Lovecraft Country inspects America’s “History Of Violence” in another great episode
TV Reviews Recap
On this week’s episode of Lovecraft Country, the haunted Winthrop House hides roots that lead all the way to Boston. Ruby gets her groove back but loses out on her dream job. The Amazons begin to solve a bigger mystery as the mother and daughter pair bond. Tic, Leti, and the newest member of the trio, Montrose, get their Indiana Jones museum adventure on as they explore “A History Of Violence.” And we get another look inside Titus’ secret vault and the horrible massacre that took place there.
The episode begins ominously, with a warning on the radio that a “barbaric Russia’’ will wipe America off the face of the planet if the country does not agree to destroy its nuclear stockpile, thus signaling the start of the Cold War. Montrose struggles with his internal war. Haggard with grief for his brother, George, Montrose sinks further into his alcoholism. Simultaneously he explores the history and rules of the Sons of Adam. As America reckons with its violent past against a foreign enemy, Montrose hears his father calls for a switch while his younger self pleads for forgiveness. He seems to bury that past in new knowledge as he reads a cryptic verse from the Sons of Adams’ book.
Adam Named.
Eve F-cked.
God brought forth Monsters.
Monsters Devoured.
God smites Eve.
Let the conspiracy theories begin! Okay, so in “Whitey’s On The Moon (an episode I stand by as being excellent as it establishes the rules of much of this series), Samuel Braithwaite gives his “Adam Names” speech to Tic and his daughter Christina (Abbey Lee). In his speech, Samuel explained that the white male was the next best thing to God Almighty. God let Adam order the world. Therefore, Adam must be in charge. But a lack of pigment could not save Samuel, whose superiority complex encouraged him to cast a spell to which he did not have all the words. Foolish. But, it means we understand this first line of the poem—Adams runs shit.
The hilarious second line indicates Eve fornicated on her own. Adam, saintly namer that he was, did not dirty himself by laying with a woman. Oh no, Eve lived in that garden by herself breaking God’s rules. “Whore.” All women must follow her example, and therefore are unworthy of the super-cool, superiority complex-riddled Sons of Adam.
“God brought forth monsters” leads the poem into a more cryptic territory. Who or what do the Sons of Adam consider monsters? Whom do those monsters devour, and how? So far, the only monsters showcased on the series are the ones that respond to the Braithwaite whistle and are allergic to light. Given that this is a restructuring of H.P. Lovecraft’s stories, and considering the story takes place in Jim Crow America, perhaps this line suggests the creation of other races? Are Black and brown people, as the “savages” and the museum tour guide explain, the monsters?
Finally, and you guys feel free to tell me different in the chat, but “God smites Eve” sounds like little Miss Christina or perhaps our beloved Leti may need to be sacrificed to solve the Sons of Adam’s final riddle. Though, I’m also wondering if the golden-haired alien woman from the opening of season one might be a neo-Eve. Or, was Hanna, Tic’s ancestor, a descendent of Eve herself? Perhaps creating a new bloodline of Braithwaite children made her an Eve of sorts—there’s lots to speculate.
Okay, back to the show. Montrose decides that the best thing to do is commit the book to memory and then destroy it. This way, no one can use the book against the family. This action proves short-sighted of Montrose, as we see later in the tombs beneath the museum. The scene ends with Montrose standing over the burning book and the line, “Smells like Tulsa.” Tulsa in 1921 smelled like burning flesh and wood. Metaphorically, it smelled like thousands of charred possibilities. History nearly erased a wealthy Black state from the face of America. Montrose sought and found retribution in this act of destruction. He found power.
Leti’s found power in her retribution house, too. The goat’s blood the Orisha put on the door keeps Christina from entering the home. The blood can’t stop Christina from revealing that she was the one who bought the house. She tried to use faux sisterhood—revealing Tic’s attempted murder—to bond with Leti. But Letitia F-ing Lewis wasn’t born last night, and she banishes that woman from her porch with a quickness.
Christina quickly finds herself in police custody after racing her Rolls Royce through the city while blasting “Bitch Better Have My Money” by Rihanna. While her interaction is not pleasant, it’s not nearly the rough ride Leti received. The Captain tries to threaten the rich white girl and put her in her place, but Christina’s playing chess while he plays checkers. The loss of the Winthrop house to Black tenants stings something awful. Christina’s not afraid of throwing it in his face. A new rivalry begins! I imagine this will be a quick bump in the road for Christina, who clearly has something to prove. We’ll have to wait and see if the Captain heads the brutal warning Crane (Alex Collins) left for him.
The music selections, which also include Leikeli24's “Money,” highlight the parallels of capitalist greed and society-approved violence. H.P. Lovecraft called Indigenous people “savages.” The slur encapsulates the disdain and perceived ignorance colonizers often held for native people. When might equals right and greed is good, there can be little room left for humanity. After all, a museum dedicated an entire wing to the brutality of Braithwaite and theft of cultural history, while also allowing the mummification and psychotic displaying of a serial killer’s trophies in an underground bunker.
Hippolyta (Aunjanue Ellis) and Diana (Jada Harris) slowly blossom into the Amazons they’re named after. Hippolyta took the model universe Christina looked for at Leti’s. She theorizes that two suns exist in our solar system. She got the idea from Diana’s original comic book. The mother and daughter seem tapped into a higher truth. Hippolyta knew Tic was lying to her, but she also insisted on going on the road trip with George. In the museum, Hippolyta reveals she named Hera’s Comet, but the credit went to a white woman when they discovered Hippolyta was Black.
Tic’s lost a lot in his short life. His mama’s gone. His uncle/mentor died in front of him, and he witnessed the deaths of hundreds of men in the trenches. Like his father, when he’s hurt, Tic builds walls. Letitia’s tired of the mess, and their frustration with one another builds as they make their way through the museum. Leti’s well-read, fearless, and willing to fight with Tic. And it isn’t until he sees her as his equal that they can embrace one another. They finally kiss for real! My OTP realized.
Playing the “Henry James” role, Montrose turns out to be the perfect guest for a museum heist. He knows how to work a system, gathering information from the security guard to break in after hours. But I still can’t be sure whose side he’s on. He claims to be protecting Tic on George’s orders, but he kills Yahima (Monique Candelaria), a survivor of genocide, and we have no idea why. It’s a bit traumatic to have the only trans individual on the show, and the only Indigenous person be murdered right away, particularly given the mass homicide rate experienced by Indigenous women and trans women across America.
“A History Of Violence” takes the classic “Indian burial ground” trope and attempts to uplift it beyond a cursed and evil space. Instead, the episode places the responsibility solely on the killers. The most popular use of this trope is Poltergeist, the 1982 film by Tobe Hooper. In it, a family discovers their house has been invaded by evil spirits who want to lure their children into the spirit realm where they’ll be trapped forever. The film doesn’t delve into the systematic genocide of indigenous people, or the ways in which many Americans continue to proper off the colonization of tribal lands. By giving space to an Indigenous actor, by showcasing a nude intersex body, by having Yahima tell the horror story of westward expansion and lynching in her own words, Lovecraft Country ventures toward better representation for Indigenous people in American horror storytelling. But the immediate erasure of that character leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Yahima (Monique Candelaria) could not only read the language of Adam, but knew the text from a nearby cave. Much more of their story could be told; to lose them so soon seems a loss for the audience.
That being said, the overall adventure in the caves is thrilling. Once again, Jurnee Smollett proves herself an action star with that daring underwater race to grab the papers. The puzzle to open the door to the next chamber, while the thin plank quickly disappears and also defies physics by not plummeting to the bottom of the pit when unanchored, sets the tone for the mystic horrors that lay on the other side of the door. The revitalization of Yahima genuinely horrified me, and exists as another feather in the cap of the VFX team.
Big girls be praised! William put it down on Ruby (Wunmi Mosaku). Sex scenes for plus-sized women are notoriously corny and distressing. Big women are shown as being sexy despite their fatness, or they are fetishized for it. Both depictions create a limiting and toxic environment for fat girls to explore their sexual desires. But, oh boy, Ruby took charge of her needs and her despair after discovering another Black woman received a job at the Marshall Field’s. Their delicious (and probably painful) stair sex looked so good. William promises Ruby the world, but is he doing Christina’s work? Is Ruby in danger, or are the sidekicks about to team up and surprise everyone?! We’ll have to wait for another chilling adventure of Lovecraft Country.
Stray observations
- Anybody else think Hippolyta and Diana are going to save Emmett Till? Two warrior women always hovering around him, supporting him, and checking in with his mama makes me hopeful. But his lynching led to huge wave of reform and action for national civil rights. If he lives, what does the journey to equality in America look like?
