Underground: Season 2

The second season of this ambitious period thriller made for the cable station WGN continues the story of life in the pre-Civil War South and the plight of enslaved African Americans who risk torture and death to escape through the Underground Railroad. It opens with Noah (Aldis Hodge), leader of the escape that dominated the first season, in prison and being extradited back to captivity; Rosalee (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) returning to help others escape while she's pregnant; and white abolitionist Elizabeth (Jessica De Gouw) joining a group of women dedicated to the cause, after her husband is murdered in cold blood by pro-slavery militia. Aisha Hinds joins the cast as Harriet Tubman, who works largely incognito but speaks to abolition supporters in an episode that plays like a one-woman show as she puts slavery in personal terms for the white allies of the movement. Also new is Sadie Stratton as slave-catcher Patty Cannon, a self-promoter who gets a bounty hunter (Christopher Meloni) out of prison to help her catch Rosalee (who has earned the nickname "The Black Rose" for her heroic exploits). The journey of the scheming, vindictive Cato (Alano Miller) is a little too melodramatic and extreme for a show that grounds its stories in history, but overall this final season (the show was cancelled) remains compelling and often affecting. Compiling all 10 episodes from 2017, extras include deleted scenes and a gag reel. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)