Lovecraft Country: S1E2
Well that escalated quickly.
Welcome back to Lovecraft Country. We’re diving into the second episode in our recap and review series. Did the second episode live up to the pilot? Let’s find out.
The story so far…
In “Whitey’s on the Moon,” Tic, Leti, and George find themselves in the comfort on the gigantic Braithewhite lodge. Leti and George are quick to succumb to the material pleasures (accompanied by Ja’Net DuBois “Movin’ On Up”). Tic is less inclined and more suspicious, particularly given he seems to be the only one with a recollection of the Shoggoth attack the night before.
The trio is guided by and managed by William. He tries to pacify them until a specific event, but Tic’s compulsion to uncover his father’s location makes that difficult. Tic, Leti, and George visit the village of Ardham to find Montrose, Tic’s father, but Tic’s increasingly erratic behavior alarms his companions. Their memory loss only makes it appear that Tic is suffering from PTSD from his time in Korea. Following the sound of a whistle like the one heard in the woods, the trio stumbles onto a stone tower where it is obvious Montrose is being held. They are confronted, however, by a tiny, racist dog-keeper who manages to force them out of the area.
On their return from the village, George recalls something Tic’s mother had mentioned, about her ancestor, Hannah, who escaped her master’s home during a fire. The Braithwhite Lodge is a replica of the old lodge which burned down, and the ancestral Titus Braithwhite, a slave owner, is the likely source of Atticus’ own birthright to the Braithwhite family. After this revelation, they are saved from another Shoggoth attack by none other than Christina Braithwhite, who has bailed out the crew several times.
As the trio awaits the part in the planned event concerning the Order of the Ancient Dawn, who George learns about when he finds his way into a massive library, they are beset by psychological tortures and observed by the old, white members of the order in the lodge. George and Atticus are later invited to a dinner to celebrate the upcoming ritual Samuel Braithwhite has planned. There George and Atticus, having pieced together Atticus’ role in the ritual to open a portal to Eden, exert Atticus’s authority as the repository of the ancestral Braithwhite’s power as a direct descendent of Titus.
Able to get to the stone silo and rescue Montrose, finally, the mission almost goes south until Leti saves them from the dog-keeper. They then uncover Montrose’s secret escape tunnel, meeting him outside. The reunion isn’t happy as Montrose is a difficult father and explains he wrote his letter out of duress. In the escape from Ardham over the bridge, they smash into an invisible force field, wrecking the car the procured for the escape.
There, Leti and George are shot by Samuel who forces Tic to comply with the ritual. Christina, in the preparation for the ritual, commiserates with Tic and gives him a ring that seems to have been tampered with. The ritual itself channels energy through Tic’s body and opens a gateway, not to Eden, but what might be the past. Tic sees his ancestor, Hannah fully pregnant, and the ritual backfires, destroying Titus and the other members of the Order of the Dawn before collapsing the entire lodge. Atticus makes it out by following the path and vision of his ancestor, Hannah, who seems to be holding a special book.
Regrettably, however, George succumbs to his gunshot during the escape from the lodge and lies dead in the back of the car, cradled by Montrose.
How it worked out…
The second episode continues the “fun” streak established in the first episode but delivers little in the way of horror which might be disappointing for some Lovecraft fans. We get moments of full-on Magick including spells, rituals, and runic markings. It does establish fun mysticism in the show and though we do not spend a lot of time in Ardham, the village itself felt sufficiently time-locked. There is a lot of cool stuff referenced or caught in fleeting glimpses in the episode but little in the way of establishing mood or tension. Everything was so breezy and quick that ultimately the episode suffered. There was a lot that happened in this episode but by the end, I just felt like I had been denied a solid three or four-episode arc. The pacing of this hour was bizarre to me mashing in what seems to be what might account for an entire half-season in some other show to about one hour of run time.
The end result is not entirely pleasant. The reference to other chapters of the Order is a good sign, but to just kind of blow through the setting and some creepy intrigue seems to be a symptom of the Bad Robot-style of production. I mentioned last week that there was an Abramsification of Lovecraft and sadly the second episode seems to have doubled down on it. Thankfully, the show’s addressing of race and racism continues to be the strong-point.
Lovecraft’s work really only succeeds due to sustained tension. In that regard, Lovecraft Country is succeeding strictly because of how it is handling the anxieties around being black. Every interaction between Tic’s group and the white residents of Ardham carries that tension that grows and becomes horrifying. The monsters and magick end up as just fun window dressing, but it comes off as cartoonish than mysterious and mind-blowing.
The introduction of Michael Kenneth Williams and seeming departure Courtney B. Vance feels like a strange turn. Tic already has enough to deal with, killing off his uncle (and possible father) in order to bring in his emotionally distant father (who is possibly not his real father) just feels pointless. In a series driven so heavily by men of color, it feels needlessly cruel to eliminate one of the characters so suddenly. At least Game of Thrones used Sean Bean for a whole season. Courtney B. Vance gets dropped in episode two. There is probably a larger plan involved in George’s fate and we’ll probably be seeing him again in the season, but not having read the book and watching the show as a casual viewer, I can’t help but feel annoyed at what seems like an unnecessary death. I am looking forward to Michael Kenneth Williams in the weeks ahead, though.