- Diana advocating for her mother is the sweetest thing that will happen on television this year. I don’t care that it’s only September. This is fact.
- When Christina was in the Sheriff’s secret office, one thought came to mind. First, is this a commentary on the Chicago Police Department’s black ops site recently discovered in Chicago? If so, that would explain the poor soul in the closet whimpering in pain.
- Montrose might be gay?! Or, is this gay panic?
*This article previously referred to the character William as Crane. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.
217 Comments
Nobody stomps around with righteous indignation like Leti Lewis – library etiquette be damned. Even in chest-high water, she was stomping!
Every time Leti strutted and stormed away from a place in this episode, I was more and more in love.
Yep
She does an excellent door-opening shove.
Another enjoyable episode. Can’t remember this segment in the book, but its been awhile since i’ve read it. Will have to investigate. I can’t believe how quickly you got this review up! maybe it was on hbo max earlier than usual?Guess Tree got stuck in Boston, although i thought he was gonna get dropped off in Philly? A little confusing. Guess he was mainly there to plant the seed that Montrose is gay. I do like that the show has fleshed out the finale of episode 2 a bit more, as it seemed very rushed at the time.
Can’t remember this segment in the book, but its been awhile since i’ve read it.It’s quite different from the book, beyond the basic idea of them going into the museum to find a book.
Yes, went back to the book and started reading that ‘chapter’ and it is much different. Certainly the changes makes sense for the tv series (and debatably are for the better, overall), but i did like the novel’s bit about the importance of George and Montrose’s family book, including the yearly update of reparations owed (with interest). Also thought the additional exploration of George’s lodge group was good, as it expanded on the diversity of black men in the ‘50s, including a member who had converted to Islam. But again, the show’s choices to focus on the main cast members makes sense and i wouldn’t be surprised if they do throw in a reference to reparations at some point (assuming they didn’t already and i missed it)
I really missed the reparations plotline, and the gang from the lodge. It was one of the more humorous chapters, but I found the direction in this ep sloppy and the plot rushed.
I assumed Hippolyta dropped him off in Philly on the way back, but I also wouldn’t rule out him saying something rude to her and being left by the side of the road.
He seems like an asshole.
He was always planning on taking a bus the rest of the way to Philadelphia.
Guess he was mainly there to plant the seed that Montrose is gay.Please help me with this, because I didn’t get it. Is that referenced in “I sent you out back when Sammy was with that man”? Who’s Sammy again? Is this something that happened/was recounted in one of the previous episodes that I forgot about?
Sammy was a bartender at the bar near Montrose’s house. In episode 1, when Tic was looking for his dad (before he knew that Montrose had been kidnapped), he went to the bar because that’s where Montrose usually hung out, and he found Sammy getting a blowjob from a guy in the backalley. Tree was trying to imply that Montrose and Sammy were lovers (or at least hooked up), and that that’s the real reason Montrose was at the bar all the time. Tic’s suspicion was fueled by the fact that the security guard who Montrose had an in with at the museum was another man that Montrose had met at the bar, implying that the bar was a covert spot for gay men
OK, I remember that scene now. So Tree revealed to Tic that Sammy is gay, to imply that Montrose is too. What’s all of this to Tree, though?Also, good catch about the security guard met at a bar, but I don’t think we were shown Tic ever wondering about his gather’s sexual orientation, were we? He seems more concerned about Montrose keeping secrets and acting cagey.I’m not 100% sure this gay sub-plot is actually there, but it could also link back to Tic actually being George’s son.
Tree mostly seems to be kind of a shit-stirrer. In episode one, he sent Tic to the backalley even though he knew what Sammy was doing back there because he thought it’d be funny for Tic to accidentally catch Sammy in the act. In episode three, he lied to Tic, saying that he had slept with Leti in high school, and when he realized that Leti and Tic might be a thing, he pointed out that Leti was dancing with another man, just to rile Tic up. I really think he just likes to put his nose in other people’s business, which is why he tried to out Montrose to Tic this episode. I wouldn’t really call this a gay subplot (mostly because I’m gay and I hate storylines where you spend the whole time wondering is he actually gay?), but I think the intention here is absolutely to imply that Montrose is gay. Tree literally implies that there is queerness in Tic’s family and that its not Tic, before gesturing over to Montrose and the security guard. Tic then stares at them with a confused frown. Later, he asks Montrose about the security guard, and when Montrose mentions that he knows the guard from Sammy’s bar, Tic gets that same reaction. Its subtle, but it colours their conversations/arguments for the rest of the episode.Ever since Tic was a child, Montrose has been trying to make sure that Tic doesn’t make his same mistakes, and he failed miserably at that. Montrose’s father physically abused him (possibly for being gay), and Montrose did the same to Tic. Montrose’s marriage was complicated because of his wife’s ancestors and his obsession with the Braithwaite family and their magic, but maybe also because of his sexuality. This complicated relationship colours the way he talks about Leti and women in general, which is something that Tic sees. Montrose being ‘proud’ of Tic at the end of the episode after decades of abuse is a complicated, painful thing, and Tic’s reaction is ‘neutral but kind’ instead of ‘angry and rejecting’ because he feels like he understands his father and his struggles much better now that he has this piece of information about him. How much of this is Tic’s own projection onto his father and how much is actually true remains to be seen, especially considering the Montrose’s violent murder at the end of the episode..
Spot on. Honestly, the few people I’ve read who think people are reading too much into Montrose being gay and that nothing has been clearly implied, seem to be straight. It just seemed so obvious (and yes, Tic seemed upset but probably mostly because he feels it’s another secret/lie his father has been keeping).
Also, keeping with LGTBQ whatever issues, did I miss something? The reviewer calling the Yashima “trans” seems like extremely poor wording they used the term two-spirit which isn’t really exactly the same thing (although I think even the term two-spirit is a modern one used by indigenuous groups, but whatever, I’m not gonna fault this show for some historical inaccuracies). Or am I being dense and misreading the line and the reviewer meant the role was played by a trans-actress (a quick google on her gave me nothing).?
I think without further explanation, the character would be best described as “non-binary.” I was so happy to see them survive the flooding, it was truly upsetting to see them killed moments later. Killing off the only indigenous non-binary character minutes after their introduction is no bueno.
Yes, so frustrating. I didn’t expect that they would make it into the elevator, actually—and was kinda amazed that they would, and we were going to see more of the character. And then… blah. The characters did, of course, refer to them as “she” but for a show set in 1955, I shouldn’t expect anything different.
One more Is Montrose Gay story thing—while I am a bit concerned how this story will be handled, I will say I was glad that they did actually go back to the Sammy blowjob scene. I had assumed it was there just to add some “local colour” and show that Tic was more or less open minded.
“Intersex,” also mentioned in the review, is a better choice of words.
Good insight. One thing, though: “Montrose’s marriage was complicated because of his wife’s ancestors and his obsession with the Braithwaite family and their magic”. It’s more the other way around, as I gather. She was obsessed with her own ancestry, and Montrose started getting into it after she died to understand what happened, and is now trying to undo his research.
Montrose’s marriage was complicated because of his wife’s ancestors and his obsession with the Braithwaite family and their magic, but maybe also because of his sexuality.And his wife’s relationship with his brother.
I don’t think Tree particularly cared whether Tic knew Sammy was gay, but sent him back there while Sammy was ‘engaged’ because Tic was short with him.
He said what he said about Montrose because Tic told Leti about his untrue claims to have had sex with her before. In short, yeah, he’s kind of an asshole.
A lot of it is Tree trying to rile Tic up, given that Tic made an ass of him by sharing Tree’s locker room talk with Letitia. Tree first implies that Tic was may be “interested”, but Tic just replies that its none of his business, only then does Tree imply Montrose is gay. While this could be a direction for the story, it seems more like Tree just trying to find something Tic is insecure about.
The Masonic Lodge that George and Montrose belong to in the novel plays some part in that narrative, so this seems to be setting up something equivalent for Montrose to secretly belong to. Maybe a Lodge, and maybe something more sinister.
I’m shocked by all the people expressing surprise at the idea Montrose might be gay. That’s been so heavily implied since the first episode I’ve just been taking it for granted.
In addition to Tree’s comment, in the beginning of the episode my closed caption picked up Montrose’s father beating him because he had a flower in his hair.
