
no subject
Date: 2016-08-18 01:52 am (UTC)I don't think one actually can watch Hulu at all without a subscription anymore. >:( You get a week free trial and then after that you have to subscribe. But you're welcome to come take advantage of my Hulu to watch it if you ever want!
no subject
Date: 2016-08-18 01:56 am (UTC)It's a pretty great murder face.
But you're welcome to come take advantage of my Hulu to watch it if you ever want!
If you're down with rewatching the season, done!
As I am currently watching my way through the fourth season of Leverage and the third season of Person of Interest with
no subject
Date: 2016-08-18 02:04 am (UTC)For the record, not only does Taraji P. Henson have Hidden Figures, so in fact does Aldis Hodge! (I believe he's playing Mr. Janelle Monae, though I could be mistaken.)
no subject
Date: 2016-08-18 02:30 am (UTC)Sure. Ping me. Are you too booked up to see Gilda (1946) at the Brattle next Tuesday?
I believe he's playing Mr. Janelle Monae, though I could be mistaken.)
IMDb looks like it agrees with you. Excellent.
no subject
Date: 2016-08-18 02:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-18 03:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-18 12:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-18 09:21 pm (UTC)(Although I could also take Angela Basset in the role, IDK, I have a lot of thoughts about January casting.)
no subject
Date: 2016-08-19 03:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-19 04:06 am (UTC)(Back when I first read the series, Beyonce was still young enough for Dominique -- and I'd like to thank "Formation" for totally validating that instinct. But now I'd probably rather see a complete unknown in the role ... and Beyonce in a cameo as Angelique Crozat. And, as long as we're chucking high profile music industry women in small roles, Nicki Minaj as Hesione LeGros. "I'm gonna kill that fuckin' man of mine." Yes, Nicki, tell us EVERYTHING.)
If she's not sick of corsets, Jurnee Smollett-Bell would be marvellous as Rose, from her fair skin to her soft curls. There's a risk of typecasting, of course, but Rose's strength and courage are of a completely different type to Rosalee's.
As for the white characters ... I keep seeing Aidan Gillen as Hannibal, provided he can sort out whatever happened to his Irish accent in recent seasons of GoT. Dunno who I'd want as Shaw, who I recently realised is a lot younger than January and Hannibal -- another unknown, perhaps, one of those super-talented actors who never gets a break because his accent is so thick. But I'd be wary of casting someone too handsome, even though I bet Shaw cleans up real nice, because the fandom would already be really, really into Hannibal/Shaw, Literally The Only White Guys.
(What I'm picturing here is a high-profile cable drama, so it can get away with being, like, two-thirds in French. A big chunk of The Americans is in Russian! It could totally happen
if Beyonce produced it and threw her machine behind it.)no subject
Date: 2016-08-19 04:57 am (UTC)The soundtrack would be terrific.
But I'd be wary of casting someone too handsome, even though I bet Shaw cleans up real nice, because the fandom would already be really, really into Hannibal/Shaw, Literally The Only White Guys.
I feel very strongly that anyone cast as Shaw should not be conventionally handsome, considering that the two most popular similes for his appearance are "scarecrow" and "gargoyle." He can clean up interesting, but not pretty.
(Is there a fandom for Hannibal/Shaw? I have to say it honestly never crossed my mind.)
no subject
Date: 2016-08-19 04:59 am (UTC)I ... may have an unusual interpretation of "pretty".
(Is there a fandom for Hannibal/Shaw? I have to say it honestly never crossed my mind.)
Not right now, but in the fantasy universe where there's a high-profile TV adaptation...
no subject
Date: 2016-08-19 05:13 am (UTC)I'm not criticizing. "Interesting" is a feature for me, not a bug. [edit] Like, I post pictures of Van Heflin to my journal and he is most of the time a pretty weird-looking dude.
Not right now, but in the fantasy universe where there's a high-profile TV adaptation...
Well, then in that universe, I wouldn't have to read it! For a high-profile TV adaptation, I'd run the risk.
no subject
Date: 2016-08-20 02:04 am (UTC)Yeah, Rose is an astoundingly different character to Rosalee! I was wondering about Jurnee Smollet-Bell as Dominique while watching Underground, mostly just because I was already thinking of Amirah Vann as Livia, but that would honestly be even more typecasting and I'd love to see her explore her range.
I always used to think Rhys Ifans for Hannibal, but then he had that awful stint on Elementary and now I still have residual anger at his face; Aidan Gillen is an acceptable substitute.
no subject
Date: 2016-08-20 03:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-18 03:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-18 11:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-18 05:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-18 12:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-18 07:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-20 01:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-18 06:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-19 03:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-18 06:58 pm (UTC)And I'm also looking forward to your Benjamin January review! I'm a huge fan of those books.
no subject
Date: 2016-08-19 03:05 am (UTC)The first time I read them was five or six years ago, and I'm really enjoying the reread! I have a few new ones waiting for me at the end that were published since I first read them, too. :D I shall definitely report back!
no subject
Date: 2016-08-22 09:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-18 09:25 pm (UTC)But also, I feel like, overall, its treatment of the sexuality of white women was slightly off? Elizabeth's can can, the elderly plantation owner who sleeps with slaves, Mrs Macon confessing to a roll in the hay with a slave -- there was no impression of how profoundly all were risking their status with these actions? There are no social consequences for Elizabeth after she essentially turns a fancy party into a burlesque show?
I don't mean this in a WHAT ABOUT THE POOR OPPRESSED WHITE WOMEN way, just that it's a facet of society that they had to negotiate, and it's weirdly overlooked.
no subject
Date: 2016-08-19 03:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-19 04:09 am (UTC)See also: Ernestine being Macon's domme, which seems ... I dunno, unlikely and problematic in a lot of ways, although they're quite clear that it doesn't lessen the impact of slavery for her.
My first assumption whenever a show has weird bits like this is that it was Made By Dudes, but in this case, the showrunner is an actual woman.
no subject
Date: 2016-08-20 01:50 am (UTC)Overall the whole Ernestine and Macon storyline reminded me of those two episodes in the middle of Jessica Jones where it teases the idea that Kilgrave might actually have a tragic backstory, or be redeemable, only to thoroughly squelch it. Like, the showrunners know there's absolutely going to be people who romanticize a white male rapist no matter what, so in both cases they set up enough space to lure some viewers into thinking 'well, maybe they're not so bad, maybe they really do care about these women' so that the show can come back all the harder with 'PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS NOTHING THAT WILL EVER BE OKAY ABOUT THIS.'
no subject
Date: 2016-08-19 07:12 am (UTC)Cato: Wonder if that was a common name for slaves (why?) or if it was inspired by historical!Hercules Mulligan's slave and REVOLUTION SPY PARTNER Cato.
no subject
Date: 2016-08-20 01:41 am (UTC)Hmm, I have a vague recollection that classical Roman names were fairly common at the time, and a quick Google search seems to bears me out with, for ex., Julius Caesar Chapelle. Apparently giving their slaves classical names was a way for slave-owners to show off their own education.
no subject
Date: 2016-08-20 03:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-21 03:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-27 02:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-27 07:34 pm (UTC)