Lovecraft Country
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
If the infamous Something shifted.
In Whiteys on the Moon,Lovecraft Countrydoubles down on strange.
This isnt necessarily bad, of course, depending on your taste.
Im okay with that, and I still see some charm in the genre play of it all.
But what transpires is definitely unexpected, especially in a second episode.
But maybe theres a reason for this approach.
Its played for a laugh, but even further, its a wink to the audience.
And we need that wink.
If youll notice, we rarely get a scene of white characters on their own in this episode.
We usually only encounter them while theyre in a room with or surveilling our Black protagonists.
And the person who learns the most about their history, off-screen, is dead in the end.
Everything else, for now, is superfluous.
Perhaps Im being too generous, but I see it working in almost every scene.
The episode jumps from one to the next as our trio learns info relevant to their central mission.
He speaks ominously of the lodges history.
This becomes integral to a later realization.
It turns out outsiders who encounter the shoggoths are spelled to forget afterward.
Might Atticus be immune to this?
On their return to the lodge, they run into the beasts and Leti and George forget again.
But not before the crew puts together that Atticus is Titus Braithwhites descendant.
With this development, things get even stranger.
Christina takes Tic to her father and current lodge owner Samuel Braithwhite (Tony Goldwyn).
We learn that Samuel isobsessedwith the biblical Adam.
He covets his ability, as Tic puts it, to put everything in its place.
Samuel is convinced that Atticuss blood will help make it all possible.
Its all indulgently absurd for a second episode.
But I think this, too, is intentional.
Atticus cant even think about planning an escape while George and Leti keep forgetting whats going on.
The white attendees of the upcoming events watch in amusement.
Theyre released from their rooms before the pre-dinner ceremony.
Atticus orders everyone but Samuel to get up, and get the fuck out, and they do.
The ceremony has been derailed for now, giving our trio a chance to escape.
If it feels anticlimactic, its because were focused on the wrong parts of the story.
The other stuff is superfluous this is about their way out of this predicament.
George did what he had to do, and theres no reason to linger.
This episode is so jam-packed, there were many moments when I thought okay,thisis the last shot.
But the episode doesnt end when they find Montroses escape hatch from the dungeon.
It doesnt end as the quartet, trying to flee Ardham, crashes into an invisible barrier.
It doesnt end when we see Leti brought back from the dead.
Its all a bit fatiguing, but I still find myself engaged by its ambition.
The episode did all of the beginnings of world-building, only to burn it down by the episodes end.
We actually see the flames, even though in this timeline, there arent any.
The lodge, and all it represents, is dust now, as it was all ash with Hannah.
Our trio has found Montrose, but they dont all survive.
Its a devastating moment.
Uncle George is gone and things will never be the same.
Leftover Country
My father and his associates would never fraternize with the Klan … Theyre too poor.
Atticus was pretty shaken after he fought and strangled the fake Ji-Ah.
He expected Atticus to be lighter-skinned and is disappointed by it.
I was very swept up in Letis the Bibleisfull of demons and monsters speech.
I find that pretty riveting.
Did she also help Atticus in disrupting the ceremony and killing the men at the ceremony?
Jonathan Majors helps emotional beats land even when they shouldnt always work.
She never told me or pop anything about her people … but she told you?
He might not beyours.
You were brimming with love … nothing wrong with loving that much.