Sammy was a bartender at the bar near Montrose’s house. In episode 1, when Tic was looking for his dad (before he knew that Montrose had been kidnapped), he went to the bar because that’s where Montrose usually hung out, and he found Sammy getting a blowjob from a guy. Tree was trying to imply that Montrose and Sammy were lovers (or at hooked up), and that’s the real reason Montrose was at the bar all the time. Tic’s suspicion was fueled by the fact that the security guard who Montrose had an in with at the museum was another man that Montrose had met at the bar, implying that the bar was a covert spot for gay men
Guess Tree got stuck in Boston, although i thought he was gonna get dropped off in Philly? A little confusing. Guess he was mainly there to plant the seed that Montrose is gay.Very confusing. I have driven between Chicago and Boston, and Philly is not on the way. And if Tree was just going to take the bus from Boston, why did he go to the museum with them?
And if Tree was just going to take the bus from Boston, why did he go to the museum with them?Boredom, I guess?
Must‘ve been a long layover!
I was able to watch it on Amazon (I have the HBO add on) on Saturday before it actually aired.
Tree explicitly said that he was hitching a ride to Boston to cut down on the bus fare to Philly, he always intended to take a bus the rest of the way. He’s probably confused as hell as to where Tic & co. got to, but he wasn’t stranded.
I was wondering just how old the “light shines on the keyhole” trope was, and TV Tropes listed an Egyptian pyramid construction:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SundialWaypoint
I know this kind of thing makes for good adventure fiction, but I always find silly that people who bothered to booby-trap their secret vault always seem to also feel the need to include a built-in solution to their trap. It’s like scattering through the room where you keep your safe several clues to a riddle that, if solved, tells you the combination.
Makes you wonder how many night watchmen already know about the secret door…
People in the past just liked to have fun
Being robbed is fun?
Killing 99% of the robbers is fun!
Good for the production to get an Indigenous actress for the role, but it’s still messed up for the material to invent a group of Indians to kill.
Not saying it excuses the treatment of the character, but the actress has commented that Yahima was Arawak
The subtitles also identify the language as Arawak.
I don’t think “trans” is the appropriate term for Yahima. Her dialogue (as translated by Tic) implies Yahima was born intersex.We really don’t know what gender Yahima was asigned at birth, or even what gender norms Yahima’s culture employs, for that matter.
We really don’t know what gender Yahima was asigned at birth, or even what gender norms Yahima’s culture employs, for that matter.She refers to herself (in Tic’s translation) as “two-spirited”, if I recall correctly.
After having caught up, I’ve noticed a lot of differences between the book and show: George didn’t die in the book. Christina’s character was a man in the book. Hiram’s ghost wasn’t exercised from Leti’s house; he just gave up trying to chase her away as she proved to be too stubborn to move. And, he didn’t perform any experiments on black people.The museum heist actually involved George’s Freemason group helping them and had no indigenous spirits coming to life. George and Hippolyta had a son not a daughter.
I’m still pretty upset that they killed off George, but I’m holding out some hope that they’ll bring him back. I wish the Lodge showed up too. It helped show how the community would come together and the knowledge they brought to the table.
I hated that they killed off George, too, especially since they got Courtney B. Vance to play him.
The show, more so than the book even, certainly is emphasizing the racist/colonialization history aspect. And I’m fine with that.
And Hiram wasn’t nonsensically Jewish in the book. Hiram WINTHROP, not Epstein. No doctor torture.
Why change his name to Epstein when it’s still called the Winthrop house?
There are a lot of name changes. Some I get: only Montrose had the last name Freeman. Atticus had Turner, and George had Berry. Giving them the same family is just easier to follow. And, they obviously had to change Christina’s name since she was a man named Caleb in the book. Some I don’t: Leti and Ruby had the last name Dandridge. I don’t get that change considering the obvious source.
It really annoyed me. It’s still called the damn Winthrop house! There was no purpose in this change. I’m not enjoying the changes from the book for the most part. Like I also appreciated that Leti and Tic were good friends in the book. Adding in the romance is unnecessary to me just like making a production of her virginity was.
I really feel like if you stop focusing on what they did different from the book, you could enjoy this show on its own merits. I am an avid reader and have seen tons of movies and shows based on books I’ve read. They are never the same as the book, but that doesn’t mean they can’t still be good.I mean, Kubrick changed The Shining from a book about a man struggling with addiction and trying to be a good husband and father who happens to end up in a haunted hotel to a movie about a haunted hotel with an alcoholic writer and his family staying in it alone. They were both good.
What a bizarrely condescending reply that assumes so much about me lol. I’m a voracious reader but I work in fillm/theater/television so those are my passions. I am fully aware they are different mediums. I never said I’m not enjoying the show on its own merits. One can dislike some very major changes from page to screen while still enjoying something. I’m also a half Black Jew like Jurnee and have a high emotional connection to this work. I’m well aware of Kubrick’s changes to The Shining lol. You know what they say about assuming…
I apologize. I did not intend for that to be condescending and I’m sorry I didn’t word it differently so it wasn’t. I also apologize that my telling you about myself in order to explain why I see things that way came off as my assuming anything about you. I did not assume that you didn’t read. I only mentioned my reading because it seemed to explain why I felt that one needn’t focus on the changes. I also didn’t assume you didn’t know about the changes in The Shining movie, because if I had assumed that, then I would have gone into a lot more detail. I used that as an example of changes from the book that don’t affect the quality of the adaptation.That said, you said you weren’t enjoying the changes and that they annoyed you. That, to me, indicated that you were not enjoying the show as much as you could because of the changes. I also feel like you read a lot into my short comment. Maybe we both need to work on how we are reading other people and how we are saying the things we say.
Maybe you need to realize people know books and film are a different art form and that no one needs that explained to them.
So, clearly you didn’t read my comment because I said, “…in order to explain why I see things that way…” But, apparently you just want to be mad, so I’ll go ahead and let you do that.
I read your multiparagraph comment haha. I just thought it actually further proved my point. I’m not mad. Just some friendly general advice that no one needs that explained.
Wait… George didn’t die in the book? Why the fuck did they kill him off????
I guess they wanted their own Ned Stark moment.
That was absolutely not the effect, as I think everyone assumes he’s coming back to life at some point — even if he doesn’t.
And, he didn’t perform any experiments on black people.************POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR LATER IN THE SHOW*****************Book!Hiram did abandon his servants on an alien planet when his son ran off with one of them. But that’s about the closest he ever got. Also wasn’t he the one who set up the traps for the missing pages in the book?
Yes. And the Wisconsin connection!
Pretty sure Christina is both a man and a woman in the show.
Yes, and I bet we find that out in the next two episodes, because they have met Ruby and that storyline would mesh well with this fact.
Yup!
I trust they know what they are doing. I will miss George if he does not make some sort of return spiritually.
And he wasn’t Hiram, he was Winthrop. They changed it so that Winthrop is a made up name for the house, but in the book, it really had been owned by a man named Winthrop and he is the one Leti ends up playing chess with.I’m not bothered by the changes. I don’t feel like any of them except George’s death were necessary to tell the story. I did miss getting to see the Freemason group getting the missing pages (although, was it the whole book of names in the book?) but I really enjoyed watching Leti, Tic, and Montrose have their adventure.I try not to compare too much to books. The Shining movie was completely different than The Shining book (to the point that they might as well be two different stories), yet I enjoyed both of them. I feel like I can do the same here.
I’m sort of bummed the museum heist wasn’t played out like the book. That was one of my favorite parts (Hippolyta’s adventures and Horace and the Devil Doll were the best).
I liked the book’s museum heist too because it feature a large group of black men using their brains to figure out a solution to a big problem, which is something that is rarely seen in fictional stories. At least, I’ve rarely seen it. Maybe I’ve been watching the wrong movies and shows.
Also, my favorite part of the book was Ruby’s story. That could have been a whole novel on its own.
On other news, congratulations to those who called it after episode 2 that Christina and William are the same person. The show isn’t even trying to be subtle about it. Perfect way to keep that part of Caleb’s storyline despite turning him into Christina for the show.
I feel like the first episode and the show’s title gave me the wrong impression about what type of show this truly is. This isn’t a horror show, this is an adventure show. This episode was clearly inspired by Indiana Jones and in retrospect, the end of the 2nd episode was also reminiscent of the end of Raiders. I will have to adjust my expectations accordingly.
I thought Hippolita was a reference to the character from the first Gothic/Horror novel, The Castle of Otranto. I think that makes more sense than the Amazons. Sure Hippolyta was queen of the Amazons, but Diana was not. Diana was a goddess, and a Roman goddess at that. On the other hand, the amazon connection makes sense in the world of Wonder Woman. But this is a story about gothic horror, not comic books.
Diana is a comic book artist, so the Wonder Woman connection has been there from the first episode.
