Fanny Briggs
Episode 7 of The Underground Railroad begins back in North Carolina as fire rages and spread across to the different houses. Ethel is beaten down by the other townsfolk while Grace manages to slip out the back door of the burning house, scrambling to safety. Thick plumes of black smoke and hungry flames rage across the dry landscape. Houses are burned to a tinder and trees are lapped up by the inferno. In the ensuing carnage, Grace manages to get free. In fact, she makes it to the underground, burning a lantern to see her way through the dark passageways. She doesn’t wait for the train though and instead wanders on, She continues until she finds the train carriage and hops aboard. The conductor, a woman named Mae, happens to be waiting for her. It turns out Grace’s real name is actually Fanny Briggs, and according to Mae they shut the North Carolina station beforehand. “Yeah, you did.” She replies solemnly. With food, drink and – more importantly – safety, Fanny gets to work writing her name in the ledger while the train speeds ahead.
The Episode Review
The Underground Railroad delivers a much-needed interlude, shedding light on what happened to Fanny after her time in North Carolina. Given the amount of terror and devastation inherent in this season, it’s a wonder that there’s a thin sliver of hope here, wrapped up in the form of her making it out the house alive. While the episode doesn’t really deliver much more other than that, it does serve as a nice stop gap before plunging back into more drama to come for the remaining episodes. So far though The Underground Railroad has been an enthralling watch and it remains to be seen what will happen in the remaining episodes.