Too bad it came at the cost of a such a strong character.
The reliance on CGI in the first two episodes is a problem as the artificiality of the show proves to be a bit too much in week two. Dodgy CGI involving a groin-snake and sweeping camera moves around the Braithwhite estate detracted from, rather than enhanced the story being told. CGI on a TV budget can look good, but the second episode missed the mark, wildly, seemingly pouring most resources into the Shoggoths and Tic’s dream sequence in episode one. The ritual sequence and subsequent destruction of the estate failed to impress.
The second episode stumbles with the monsters and mayhem but continues to handle the anxiety and trauma of the Jim Crow south with panache. At this point though, the series may be Lovecraft in name only. I rate Lovecraft Country‘s second episode “Whitey’s on the Moon” three Cthulhus.
(3 / 5)
Miskatonic Musings
A lot of biblical references this week among other references to the Lovecraft canon and other literary works.
- Montrose directly mentions the Necronomicon before he is corrected by George.
- I am unsure how inspired by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (and Alastair Crowley) the show’s Order of the Ancient Dawn is inspired by, but given the pageantry, I’d argue this is very much a direct reference.
- Yes, that was a Wicker Man in Ardham.
- The Jeffersons theme still slaps. The show’s usage of anachronistic music is a wonderful touch. Gil Scott-Heron’s “Whitey’s on the Moon” punctuates the ritual scene. Quite a fitting mashup and brilliant, biting satire. Marilyn Manson’s “Killing Strangers” also really sells the trauma at the bridge.
- A reference to The Count of Monte Cristo is made when Tic’s Trio uncovers Montrose’s escape tunnel from the stone silo in Ardham. George references it directly.
- The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson is mentioned directly by George as he is dancing with the illusion of Dora. It also seems to have inspired the plot of this episode.
- Weird fiction authors mentioned/referenced in this episode include Algernon Blackwood and Clark Ashton Smith.
- The biblical allusion to the snake and Eve shouldn’t be hard to miss, particularly when one interprets the snake as a phallic symbol as many scholars have.
- The biblical verse Genesis 2:19 drives part of the plot. It is also the title of a painting in the show by “Joseph Tannhauser,” but in reality, the painting is “The Naming of the Animals” by John Miles.
Do you think I might have been too harsh with Lovecraft Country? Let us know in the comments.
We’ve reached the final episode of American Horror Stories, season three. After the ups and downs of the season, I didn’t know what to expect. I felt that we were due a big finish, Killer Queens. But I feared we were in for a big letdown.
As it turns out, The Thing Under The Bed was neither.
The story
We begin our story with a little girl named Mary, who is scared of something under her bed. She sneaks out of her room, only to be caught by her father and sent back to sleep. And of course, there is something horrible waiting for her under her bed.
This scene cuts away to a woman named Jillian. She has strange dreams, including one about Mary. But her husband, Mark, doesn’t want to hear about it. He’s only interested in a little lovemaking because he wants a baby. Jillian doesn’t, which makes total sense because she’s already married to one. But her irritation with her childish husband goes away when he goes away. And by goes away, I mean he’s sloppily devoured by something vicious under their bed.
What worked
In short, this episode just worked. The acting was professional and believable. The cinematography and lighting work were wonderful, adding spooky effects and startling moments without impairing visibility.
Best of all, the story was solid. There were no plotholes to be found. Our main character, Jillian, was relatable and sympathetic.
This was maybe my favorite part of the story. I thought Jillian was a remarkably sympathetic character. She was dealt a hand she never asked for, having her husband slaughtered in their bedroom. I don’t think she missed him, so much as she was afraid of the legal ramifications of being caught with literal blood on her hands.
Then, when it would have been safest for her to just lay low and save up for a good defense attorney, she instead goes into unlikely hero mode. She does her best to save people, putting herself in legal and physical danger. It’s hard not to root for her.
It’s also a little hard not to root for the antagonist, too. I don’t want to ruin the twist for you, so I’m going to tread lightly here. But it’s great when you have an antagonist who might be off their rocker, but also maybe has a point.
What didn’t work
I can only really think of one complaint with this episode. And that is how frequently one character says the word Chickadee. And if you’ve seen the episode, you know what I am talking about.
I get it, he has a pet name for his daughter. It’s adorable. It’s meant to convey that the two of them have a healthy loving relationship and I get it. We all get it. Blind monks get it. But the fact remains that no parent on Earth calls their kid by their pet name every single time they speak an individual sentence to them. It was just too damn much.
All in all, this was a good episode. It was a classic story, turned on its head, told by professionals from start to finish. And I hope that if there is another season, we see more stories like this one. But after the efforts put into this season at large, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the last we see of American Horror Stories.
(4 / 5)
If you’ve watched enough short-form horror anthology shows, you’ll notice that some stories are mainstays. Each show seems to put on the same sort of episodes, with the occasional surprising storyline that we’ve never (or at least rarely) seen before.