Good point. Who says it can’t be a reference to both?!
So you’re saying it can be two things?
How is this not a story about comic books? The characters are all big nerds of one stripe or the other. Tic doesn’t just read Lovecraft; he and Leti were in a science fiction book club as kids. Diana is writing a comic book.
Diana is the Roman transplant of Artemis, who is the patron goddess of the Amazons, and of course, Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman is an Amazon in her world
Crane promises Ruby the world, but is he doing Christina’s work?
I’ve not read it, but through comments on the internet I’ve found that the Christine character is actually male in the book. That said, and I’m not the first person to say this, I’m convinced that Christina IS Crane. She/He is a sexshifter. If I remember correctly, so far they were not seen together on screen, and the way Crane came out of the same place Christina just entered, before beating the cops, sealed the deal for me.And while at that, somebody who watched tonight’s ep with more attention than me could tell me if I’ve missed something about the trip? I mean, the Winthrop house is in Chicago, right? The museum is in Boston. And at a certain point they say it’s around 15h of car trip between both… Yet not only the elevator at the house leads to a tunnel that goes all the way between the two cities, but Tic, Leti, and Montrose covered the whole way in around 3 hours, on foot and swimming? Have I misunderstood or missed some explanation for this?
I just figured it was magic. That board over the abyss could be them essentially traveling through some sort of pocket dimension to get to the vault.
This name of the character played by Jordan is William not Crane. The review was confusing me.But I agree that he may be Christina.
I just quickly checked, and yeah, Christina and William have never been in the same scene together. I’m now also convinced they’re one and the same. They’re styled as siblings, and it could be the way Christina used to get access to places and functions of the Lodge where a woman is not admitted, like the liver dinner in episode 2.
I think William even says in Episode 2 that he’s not her brother, implying some kind of valet relationship to the family. But Christina’s father would have to have known his true identity and been in on the ruse. We’re going to have to see if Christina has that same scar/tattoo on her chest…
I think he said he’s not the butler, but a friend. And Christina’s father might have known him as such, with Christina having created a fake identity for him. Plus spells.
And, when Tic asked her if William was her boyfriend, she said, “Well, he’s a boy and he’s my friend” in a cagey way.
So is it a disguise, or is she both an Adam and an Eve?
She can be a sex-shifter, as others said, or just magic.
Well, they showed it pretty explicitly when she walks off screen and after an unusually long beat, William emerges from the same spot.
Potential SPOILER!!!!Considering Ruby’s section of the book is based on Dr Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, it’s safe to bet on William being Christina.
Hmmmmmmm
William is a glamor.
And I like that change. It makes it that much cooler, I think. (Although, how Ruby is going to react when she finds out William is also Christina will also be interesting.)
Thanks for the correction. I didn’t remember the name of the character and just played along the article.
Same here. I only got it straight after seeing another actor’s face at IMDb for the role of Crane.
Letitia notes that one of the bodies floating around in the caves they passed through on the way to the vault was one of her missing neighbors. When taken together with the knowledge that Hiram (also a wizard) was trying to steal the pages and died trying to do so, and that his home’s elevator seems to get close to the vault, it can be assumed that the vault and the mansion are magically linked. Hiram breached the outer defenses of the vault, by some how connecting his basement to the vault but will still killed before he could get inside.
This isn’t the first time that the show sort of expects the audience to just understand and accept how some of the “magic” in the show’s world works. For people that consume a lot of horror and fantasy, its pretty easy to just swallow, but it is jarring to people less willing to suspend disbelief and just roll with it.
i think it was the guy whose face go boiled by the radiator last episode.
The elevators magically leads to the vault entrance, presumably magic worked by Hiram. Last week we saw the elevator travel down below the basement to where the bodies of the 3 white teenager corpses were, presumably that was the vault entrance without all the water from the tides. Glad the elevator was there as i found myself wondering how the heroes would be able to get back to the museum once the plank dissolved (plus this way the won’t have to explain to the security guard why they smashed the glass on one of the display cases).I am interested in the theory that Christine and William are the same person. I think that would be a change from the book but then again in the novel Christine is a male to begin with (Caleb). In fact i’m not sure William is in the book at all, guess i should pay more attention when i’m reading.Poor Ruby!! I’m guessing Christine arranged for the hiring of the other black woman to get Ruby distraught and ripe for William’s seduction.
I also think that it’s not a coincidence that this episode, which gives us a strong clue that Christina and Crane are the same person, also gave us an actual intersex person in Yahima. “Two-spirited”…. I think that formulation will be important.I also found the geography confusing. For one thing, there’s no such museum in Boston. For another, Leti, Tic, and Montrose seemed remarkably unfazed to discover the elevator to Leti’s house in the tunnels under Boston.
After everything they’ve been through, an elevator to her house would just be, “Yeah, that seems about right.” Kind of like when more weird things happend this year and we’ll all just shrug and go on about our business. Also, the fact that there is no such museum in Boston is a weird sticking point. Movies and TV shows make up locations in cities all the time to fit their story.
Thank you. That moment when Christina got out of the car and William walked out could have only meant one thing to me. I don’t like Christina/William, but that was a favorite scene. How anybody could have missed that in the recaps I’ve read so far is beyond me.
Magic.
I wish this was working for me on the level of enthusiasm Joelle well expresses. But it’s just isn’t yet. I see the history and societal issues that the series is trying to address some episodes much better than others. But it’s checking boxes in my mind and feels rushed. The issues with the violence/genocide towards indigenous peoples in histories past is superficially addressed and then to quickly rid the surprisingly progressive character in Yahima just felt empty.Last week I mentioned each chapter is like a Scooby-Doo episode and here we are in “The Caves of the Haunted Museum” or maybe Goonies. And I couldn’t help but note how generic the “ghost ship” design looked. Ehh. That said, the adventure in the cave added not so much suspense but funny adventure and all three performers were game. The sum of the parts though is where I am having a difficult time lassoing it all into a whole.
Yeah, I really liked the first episode, but every subsequent episode has been scattershot, and it often feels like they’re rushing when they should be building suspense.Also, I wasn’t initially against the use of contemporary music, but there’s been way too many anachronistic needle drops at this point.
Anachronistic music cues have never been my thing. Not in A Knight’s Tale, not in Django Unchained, and not in WGN’s runaway slave show Underground (which Jurnee Smollett also starred). The excuse seems to be this is a way to get young people engaged in period pieces, but I’ve always found the tactic patronizing.
Funny, Underground’s show runner is the same show runner for this show.
I think as a way of framing how there are some elements of human nature that never change, it’s having mixed results on the visual narrative.
One aspect of the show that expresses what it’s about is the bright cinematography, usually found in other supernatural adventure shows. I’m more down with its purpose than I was last week or the week before. Besides, I don’t think there have been many shows of this genre featuring all Black characters. Which if true, was a waste and dumb.
Daniel Sackheim’s name in the credits puts me more in a X-Files mindset. I get being locked into a Scooby Doo & Goonies feel, but with an X-Files template (and Fringe, come to think of it) what I’m left with instead is a take on Mulder and Scully’s mytharc, only here it’s more concise. Mulder and Scully’s tribulations dragged on-and-on-and-on, and compared to what Leti and Tic are going through, seem in retrospect, kind of whiny (Black-oil aliens notwithstanding). Olivia, Peter, and Walter on Fringe narrowed the sci-fi down from X-Files’ “Aliens and Everything” to a comparatively smaller frame of “Parallel Universe A vs B.” And Lovecraft Country seems to compress things further by staying within Lovecraft’s particular universe of creepers and paranoia. X-Files had a billion episodes, Fringe had a 100, Lovecraft Country might make it to 45. I think the pace they’re setting is what this show will be. Unless we’re in the familiar phase of these shows where they sprinkle in some one-off bottle plots on the way to full-on A-story all the time. I just caught up on this show this weekend, so idk if the X-Files comparison has been overworked yet. The male/female leads are in a will-they or won’t they relationship. Mystery Men feed them clues. The older generation throws up roadblocks. LC at least is blowing through some of these tropes at a fast clip. Too fast though? The more I write through it, the more I can see your point of view. The racism paranoia is so palpable in the show and the mystery angle is fresh enough that direct homage lifts seem unnecessary. The show could maybe argue what with their John Carter and Dracula references, that they are paying homage to things that predate Goonies and Indiana Jones anyway. Somewhere at the end of episode 3, I remember thinking “Jeez, if only this was the Penny Dreadful reboot.If you’re a gen-x-er like me, it might just be we’re at the point in our lives where the Millennials and Gen Z kids are going to do homages on top of stuff we’ve already seen homaged two or three times over. Sackheim is Gen X, but I’d put Jordan Peele in the Millennial category. Who the heck knows who’s running HBO these days? Millennials are getting long-in-the-tooth over there by now. The cast of Girls feels ancient.Total side note though: I used to play a game with my co-workers where we’d impose the Scooby Doo dynamic on other TV shows. Take for example Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Whose the Shaggy? Clearly Samberg is the Shaggy. Whose the Scooby? Joe Lo Truglio is the Scoob. Braugher is Fred etc. It’s just an example, and I don’t watch enough to place who is the Daphne and who is the Velma.I lost the point, but the first person at HBO to suggest that Lovecraft Country needs a trusty dog—no matter how old they are—should be fired on the spot.
