The Underground Railroad
Chapter 4: The Great Spirit
TV Flash files “Chapter 4: The Great Spirit” as hour 4 of 10 in the TV Flash guide — The Underground Railroad (2021) on Prime Video, season 1, episode 4, aired 2021-05-14, 40 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E04: listed hour 4 of 10 in the The Underground Railroad guide, hour 4 of 10 in season 1. It aired 2021-05-14 (40 min). The listed hour before it is “Chapter 3: North Carolina” (S01E03). Next is “Chapter 5: Tennessee - Exodus” (S01E05).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
A young Arnold Ridgeway comes of age while testing his belief in The Great Spirit.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Chapter 4: The Great Spirit sit in the The Underground Railroad guide?
S01E04 is listed hour 4 of 10 — hour 4 of 10 in season 1, season 1 episode 4.
When did The Underground Railroad S01E04 air?
Chapter 4: The Great Spirit aired 2021-05-14 and is listed at 40 minutes.
Is the railroad literal?
In this story, yes — following Whitehead's speculative conceit of a real subterranean railroad. Magical-realist imagery inside a slavery narrative, not a documentary.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Watch Barry Jenkins's full formal control across ten episodes of Colson Whitehead: Cora on a literal underground railroad through alternate American states. Thuso Mbedu carries surreal history as visual scripture. Schedule it with care — essential, heavy, a literary adaptation that refuses comfort.
May 14, 2021, Prime Video, and the rope was not a party. Barry Jenkins developed and directed every episode of a ten-hour adaptation of Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer-winning novel: enslaved woman Cora flees on a literal underground railroad through alternate American states — surreal history as visual scripture. Thuso Mbedu stars as Cora Randall, with Chase W. Dillon and Joel Edgerton in the ordeal. The train is real; the states are allegory with teeth. Uncompromising beauty and horror. Limited series as art film.…
Filed against
- Thuso Mbedu as Cora Randall
Thuso Mbedu carries The Underground Railroad as Cora Randall — Barry Jenkins's full formal control across ten episodes of Colson Whitehead, a literal railroad through alternate American states, surreal history as visual scripture.…
- Chase W. Dillon as Homer
Chase W. Dillon plays Homer on The Underground Railroad — Barry Jenkins's full formal control across ten episodes of Colson Whitehead, Cora on a literal railroad through alternate American states. Thuso Mbedu carries surreal history as…
- Joel Edgerton as Ridgeway
Joel Edgerton’s Ridgeway stalks Barry Jenkins’s The Underground Railroad — ten episodes of Colson Whitehead, Cora on a literal railroad through alternate American states, Thuso Mbedu carrying surreal history as visual scripture. Schedule…