Leprechaun was an example of a repeated story—the story of a greedy thief whose punishment far outweighs the crime.
The story
We begin our story in 1841, with a drunk man leaving the bar one late night. He’s distracted by something glowing at the end of the well. When he reaches down for the glowing thing, he falls in. Moments later, he screams.
We then cut to the modern day. The well is still there, and now it’s surrounded by a dying town. In this town lives a young man named Colin. He’s married, his wife is pregnant, and he’s out of work. Like many of his friends.
Desperate for cash, Colin and his friends decide to rob a bank. They put together an Equate version of Ocean’s Eleven, and break in one night. But, of course, they find that the gold is nothing more than bait. And the creature waiting for them is something they never expected.
What worked
The first thing I want to point out is how real this episode felt. At least to anyone currently living in the same small town they grew up in. These characters felt like guys I went to school with. Guys I would see at the bar.
I appreciated the real anger and frustration these characters are feeling. Especially Colin. He’s bitter, and maybe he has a right to be. He did exactly what he was supposed to do to succeed. He went to school and invested in his career, and yet now he’s out of work and struggling to support his family. I probably don’t need to tell you how that feels. Because of this, we can all kind of understand why he was tempted to rob a bank.
I also want to talk about the fact that this was, as I said, an often-explored story. That can be a bad thing, but it can also be a good thing. This story is told over and over because it’s a good story. A relatable story. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
What didn’t work
That being said, this version didn’t try to do much to break out of the mold.
Because we have seen this story so many times, most of us could tell the story themselves. I would have expected something new, or some twist. But, in the end, the story didn’t bring anything new to the discussion.
Maybe because of this, the ending left a lot to be desired. Trapped in the basement of the bank, everyone just sort of stares at everyone else, until the thieves give up. And that’s it. The ending wasn’t scary, shocking, or funny. It was just sad, on multiple levels.
Overall, this was an okay story. It was entertaining, if not surprising. I would compare this episode to homemade macaroni and cheese. Everyone’s got their own version, they’re all pretty good, and none of them are exciting.
There’s just one episode left in this season of American Horror Stories. Let’s hope they’ve saved the best for last.
(3.5 / 5)
It happened. It finally happened. We got another good episode of American Horror Stories.
The story
We begin our story late at night, with a hospital security guard named Malcolm. He is frightened one night when he sees a woman with a distorted face in the hospital parking lot.
We then joined an RN named Claire. She’s doing her best to explain to a struggling mother that the hospital will not be able to treat her son with cancer because she can’t afford the treatment.
Not like she’s happy about it.
Fortunately, Dr. Nostrum, played by the legend Henry Winkler, swoops in at the last moment to tell the mother that her son qualifies for a special place in his cancer treatment clinic.
Claire is lamenting the fact that she became an RN to help people, but it feels like she isn’t doing anything good. Then, she and her friend Lilly stumble upon the same woman who menaced Malcom the night before.
While Claire is trying to figure out what’s wrong with this woman, she brutally slaughters an orderly and vanishes into the hospital. But not before struggling to say two words to Claire. Ward X.
What worked
I want to start by praising the effects of this episode. Because they were fantastic. Aided by the black and white filming, the bloody and distorted faces of Alice and her fellow victims are nightmarish. They look like a horrific version of Lockjaw taken to a terrifying extreme.
I also want to discuss the fantastic work of Henry Winkler. He is an absolute legend and never has a bad project.
Winkler’s character in this episode was exactly what we’d expect from him. He seems genuinely warm and kind, concerned about others’ well-being. Even when he’s planning to kill Claire, he comes off as such a caring guy.
Finally, I want to talk about the historical significance of this story. Because, like I always say, the scariest stories are the ones based on truth. And I’m sorry to say, this story has a basis in truth.
Mankind has a dark and twisted history when it comes to medical advances. Most doctors and scientists are good, moral people who abide by the first line of the Hippocratic oath, to first do no harm. Some, historically, are little more than monsters in white coats. Consider the Tuskegee Experiment, Unit 731, and the horrific acts of Josef Mengele. If you’re going to look up that middle one, be warned that it is NSFL.
While this episode of American Horror Stories was a work of fiction, it wasn’t that far off. I don’t think many of us want to admit how close to real life it was. This is the gift of good horror, to force us to come face to face with the worst aspects of humanity. To acknowledge them, accept them, and change them.
All in all, this was a perfect episode. The acting, the effects and the story were all top-shelf. And it’s certainly a story that will stick with you.
There are just two episodes left in this season of American Horror Stories. Let’s hope that they reach closer to the quality of X, and away from the dull and dismal episodes that began the second half of this season.
(5 / 5)
-
Book Reviews7 days agoReview: Don’t Eat the Pie, Monique Asher’s delicious trope fest.
-
Movies n TV4 days agoAmerican Horror Stories, Leprechaun
-
Original Creations4 days ago
Religious Icons Revisited for the Second Second Coming
-
Movies n TV2 days ago
American Horror Stories, The Thing Under The Bed