Jordan Peele’s date of birth, February, 1979, puts him squarely in Gen X.
yeah no 1979 is not Gen X, that’s made upthere’s a reason they invented the subgeneration Xennials. Reality Bites was Gen X, it’s like 8-10 years older
Peele was born in 1979, which makes him Gen X, though on the younger end of it.
Thanks. Come to think of it, the categorization of these things should be tied to media development. VHS = Gen X … DVD = Millennial … Digital = Gen Y … Z/Zoomerz = Da Borg
Funny you mention X-Files w/Mulder and Sculley, because they even resembled those two in the close up camera shot library scene; something about their facial expressions when she confronted him at the table.
I got the vibe during episode 3 when Leti just blurts out “The house is haunted,” and Tic, takes a beat, kind of sighs, and says “Talk me through it.”They’re already at X-Files season 5 relationship status. Which is fantastic imho.
Rosa definitely seems more the Daphne since she’s the cooler looking one and Amy arguably is nerdier and the brainy-ish one, but also I think it makes sense that Amy could be the more Type A, most rule abiding planner along the lines of Fred?
There was a great recap on Vulture that describes how I feel about this episode and ep 2/3. They leave the audience out of the discovery process, so it is hard to follow and stay engaged. In addition pop tunes from today in the soundtrack is a total distraction and out of sync.
And to have Yahima killed by Montrose, a black queer, seemed a cop-out plot twist to quickly dispatch a character in a way they hope viewers/reviews wouldn’t yell foul while checking off more token inclusive characters within the series. Unless slitting their throat proves just a fatal as locking her within that secret crypt.
I finally walked away from the show about halfway into the episode. It’s become standard horror fare with the plight of blacks in the Jim Crow era shoehorned in. The haunted house trope of last week’s episode made me give the television the side-eye. This episode was pretty lazy on multiple levels, the usual neck snapping editing with some really lazy exposition heavy dialogue. I’m out.
I think what is missing from your take on this week being Goonies is that they took Goonies and put black people in it, and you see how much different it looksI wasn’t thrilled about the killing at the end, either, but get on board!
This was the first episode that felt the most like a misstep to me. I just revisisted the book and I feel there isn’t as much need to adhere to the source text so I’m trying to not project and compare and judge the decisions made, but even outside of that, the main plot felt…Needless. And a little weirdly plotted.
Christina quickly finds herself in police custody after racing her Rolls Royce through the city while blasting “Bitch Better Have My Money” by Rihanna.The soundtrack was blasting it, I think, not Christina.
I want the spell that gets me future Rihanna songs.
I literally cannot believe the reviewer thought that music was diagetic.
between that and calling the intersex mythical 2 spirit character trans… Im doubtful of all their reviews now.
She didn’t. She stated that the ‘needle drop’ was excessive and the efficacy of the anachronistic music choices is dwindling. Too much. Too often. Especially since the rest of the soundtrack sounds like rip-off Carpenter music. Wrong choice.
Even if it’s supposed to be played for laughs, I check out when protagonists do one stupid thing after another. So they lost me for awhile at the top of that after-hours museum sequence, starting with Leti smashing the display case. I wasn’t really into it again until they awakened Yahima.But the rest of the episode was on point, especially sexy (“It’s not gonna happen”) time.
They had a strict time limit, they needed that map and Leti has been shown to be EXTREMELY impulsive already. Why did you think that her breaking the glass to get the map was stupid?
Exactly. It fit in perfectly with Leti’s “let’s get this shit done” impulsivity. They needed that map.
I thought that everything they did at the top of that sequence was stupid. But breaking the glass: property damage, making noise, leaving evidence of a break-in, theft, vandalism, etc. etc.
I mean, the only person who even knows they’re there is the security guard Montrose knew from the bar, and I doubt he’s about to mention that to anybody.
Not a good situation for him, you’ll agree. “It all happened on the colored guy’s watch.”
Oh, it’s definitely already a really bad situation for the guard, (and therefore kind of a shitty move on Leti’s part,) but he’s certainly not about to make it worse for himself by admitting that he knows who he smashed the case and took the map.
It seems like a dick move to either implicate or otherwise hurt the livelihood of a quasi-ally since he presumably has a tenuous position and it seems like stealing that artifact in particular would draw the attention of the cult rather than flying under the radar. (I also missed if that ever did end up becoming relevant again or if they could have just relied on Montrose’s memory.)Then again they killed a new character shortly after introducing them. The show sort of confuses me sometimes and it can be hard to tell what little nice details I’m supposed to focus on: I didn’t realize one of the recurring characters has been in three of the episodes so far and is apparently a bigger deal than I anticipated, with a recurring and consistent personality, and they seem to have Emmett Till as a recurring figure— but they will establish the Indiana Jones set floods pretty much daily yet is covered in cobwebs. And some weird dream logic or weird editing happens but it’s not something we’re supposed to notice nor tell if the characters should care. (When they left the flooded tunnel does Lettie recognize it’s her own house’s elevator and do they end up back in Chicago or does she just recognize the design and the link between the people who built it?)
I forgot about the guard. He probably got fired for it happening on his watch.
Quick note–I think you mean “mambo,” not “orisha.”
I loved the whole Indiana Jones adventure. They’ve paid homage to many horror tropes in this series but this episode was very Goonies. It brought back all those adventure movies feeling perfectly. With only a little extra magic. Like tunnels that go all the way from Boston to Chicago in just a few steps.
It looks like Hiram managed to sidestep most of defence measures with the elevator but just didn’t have the right blood in his veins. And Tic managed to get what no one else could. The blood in his veins clearly is more important than Christina wants them to believe. Too bad that having pages doesn’t mean understanding what is written on them.
He claims to be protecting Tic on George’s orders, but he kills Yahima
(Monique Candelaria), a survivor of genocide, and we have no idea why.
Clearly his father is bent on making sure Tic will never know magic. Montrose only came on the expedition to sabotage it. I’m sure he let the pages float in the water to lose them. And when that failed he killed the Yahima to keep the knowledge from his son. I’m sure he believes he is defending his family as he promised George but that was evil.
she used me as a Trojan horse to kill her fatherI said exactly the same thing, Tic.
What Galaxy can sustain two suns?That was the part of the episode that bothered me most. This doesn’t make sense to anyone who even knows what a Galaxy is. How no one caught it in the script? Hyppolita is supposed to be an astronomer. I’m pretty sure she meant solar system but, of course, there are many multiple star solar systems. She should probably say something about planets being unstable in such system. At least then it would made sense. After all, a museum dedicated an entire wing to the brutality of Braithwaite and theft of cultural history, while also allowing the mummification and psychotic displaying of a serial killer’s trophies in an underground bunker.
It’s pretty clear no one in the museum knows about what’s underground. The tunnels were built by secret society with magic. No one in the museum is allowing displaying serial killer trophies because they don’t know they exist. Well, except the ones above ground (both literally and figuratively) but that has been sanitised enough that isn’t considered theft but saving the artefacts and they are proud of that collection.
Crane promises Ruby the world, but is he doing Christina’s work? I’m not sure why you keep calling William Crane (and Leti’s last name is Lewis not Wright) but this episode made pretty clear that all the people suspecting he and Christina are one person were right. We can see the switch almost in front of our eyes. So I’m pretty sure that both kicking the policemen’s assess and offer to Ruby was exactly what Christina wanted..
It looks like Christina is using this guise to do all that won’t be allowed to “cunts”. And it looks like she also uses it to seduce Ruby. She needs someone to in Winthrop House and Ruby is a perfect mark. She has the same ambition and feeling of being wronged as Christina has. Leti and Tic knew too much and were to smart to fell for her promises but Ruby doesn’t know any better.
