It never ceases to amaze me how unpredictable Underground is! Wow! Moral of this week's episode, no one is to be trusted (well maybe just a few). If you haven't started watching Underground, do yourself a favor and tune into WGN tomorrow morning at 11am ET for the 5 episode marathon!
Tom has put a bounty out for all 7 runaways. $1000 dead or alive, double for Rosalee if she's alive! He describes each slave, calling Rosalee a mulatto. Which made me 95% sure he's Rosalee's father. Who knew hers wouldn't be the most interesting paternity revelation of the episode! More on that later.
August and Ben are on the heels of the runaways, and they come across some tracks. Teaching Ben how to interpret the tracks, August tells Ben they show 1) there was a fight and 2) they changed directions. While he's explaining this to Ben we got flashback scenes showing how it all went down. The fight ensued, because Moses was upset that they were wondering around unsure of where they should be going, because they left early. And he's even more upset that they had to leave early, because Noah ran off with Rosalee without them before they were all supposed to leave. And most upsetting, because of Noah running off with Rosalee, his family got split up with Pearly Mae stuck back at the plantation. They changed course, because after the altercation Cato reveals that Ernestine told him about the train in Atlanta. Noah wanted to stick to his plan, which isn't much of a plan since the song hasn't been fully interpreted, but Cato pulls rank. While Noah tells Cato they aren't at the plantation anymore and he's not the overseer, Cato tells him he's the one who got most of them off the plantation! Touche! So the group follows Cato, and Noah follows along.
Noah points out it's not exactly easy to just get on a train. So Moses suggests they go to the home of someone he knows, the white man who was selling stuff from his wagon (including the paper and pen Noah got) a few episodes ago. When they find the home Moses, Noah, and Cato go inside, while Zeke, Henry, Boo, and Rosalee stay behind. They get the man to help them plan how to get on the train in exchange for their revolver, which Cato and Moses offered against Noah's will. While they are discussing the plan, August and Ben locate the home. August instructs Ben to shoot through the front door 3 times, standing as far away from the house as possible. The plan was to have them run out the back door, where August would be waiting. August told Ben if they come out the front though, he is to shoot them in the chest. As Ben sets up to shoot, he is spotted by Henry. Then Ben shoots three time. As Moses, Noah, and Cato begin to run out the back, Henry yells to them that they are being flushed out. So they go back in. But not only is August shooting at them, the man in the house with them is shooting at them too, as they hide behind boxes. He tells them there's a $1000 bounty on each of their heads, when they ask why he's shooting at them. Noah asks Moses to tell them what's in the boxes, to see if there's anything that might be useful. But Moses reveals he can't read, and that it was Pearly Mae who could read. And of course Cato commented on the team Noah picked out.
Well while August is shooting at the house, he gets attached by the three slave catchers he fooled in the first episode! They beat him pretty bad, until Ben pulls a gun on them. The ring leader tells Ben he can't shoot all three of them, but Ben says he's not planning on shooting all three of them, just him! So the man says they've gotten their payback, especially including getting the 7 runaways August was going for. But while this is going on, Zeke grabs the man in the house through the window and pulls him out. And then the seven of them run off!
They get to the tracks, but Rosalee spots the three slave catchers coming their way. So they plan to split up and meet further down the tracks, Cato and Zeke, Noah and Henry, and Rosalee, Moses, and Boo. Cato, Zeke, Noah, and Henry run in plain view of the slave catchers, as a distraction, before splitting up. While Rosalee, Moses, and Boo go through the trees.
The slave catchers end up on the heels of Zeke and Cato. They get to some water, and Zeke says they can take them on. Cato has other ideas though. Ugh! He tells Zeke there's no we, and then he stabs Zeke in the leg!!!!! Thus, leaving Zeke to get captured while he runs off! The three slave catchers approach Zeke, and Zeke manages to take all three out after getting bullets in his chest and a hatchet in his back (which he pulls out and uses back against one of them)!! But once he finishes them off, he sees August and Ben, who have been standing their watching him take down these slave catchers (Ben will later comment to himself that he and his father should have helped Zeke). August gets off his horse, as Zeke picks up the hatchet and begins walking towards them, until he falls down and dies. August wraps Zeke up, puts him on his horse, and proceeds to find the rest of them. I was totally not expecting any of this!!!
Meanwhile, Moses has just about given up and won't let Rosalee treat the shot wound he got in his shoulder in the house. Rosalee gets him to look into Boo's eyes and reminds him that Boo has his and Pearly Mae's strength. With a change of heart, Moses asks Rosalee to treat the wound so they can head to meet the others for the train. So Rosalee goes off to get some plants to treat the wound.
