Beyond London

I am only part of the way through episode 2 but so far am very disappointed. The production values are very high and the score is pretty good (emotionally compelling) as is the cinematography; although in places the picture is too dark which is frustrating. The biggest issue for me is the casting of the heroine. She, thus far, is terrible in it! She mainly has one sulky, trembling lower lip expression and I find her voice very annoying. I just feel the actress is poorly cast, not to mention she has absolutely no charisma whatsoever and is very unattractive; creepily miniscule, infantile body and dead in the eyes. There is zero chemistry between her and the male lead and from a characterisation perspective I cannot fathom what on Earth he sees in her. She isn't remotely captivating, particularly bright or beautiful- nothing. There is actually one scene where she displays self-sacrificial bravery but this lone act seems incongruent to the rest of her character and appears to serve as more of a plot device with the ultimate goal being to expose the audience to the brutal punishments endured by the slaves during that time. But again this act of defiance has nothing to do with her relationship to her male counterpart. This leads me on to the actor playing Caesar who is absolutely fantastic in the part- stoic, dignified, subtly heart breaking and absolutely gorgeous as well. Also, I realise the content is based on the novel but the underground railroad being an actual subterranean Harry Potter Gringotts bank style contraption is plain ludicrous. I'm aware I haven't seen all the episodes so perhaps it's some kind of metaphor or dream sequence etc.

I am giving this two stars because it IS AT LEAST an entertaining watch- it’s well filmed, stylish and interesting. However I was appalled by the morality in this film. The couple were guilty. It’s not a case of being wrongfully convicted or a very minor crime with a heavy sentence. The main lady in this film is definitely charismatic and talented but she is also a narcissist. The grandmother had some nerve to compare this to slavery. Is she ok? It’s a slap in the face to people who are abused, maligned and wrongfully convicted. It’s a story about two incredibly selfish narcissistic people who would rather rob a bank and traumatise their victims than go broke! They also continued to have children whilst incarcerated. I am really disgusted that they jumped on the very valid hot topic around racism in the judicial system and absentee fathers due to incarceration as a means to draw out unearned sympathy, when they actually committed the crime AND had the children AFTER the conviction when they knew he’d be absent. Having said that the children have turned out really well. I would have preferred more candid footage of their home life, details around the crime and court proceedings, perhaps some interviews with jurors and victims as well as some more challenging questions to the couple about their choices. There was one scene where she apologised of sorts but it looked more like narcissistic grandstanding and I didn’t see any real contrition there.