I also loved the moment with Christina playing Hide and Seek for the first time in her life. Of course she was baiting the Chicago Lodge but it also looked like she genuinely enjoyed it. It shows how fucked up her upbringing was. I’m sure it explains why she is this way but it doesn’t change the fact that any deal with her is like a deal with the devil and there will be price to pay. She’s like Homelander on The Boys – you can feel bad about what made them the way they are but it’s best to stay away now.
tunnels that go all the way from Boston to ChicagoThat confused me so much when they arrived at the elevator with the dead neighbors, because the underground walk wasn’t styled as supernatural, more like there’s this secret underground tunnel that connects places, a la Verne (it was actually how Tic put it). But the two cities are one thousand miles apart, no underground shortcut is that efficient. The blood in his veins clearly is more important than Christina wants them to believe.I think Christina is not using misdirection here, she’s making a point on behalf of the writers that the male protagonist is not the main protagonist, and this is not his story where everyone else is a supporting character. See how Jurnee Smollett is actually first-billed. Montrose only came on the expedition to sabotage it.Precisely. I think the reviewer got it wrong, he didn’t memorize and burn the book, he wanted to destroy it forever, and forget all about it (he remembered the poem by chance). And he’s doing it for everyone’s sake. This is very Lovecraftian, actually: these are hidden truths you don’t want to unveil, because when you do it, you’re doomed. The only hope is to keep the world-shattering truths away from you, buried and forgotten.
The book may turn out to be cursed in the way The Darkhold was on AoS. Montrose may want to forget the words, but they may bubble out of him involuntarily.
Of course in Lovecraft, once you’ve read a book you shouldn’t have, there’s no coming back, you’re done for.
Yes, even if you don’t realize it yet.
Montrose only read the bylaws not the Book of Names so I don’t think it’s Darkhold level. But maybe the bylaws imprint themselves into the minds of those who read them assuming only lodge members do and they should memorise them anyway.
The walk was pretty supernatural with the magical disappearing plank leading to the part that had elevator to Chicago. Still the tunnels themselves are probably not that far from Boston since they all got flooded with the tide (and the main vault was at a ship). It was probably the elevator that did most of the distance cutting since it was a way Winthrop tried to bypass the security to get to Titus’ vault.Yes, Leti is clearly the action hero in this story. She is the dashing hero and Tic, despite all his proclamations of protecting her, is the damsel in distress most of the time. She saves them from shoggoths, rescues them from Dell and the mansion and the ghosts Winthrop House. And she made all the decisions that lead to them getting the treasure. Tic is the special one but Leti is the hero.
But I think Christina speaks from her own resentment at men always being the special ones. She belittles Tic’s importance because she wants to be special. She speaks of fighting the system but Leti is the one actually doing it and becoming the hero of the story while Christina just uses William guise.
Montrose pretty much says this. I just didn’t expect him to resort to murder to achieve it.
I suspect Christina will not stay an antagonist forever (I don’t know the book, but I know they already changed the character in a major way, so anything goes). Gender inequality might trump racial inequality at least in this instance, to create unexpected, uneasy allies. Of course, it also depends on what the manipulation of Ruby will lead to.
I didn’t read the book either but Christina is clearly the main antagonist for our heroes and any kind of deal with her comes with a price that Tic and Leti know is too high no matter what she promises.But on the other hand Christina clearly has her own wars with all the other lodges being as sexist as her father was and she is in need of some friends. So maybe her overtures – both to Tic and to Leti – weren’t complete lies. She’s just clearly very socially inept so she may just be that bad at it. And of course, as we see with Chicago lodge, the people who run them are no friends to black people wither so this could be common enemy kind of deal.
Still, so far everything points to her being selfish liar who will let them take the fall for all that happens in her war with the lodges. Or destroy them herself once they outlive their usefulness. I don’t fault them for not trusting her. Ever.
But I’m very curious what she wants with a time machine.
the underground walk wasn’t styled as supernatural…But the two cities are one thousand miles apart, no underground shortcut is that efficient.It went over a chasm with a magical disappearing bridge. A wizard did it.
Like tunnels that go all the way from Boston to Chicago in just a few steps.
I like to think that it’s the elevator that is magical. I mean why would Titus make something like that? The owner of the house (whose name I forgot) on the other hand would hae a very god reason – to make investigating entrance to the vault much easier for him.
It’s pretty clear no one in the museum knows about what’s underground.
Uhm why? Don’t get me wrong there isn’t any clear evidence that they currently know, but just as well there isn’t antyhing indicating that they have absolutely no idea about it.
and being frank the chance of some rich old white dude in the management of the museum being in with one of the multiple lodges is pretty high imo. Since cops in Chicago are in on the magick, why not museum folk?
Yes, you are most likely right about the elevator since the tunnels still all flood with tide. And, of course, it was the way Winthrop tried to get into Titu’s vault so the shortcut past initial defences was all his doing.Well, all the old dudes that were in the Boston Lodge died in episode 2 so probably not on museum board any more. But even if they were they wouldn’t know either. This is the Titus’ secret vault and we are explicitly told no one knows where it is. Maybe other members of the Lodge at Titus time knew about secret tunnels since Winthrop knew where to break into it but they all died with Titus. Since then the knowledge about those tunnels was lost.
Being perfectly honest, while reviewers remarks might not have proper backing in the text of the show, they are perfectly in line with what showrunners want us to think about the museum.
“We see the many artifacts the famed explorer Titus Braithwaite was given in exchange for teaching the savage tribes the ways of civilized man.”
I mean, c’mon you don’t put that in a show with explicit racial politics if you don’t want to make a jab or provoke someone.
More historical accuracy.
Raiders Of The Lost Cthulhu.
Correction: Did you mean Henry Jones, father of Indy, instead of Henry James? Unless there’s a Turn of the Screw episode somewhere down the line. But, yes, I also thought of Dr. Jones Senior during the whole museum sequence, especially with that long, narrow plank. “The penitent man shall pass.”
Interesting tying in Montrose’s violent family with the Americans in the Cold War. The USA did instigate it, mistakenly believing that Stalin’s Soviet Union was trying to help turn other countries’ Communist. So maybe the metaphor is excessive violence when there doesn’t need to be, like Montrose killing Yahima (whom, due to my TV lighting, I didn’t notice was intersex).We didn’t get an anachronistic speech about race on the soundtrack this episode, just more modern songs. I’m good with never hearing Marilyn Manson again, thanks.I like all these characters as a make-shift family unit, probably because they have chemistry and an ease with on another. The writing in that respect is well done.
“Mistakenly believing that Stalin’s Soviet Union was trying to help turn other countries Communist”?Seriously WTF? I’m by no means ignoring the dark deeds of the USA but the Soviets straight up invaded their neighbours and subjected the inhabitants to decades of murder and oppression whilst also funding revolutionary groups across the globe. (Yeah, I know the West did so as well but again, I’m not painting them as an innocent party here)Fuck, if you tried saying that shit in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia or Poland to anyone who was around before the late 1980’s, they’d probably kick your head in!
I didn’t mean Eastern Europe. I meant a worldwide push to turn as many countries as they could communist. Which wasn’t the case.
I think when one of your leading slogans begins “Workers of the WORLD, unite!” and you then go on to invade your next door neighbours whilst your shady intelligence agencies are caught stealing secrets and cultivating close ties with unions and student organisations across the globe, all before helping to spark revolutions and civil wars in countries as far apart as Cuba, the Congo, Angola, Mozambique, Korea and Vietnam, it’s not surprising that people might get the impression that you’ve got a bit of a thing for world domination.
I was about to post sources. Eric Hobsbawm, a Marxist historian, made this argument in his The Age of Extremes, that the Soviets weren’t looking for world Communist domination. I think his scholarship is generally esteemed. Ian Kershaw in his history of Europe, To Hell and Back reports more than anything, the Stalin’s invasion of Europe was for security reasons so a repeat of Germany invading the country wouldn’t happen again. I am not trying to condone that action and its devastating brutality for the peoples of those countries.
Kennan’s policy of containment, “the need to prevent Soviet expansion, which he envisaged as being pursued through infiltration and political pressure rather than direct military intervention. However exaggerated in retrospect such anxieties proved to be, in 1946, they were palpable.”But I retract the comment. I don’t know enough Cold War history, only having read a few books over years. I just read Kershaw’s book recently and remembered that bit. But I shouldn’t have said they were the only ones who instigated it.
You know intersex and transgender are completely different things, right? Yahima explicitly self-described as “woman and man, two-spirit”, which would equal to non-binary or third gender, not transgender.