After hearing leaves rustling, August spots Rosalee. He pulls the same story he used on the runaway woman in the first episode, and his description of the blue mountains helped Rosalee figure out the "blue haze" portion of the song. He just about had Rosalee convinced, to the point where she told him about the train plans! But then she heard the horses, and he said it was just his son. Realizing he was the man that had the little boy shooting at the house, Rosalee runs off into the trees. August sends Ben after her to flush her out, and she gets caught in some thorns.
Then we see Noah and Henry at the meeting spot near the tracks waiting on the others. Cato eventually comes, and he tells them the slave catchers got Zeke and he couldn't help him. Noah gave him major side eye, knowing there was more to the story. Then Moses and Boo came to the spot. Noah asked where Rosalee was, and Moses told him she never came back. Then there was more rustling from the trees, and Rosalee appears, having ripped a lock of her hair out to get unstuck from those thorns!! She tells them she got away from the slave catcher, but he knows about the train. Cato was upset that she revealed the plan! Now they had to catch the train further down, because August and Ben would be waiting for them.
Sure enough August and Ben were waiting for them at the station. But, Noah had a clever idea of walking on the roof of the station and getting on the train from the top. Unfortunately, August spotted them and began shooting up at them. With little time, Rosalee said they had to get Boo and Moses on the train. So Noah had Moses jump on the train and he dropped Boo in Moses' arms. And now we are down to the Macon 4 on top of a train station!!
Now back at the plantation, Tom is talking to each slave one on one behind a shed as he shoots birds and drinks. When it was Sam's turn, Tom ends up offering to let Sam try to shoot the rifle. On top of that, he stands in front of Sam with his back towards him instructing him on how to shoot a bird. If only he saw the look on Sam's face as he lowered the gun toward's Tom's temple. Wow! But Sam just shot the bird.
Tom had also enlisted the help of his wife, Suzanna, to get Pearly Mae to tell them where the other slaves were. They had tried everything, but nothing was working. At this point, Pearly Mae was hanging on a cross in the field. Tom tells Suzanna he thought she might be able to relate to Suzanna since they were both mothers and both born there. Suzanna agrees, though she feels Tom is taking the matter a bit too serious. He sees the running away as an attack on the family, whereas Suzanna says when her father ran the plantation slaves ran away and were captured...it was just a part of southern life.
Just as Sam got up the boldness to go give Pearly Mae water, other slaves were too afraid to give her water (one of the slaves said she didn't deserve water, because what they did is making life harder on the rest of them), Pearly Mae was taken down and brought to the big house. Two of the house slaves were instructed to bathe her, not speak to her, and to not let Ernestine in. But Ernestine replaced one of the house slaves, after threatening to tell Suzanna that she tries on her clothes. Ernestine gave Pearly Mae pointers on what to expect and do with Tom when she goes to meet him...be grateful, eat all of the food, sip the cocktail and ask what's in it, and then tell him they ran away towards the swamp. But when Pearly Mae was taken down for the meal in her dress, it was Suzanna who walked in. Funny thing, Suzanna said the same thing about Tom as Ernestine did earlier to Pearly May, but she said she would be handling it on behalf of her husband.
Suzanna and Pearly Mae had a very interesting conversation, including Suzanna pointing out what I noted in my last recap, how Moses just left her without seemingly a second thought. And they had more in common than just being mothers and being born on the plantation. They share the same father!! Suzanna even noted that their father gave Pearly Mae a gift when she got married. Then Suzanna offered freedom papers to Pearly Mae in exchange for giving Tom information on how to find the runaways. But the papers were only for Pearly Mae and Boo, not Moses. Then Suzanna left.
And enters Ernestine. Ernestine pours Pearly Mae a cup of tea as she tries to convince Pearly Mae that she cannot trust Suzanna and those papers. Pearly Mae reveals to her that she can read, noting she stole a school book from Suzanna as a child and taught herself to read, and says the papers are legit, just like the slave bill that has a $1000 bounty of each of the runaways; meaning someone's going to be trying to capture them every step of the way! She also tells Ernestine that Rosa Lee will be fine, because Tom isn't like their former owner (who is also Suzanna and Pearly Mae's father). As an example she said, after Rosalee aged out of playing with Mary Macon, Tom didn't send her to the fields like her father did!! Final confirmation...Tom is Rosalee's father!! Pearly Mae also tells Ernestine she hadn't talked, because at the time Moses was Boo's best chance at freedom. But now that she has freedom papers for her and Boo, that only need Tom's seal, she's the best chance for Boo's freedom (especially given the bounty on her head). She explained to Ernestine both of their daughters would be fine, and that Ernestine should understand her desire to do what's best for her daughter. And Ernestine confirms understanding such a desire in more than one way. Verbally, and by poisoning Pearly Mae!!!! Yes...Ernestine put poison in Pearly Mae's tea, knowing Pearly Mae was probably going to tell Tom how to find them! Then she slit Pearly Mae's arm to make it look like a suicide!!!