The Underground Railroad: 07 - Fanny Briggs
Amazon StudiosThe seventh episode of The Underground Railroad is once more – just like the fourth instalment – an interlude where the focus is shifted away from Cora, who has now escaped helped by a freedman Royal (William Jackson Harper). However, instead of travelling back to the distant past in an attempt to bring crucial nuance out of its central characters, the narrative shifts backwards only a little.
The viewer is reunited with Grace (Mychal-Bella Bowman), the young girl hidden away in Martin’s attic, as the house she is trapped in is set on fire. Up to this point, both Cora and the audience were led to believe that she perished in the fast-spreading blaze. The filmmakers quickly dispel this notion and show her escape from the burning building and make her way through the treacherous landscape of North Carolina in search of sanctuary of the titular railroad. She eventually locates the ruined underground station and finds a train – waiting seemingly for her. She is met by a female conductor, to whom she reveals her real name is not Grace, but Fanny Briggs.
It would seem that an episode this short would be a bit of an afterthought or a structural palate cleanser, a much-needed moment of respite from the challenging events and themes permeating the narrative. But nothing could be further from the truth. One could argue that this little interlude packs just as much thematic messaging as any other episode in this wonderfully developing series, but it is almost completely confined to the sphere of themes and symbols, not the primary narrative progression.
Even by simple fact of revealing that Grace/Fanny Briggs is alive, this chapter further bolsters the trajectory assumed in the previous episode and offers a glimmer of hope peering through the thick clouds of bleak despair shrouding the entire story thus far. What is more, it is surely not a coincidence that the fire, which was meant to punish Martin and his wife for harbouring fugitive slaves, instead consumed the entire village, as though in an act of divine retribution. This is quite clearly a symbolic representation meant to remind both the characters in the story and the modern viewer of the futility of hatred and a simple fact that any community built on discrimination, segregation and persecution will not last.
However, the most important aspects of this chapter are revealed towards the end when Grace/Fanny boards the train and speaks to its manager. The first one pertains to Grace’s real name and the fact she was given a new name by her host/captor Martin. This seemingly innocuous detail bears quite a lot of thematic weight, especially in the context of Martin’s deeply held religious beliefs. In contrast to everyone else in his community and in the states from which he helped to smuggle slaves, Martin is definitely introduced as a force for good. Indeed, it’s difficult to refute his intentions to help Cora and others. At the same time, his interactions with people he harboured in his house were always slightly asymmetrical, as though he was constantly aware of the immense power he wielded. Cora and Grace would have long perished without his help; his assistance was indispensable.
This imbalance of power is perfectly epitomized in the act of Martin giving Fanny Briggs a new name – Grace. Not only is it a distinctly Christian name in its own right, but the act of naming a person is rooted in biblical symbolism as well. In the Genesis, Adam would assert dominance over the world around him by naming everything around him, including Eve. Therefore, although seemingly innocent, the fact Martin renamed the girl he was helping to evade certain death was a symbolic acknowledgment of superiority. And on that train, while talking to the conductor, Fanny Briggs was performing a crucial ritual of self-determination. She reclaimed the name given to her by her own birth mother and with it the historic legacy of her people.
Notably, what happened next in this episode is even more pivotal to the thematic progression of the entire series. Having finally revealed her real name, Fanny mentions to the conductor she lost her diaries in the fire. She is immediately reassured and told it doesn’t matter as long as she lives to tell the tale. History is not made of ink and paper but of human experiences and memory. And it is incumbent on her as a witness to events of historic proportions to carry the message forward and tell others of her own experiences. This is where the filmmakers address their viewers directly. They want everyone to realize that nobody is going to write their stories for them and that they must speak up if they hope to be heard by anyone. Thus, the episode ends with Fanny sitting down and starting to patiently write down the story of her life once more. Hence, a thematic parallel between her and Anne Frank is irreversibly broken. After all, Fanny survived her ordeal and got a second chance to tell her story; which is a yet another sign that rays of hope are piercing the dark skies, seemingly impenetrable until now.
Chapter 2 - South Carolina (Review)
Chapter 3 - North Carolina (Review)
Chapter 4 - The Great Spirit (Review)