Thank you, I was just gonna say—but then was concerned maybe the critic meant the actress was trans (which a Google search gave me nothing on). If the character was truly trans, they’d have a hard time right now justifying not casting a trans actress (I think it’s less of an issue with a character who plays two-spirit which, well as you say, isn’t the same thing). This does of course play into the trope that two-spirit people have some special powers or spirituality (which is why Titus needed them) but since it is a cultural belief that’s there, that’s probably fine…
I’ll definitely be watching it again, but I thought the character had a penis and a vagina, which would make them intersex, unless I saw incorrectly. Which may be the case, but if that’s what I thought I saw, that may be what Joelle saw as well.
If you saw incorrectly so did I. I’m gonna misquote, but they said something like I am man and woman, I am two-spirits (I understand two-spirits is a fairly modern term, but its concept has existed for a long time among various indigenous cultures). Two spirited doesn’t always mean intersex but it can include that. But yeah, not trans. Joelle is usually so careful about using these terms (frankly, much more careful than I am), that I was surprised by this. (And, as I said elsewhere, if she had been a trans-woman you can bet, even with a fairly small role like this, that there would be a huge backlash for not hiring a trans actor).
They were shown to be intersex and two-spirit. Not mutually inclusive things, but I guess it was to short-hand their “otherness” and prompt the “what are you?” question to get the explanation. Not great on the show’s part for trans/two-spirit/queer representation.
The problem is that first Joelle called the character trans, then she called the character intersex, as if the two are the same thing. The character is intersex and, according to what she said, non-binary in the gender department.
The author totally missed the point of Poltergeist too so expecting them to understand the distinction between trans and third gendered is probably a stretch.
Or like, none of those things since she is a fictional supernatural being.
Yahima will be back. Montrose gonna pay for that cut. Ruby: I ain’t having sex with you, white boyWilliam: …Hoo boy, wait until Ruby finds out that William and Christina are one in the same!
I really hope Yahima comes back and brings George with her.
The show’s use of (possibly the worst version of) “I Put a Spell on You” makes me think that William/Christine did exactly that. And/or the 1955 version of a roofie (which was basically just, what, quaaludes?).Also at first I loudly bemoaned the use of the Marilyn Manson version of this song, when there are so, so many better versions (including the excellent Nina Simone one which reigns supreme. Second place is clearly given to the one in Hocus Pocus, look, I don’t make the rules) but now that I’m thinking about it, playing a malevolent white dude’s version of a song perfected by a black woman makes sense for that scene.
Kind of surprised they didn’t use Alice Smith version, considering she’s got the closing credits. She recorded it for the Nina Simone album that Lauryn Hill produce a few years ago. I’m kind of assuming she recorded her version of sinnerman for it as well, but lost out to Gregory Porter.
This was a pretty fun episode! I appreciated the detour into more of a Goonies/Indiana Jones/PotC style action-adventure story, it was a nice, fun escape from the traumatizing horror the characters usually go through each episodes. The tone (especially the first half) was definitely a little more lighter and jokey, giving time for Leti, Tic, and the others to just be themselves and not The Protagonists. I feel a bit uncomfortable about Yahima’s ending. Like Joelle said in the review, allowing her to literally take back the narrative and tell her story in her own language, and portraying the supernatural evil to be the colonizers rather than “malevolent indian spirits”, was beautiful and well-done. But having her be literally silenced by her colonizers, and then gruesomely murdered on-screen for a ‘shocking twist ending’ feels extremely shitty to me. To have a two-spirit indigenous person who was a victim of violent genocide come back to life to tell the story of her oppression and then be murdered seems tasteless at best, especially since it seems like it only happened to a) prolong the plot by making it harder for Tic to decipher the text, and to b) further Montrose’s bad-dad plotline where he does all the wrong things (abusing his son, burning the book, murdering Yahima) under the guise of helping Tic; neither of those reasons feel good enough to excuse that ending.Despite this, I’m still excited for Ruby’s episode next week! Her, Hippolyta, and Diana are three characters I’ve been excited to see more of, especially when I realized this was gonna be more of an adventure-of-the-week show with episodes focusing on different characters. It also looks like we’ll be going back to full-on horror, so that’ll be a lot of fun too
I have one question: Yahima literally revived from being a hundred-year-old prune, and everyone thinks Montrose giving them a neck smile is enough to take them out? The Indiana Jones riffs will only carry so far, meaning that just because they died outside of where there were found doesn’t mean they suddenly lost their immortality, even though Tic will probably have to “call them back”, or something.
I’m really enjoying this show, but was bothered by Leti saying she and Tree fucked in high school, when last week she told Tic he was her first when they had sex in the bathroom.
She was being sarcastic, throwing the lie he has been telling people back at his face.
yeah…a friend pointed this out to me after i submitted my comment but couldn’t make it back quick enough to spare myself shame hahaha. thanks for not roasting me.
* Tree is either going to form a grudging friendship with Tic or die a horrible death, and I’m leaning towards (and hoping for) the latter. But he does seem to be the shows comic relief, so he may be around awhile. And obviously, Tree’s interest in everybody else’s love life and his bragging about all the sex he doesn’t seem to be having is going to amount to something.* I think Randy from Scream needs to explain the rules of horror movies to Ruby. No good can come from hooking up with buff Thin White Duke, but at least it looked fun.* Yahima’s death was disappointing because it would have been interesting to see the character try to blend into 1950’s Chicago, but also because the ‘50s were the height of westerns as part of pop culture and Yakima might have been a good vehicle to explore that pulp terrritory. I haven’t read the book, but its interesting how little broadcast media like radio or tv is in the series thus far.
Nice little shout out to NACA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Advisory_Committee_for_Aeronautics
It was more than a “bit” traumatic for that death to occur, as was the way of introducing the character by having her stand up and show us her genitals. I’m, in fact, pretty disappointed in the show for catering to that cis obsession with trans and intersex people’s genitals. And then to the bury your gay trope of immediately murdering that character. Not to mention the show deciding (like P-Valley also did this year) that because the character isn’t explicitly a binary trans character it’s totally cool and fine to cast a cis actor to play them.To be honest, I felt like there was almost no reason to have the character in the show at all except to traffic in stereotypes of indigenous people as some kind of magical other. She could’ve been a real character and could have said something about Titus stealing even his magic from them but that’s not what they did. I understand the show was trying to explore genocide against indigenous folks but…by doing so with a single character in this way who is immediately murdered… If she had been in the show longer maybe it would have been justified but no, we just have to watch yet more violence against an indigenous person, against a two spirit person. For a show that has been so complex, has done such a great job and has been so thoughtful…I’m pretty sorely disappointed.
Thanks for posting this. The portrayal of the “two spirit” person was inaccurate, dangerous and voyeuristic, and shows why there needs to be more use of Indigenous writers etc
It was more than a “bit” traumatic for that death to occur, as was the way of introducing the character by having her stand up and show us her genitals. I’m, in fact, pretty disappointed in the show for catering to that cis obsession with trans and intersex people’s genitals. And then to the bury your gay trope of immediately murdering that character. Not to mention the show deciding (like P-Valley also did this year) that because the character isn’t explicitly a binary trans character it’s totally cool and fine to cast a cis actor to play them.To be honest, I felt like there was almost no reason to have the character in the show at all except to traffic in stereotypes of indigenous people as some kind of magical other. She could’ve been a real character and could have said something about Titus stealing even his magic from them but that’s not what they did. I understand the show was trying to explore genocide against indigenous folks but…by doing so with a single character in this way who is immediately murdered… If she had been in the show longer maybe it would have been justified but no, we just have to watch yet more violence against an indigenous person, against a two spirit person. For a show that has been so complex, has done such a great job and has been so thoughtful…I’m pretty sorely disappointed.
It was more than a “bit” traumatic for that death to occur, as was the way of introducing the character by having her stand up and show us her genitals. I’m, in fact, pretty disappointed in the show for catering to that cis obsession with trans and intersex people’s genitals. And then to the bury your gay trope of immediately murdering that character. Not to mention the show deciding (like P-Valley also did this year) that because the character isn’t explicitly a binary trans character it’s totally cool and fine to cast a cis actor to play them.To be honest, I felt like there was almost no reason to have the character in the show at all except to traffic in stereotypes of indigenous people as some kind of magical other. She could’ve been a real character and could have said something about Titus stealing even his magic from them but that’s not what they did. I understand the show was trying to explore genocide against indigenous folks but…by doing so with a single character in this way who is immediately murdered… If she had been in the show longer maybe it would have been justified but no, we just have to watch yet more violence against an indigenous person, against a two spirit person. For a show that has been so complex, has done such a great job and has been so thoughtful…I’m pretty sorely disappointed.
boy i hope this show addresses whether racism is bad or not
I for one, am really enjoying the weekly genre mash-ups – lots to like this week for adventure fans in the same vein as Indiana Jones and The Mummy.
