If you saw Wednesday night’s Underground season finale, I’m sure that you can agree it was must-see TV. WGN’s record-breaking, breakout slavery drama has brought it all season, and saying that it went out with a bang would be a sore understatement.
Here are the top 10 most jaw-dropping moments from the conclusion of season one:
1. James asks about Sam in the wood shop.
Several of the most poignant moments this season were delivered by James (Maceo Smedley), the precocious youngest child of Ernestine (Amirah Vann) and brother of Rosalee (Jurnee Smollett-Bell). We learn that his mother has told him that his half-brother Sam (Johnny Ray Gill), who was lynched by his father/master, Tom (Reed Diamond), has gone into the city to work for “rich white folks.” While watching over James working in the shop, Tom is asked by his young son when will Sam come back, and will he be able to go soon as well.
2. Tom Macon is dead!
Tom seemed genuinely disturbed by lynching Sam and tried to convince Ernestine that he killed her oldest son as a political motive so he can get into office. He promised Ernestine that they will move to Washington and they could live their lives together. Ernestine, who has already been proven to be lethal in order to protect her family, instead plotted against her beau. With the aid of that pesky reverend’s slave, she lured Tom to the wine cellar, only to lynch him like he did Sam.
3. Elizabeth and John hatch a plan to get the slaves to freedom while looking innocent.
Because the walls were beginning to close in on Elizabeth (Jessica De Gouw) and John (Marc Blucas) as they were hiding Rosalee, Boo (Darielle Stewart) and Noah (Aldis Hodge), they devised a plan. Elizabeth and Noah staged an elaborate scene at the marshal’s office so they could pin it on Elizabeth’s ex-lover Kyle (James Lafferty), the only person who knows that they are keeping the slaves (not to mention he was also tied up in their basement).
4. Elizabeth and Rosalee face off with August.
Immoral slave hunter August (Christopher Meloni), who was after Rosalee, couldn’t even put a stop to the plan! Rosalee and Elizabeth were unafraid, teaming up to put a stop to his slave-catching antics, leaving him for dead. All was well, but a major roadblock happens when Noah is separated from Rosalee and Boo.
5. Rosalee and Boo make it to freedom.
Then the Macon 7 were the Macon 2. We see them all dolled up in a big house as Boo plays in the yard. Rosalee is discussing abolitionism with famed black abolitionist William Still (Chris Chalk) as she recounts the personal journey of each Macon 7 member.
6. Noah doesn’t make it to freedom just yet.
Another slave catcher ends up getting to Noah, and as a part of said plan, Noah gives up Kyle’s name as the one who aided him, in exchange for his freedom. But because this is America in the 1800s, the slave catcher lied and ended up still jailing Noah. We see him in a disturbing situation, locked in a very tight cell with other barely-clothed captured slaves. Yet, he is still seen to be plotting on his next move to freedom.
7. Somehow, August still survives.
Elizabeth and Rosalee held August at gunpoint and shot him, but what would Underground be without a twist? August still survived. In another twist of events, he is caught by the woman slave catcher that tricked Noah, and she jails him as well because he shot some of the people that worked for her.
8. Cato is alive!
Did I mention that Underground is all about twists? We thought that Cato (Alano Miller) died after being shot with an arrow, leaving Noah and Rosalee to go on without him. However, he was seen running through the woods and is even in possession of a suitcase full of money. Typical Cato fashion.
9. Miss Ernestine is sold.
Plot twist again! It almost looked like we saw Tom’s wife Suzanna (Andrea Frankle) and Miss Ernestine riding in a carriage to Tom’s funeral. During the ride, Mrs. Macon told ‘Stine that she didn’t harbor resentment against her for sleeping with her husband or even having her kids. What she was angry at was how her kids thought of Ernestine as their mother and not her. To pay her back, she revealed to Rosalee’s mom that she would be sold and not to worry about her younger son James – she would move him into the house and give him a life that she couldn’t.
10. Rosalee to learn the ropes of the Underground Railroad from Harriet Tubman?
In the final scene of the season, Rosalee makes the decision not to stay in free territory. In a bold move, she decides to go back down south to help others make it to freedom like she accomplished. She is seen at the end arriving in a cargo container as Harriet Tubman (Kesha Bullard) finds her.
Before it was announced that Underground would be renewed for a second season, I thought the show would have a conclusion that wouldn’t keep viewers thinking. But now that we now the show is coming back in 2017 and all of the storylines that the season finale has started, let’s just say Underground season two will be LIT! The show’s producers have already told Deadline that a lot of the season one cast will be back and “in an entirely different context than we saw them before.”
Will Noah join Rosalee in freedom? What has become of Ernestine? Is James free now? Guess we’ll have to wait until next year to find out!