Almost all of the changes from the book have weakened the narrative thus far. The last two weeks’ episodes have been particularly problematic. The big narrative beats are there, but this is really a different story in terms of tone than Ruff’s excellent book.
I feel like they have different focuses (focii?) Which isn’t necessarily bad, but I’m a little bummed this was such a departure from the vignette it adapted.
I agree; the book was lean and to the point, this is all over the place.
Montrose might be gay?! Or, is this gay panic?This has been heavily implied since the first episode, when Tic goes to the bar to see if they have more info on his father’s whereabouts and is referred to the male sex worker.
In the beginning of the episode my CC picked up his father yelling at him for wearing a flower in his hair. Not that that makes a man gay, but it seems his manhood/sexuality has been a sore spot for his entire life.
Fun but another C episode.
So this is modern TV now? Easter eggs, call backs to other movies and historical tweaking? We need to demand better than this from TV. The acting is good, the production is better than average for TV but the story and dialog are just terrible. Come on.
This is modern TV now. We’re seeing it more with adapted works, but so many shows today seem to be adapted works, so it’s only natural there would be lots of Easter eggs and call backs. It’s not all bad, tho. This can enrich the viewers’ experience. I’ll take TV over movies right now, which is really where we should be demanding better.
I mean . . . the book is about taking HP Lovecraft stories and other horror tropes and redefining them in a new narrative so, yeah, the show is about this.
Is it just me or is Jordan Patrick Smith channeling some kind of Mike Pence – sexed up vampire vibe in William’s character? Every time I saw him I was thinking ‘I’ve see this guy before’ and then last night it hit me. I mean in the 1950’s in a 3 piece suit or cravat is where Pence belongs anyway……
Mike Pence with a libido and charm perhaps?
Ewww but yeah.
I was glad they addressed Tic keeping the truth about the house from Leti (she should have been more mad, but it came out later), I was irritated by Montrose burning the book (I thought that he did NOT read the whole thing, and I was hoping it would turn out the book did not burn)…and yes I was momentarily excited by the last moment but you pointed out why it’s troubling. Not everybody can be a series regular, but they should have just let her die in the vault.
I enjoyed everything up until seeing Yashima treated so terribly. What the hell, show? I hope they come back because otherwise, what a waste of a character.
Yahima.*Sigh.
yawn.let’s just call it “Watermelon Lovecraft”
“Ssshhh!” *Boy annoyingly shoves his chair and moves to another table. Lol. My favorite thing was the kid in the library who can’t with those two. (I also kind of love that between lil’ poindexter over there, Tic, Diana, Uncle George, and even Hippolyta with that model solar system, this show has stealthily filled itself Black nerds, and I’m here for it.)
It’s a nice bit of foreshadowing the boy was reading Journey to the Center of the Earth, and wouldn’t you know, this week’s adventure would basically be that. Pretty thrilling sequence on the plank (even if I’m sure someone should have fell with all that jumping around), but it’s times like these, I almost wish the show would be more self-aware. Real Talk: this was some “White People Shit” they got themselves into, and I kept waiting for somone to turn around and say “Nah, I’m out!” I know they’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff at this point, (and their descent was filled with an appropriate amount of sass) but they were still gung ho about pressing forward in a National Treasure sort of way that felt like I was watching a different show. Another commenter compared it to Scooby Doo, and I think that’s right on the money this time.
I loved that exasperated kid!
There’s definitely a reason we’ve never seen Christina and William together right? We looking at a Hannah Montana situation?
“The film doesn’t delve into the systematic genocide of indigenous
people, or the ways in which many Americans continue to proper off the
colonization of tribal lands.”It’s been a while but doesn’t it specifically happen because the white assholes say they’re going to move the dead natives in a proper way but then just build their development over the graves without doing that? Like, the greedy white assholes specifically caused the problem and they’re painted as being bad for doing it.
I mean it doesn’t ‘delve into the systematic genocide of indigenous people’ but it’s entirely based around ‘the ways in which many Americans continue to pro(s)per off the colonization of tribal lands.’ Like that’s the entire reason the movie happens.
In Poltergeist it’s not even an indigenous burial ground, as I recall? Just a graveyard where they moved the headstones but not the bodies.
I think you might be right there, as I said it’s been quite a while.
It’s not. I think the reviewer mixed up Poltergeist and The Shining.
I found the idea of the magic transporting tunnel easier to buy than the fact it was wired with operational string lights from Home Depot. I’d have rather they connived the typical trope where their torches manage to light the entire scene than see those pop up in the middle of their quest. Also, cobwebs everywhere…means the tunnel doesn’t completely flood. Just hop the crazy elevator and come back down when the tide was low. Those things just kind of stepped all over the tension of the situation.
It cracks me up that you’re writing a spoiler-filled review of a show meant for adults (implying adults have watched it and are now reading this), and censor “fuck” but spell out “shit.”Anyway, great review!
Given that William walked out of the mansion almost immediately after Christina entered it, I suspect that they are the same person. Or William is some sort of golem that Christina can inhabit. I haven’t read the book, so I have no idea. I am also holding onto the hope that Yahima’s curse makes them immortal. Montrose’s attempted murder may fail.
So did Christina buy the house or just gave Leti the money to buy a house? And of course of all the houses Leti buys is haunted and in a white neighborhood. Coincidence?
This ep was a ride and a half. I love a caper so I was essentially on the edge of my seat for most of it. (Although that did not stop my mind from annoyingly piping up with dumb mistakes or complaints. Like they just happened to be in the museum on the right night and time to open the vault . . . cause otherwise the moon wouldn’t have been positioned correctly.)I too am sad we didn’t get more Yahima. I guess in some ways it makes sense, because they wouldn’t have been long for a modern world anyway, considering all the diseases they’d now be exposed to. But fridging one queer character at the expense of questioning the motives of the other (possible) queer character upsets me. THAT said, I said it in the premiere, but I’m glad to see they’ll be touching on queerness and black men.)Ruby Motherfuckin’ Not-Lewis! (I am drawing a blank on her last name) From showing up at Marshall Fields to having sex on a staircase, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I was so gutted for her when she realized she wouldn’t have a chance at the store. And I’m glad the show spent some time talking about what it’s like to be the one person who gets to “fill the quota” and how it fosters competition instead of camaraderie. I do not trust Aryan Youth Dude whatsoever, but at least the sex was good.Christina’s storyline is a good one in terms of feminism and how intersectionality is so often lost on white women. (And an excellent mirror to Ruby’s story) Christina is trying to get by in a white man’s world, same as all of them, but unlike the rest of the crew, she’ll step on whoever she needs to to get there and she’s not going to bother pulling up anyone else behind her.
William promises Ruby the world, but is he doing Christina’s work?He is doing Christina’s work. Because he is Christina. She walked behind a bush while being tailed by the police and a moment later he came out from behind the same bush.
For the love of all that is holy can we get a separate thread for people who have read the book who want to talk about what they think is coming?? I just want to watch/talk about the show and, at best, guess what’s gonna happen next instead of having all these “Well in the book So&So is…” going on. I want to be surprised!! I feel like AV did this with Sharp Objects.
i think montrose killed the woman they rescued because she is the eve that must be sacrificed. he knows a lot more than came out in this episode.
Um…I find it baffling that anyone would find this narrative and this series as a whole rewarding. Every episode restarts as if their shared reality doesn’t exist. This was not Indiana Jones, people, this was National Treasure. Are you kidding me with that massive cave and bridge to nowhere. Yet, improbably we’re meant to be invested in Ruby’s tryst with the predatory Braithwaite? Seriously, how are we meant to process this narrative w/o having to acknowledge the exploitation?
How can anyone look at the Ruby seductions scenario as anything but an acquiescence of a fat woman. Her whole narrative is built around the fact that she is not light skinned and petite as Leti, and even though she gives a fierce monologue at the bar…she STILL fucks him?!!! I feel like I’m watching a different show or something.
You need to stick your arm in a hole in the wall and sacrifice blood to open a freaking loft door. They could have got there with a hook on a pole.
Yahima is a reanimated mummy, its not likely slitting their throat is the end of them.Also, we need to talk about how dumb the trio are. They realized that the elevator was from Leti’s house, but instead of heading upstairs to just chill out and wait for low-tide, they went forward and almost drowned.
They might as well cancel Indiana Jones 5, because it’s not going to be better than this.
This episode was 100% Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and I loved it.