Lovecraft Country
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The final half-hour of I Am.
is everything I could ask for in a show likeLovecraftCountry.
Hippolytas journey through not-quite-time-travel is strange and magical.
Its full of color and growth that I got swept up in.
After watching, it felt like nothing else mattered.
Unlike Hippolyta, I wasnt ready to leave and go back to my Earth.
begins by catching us up on Hippolyta and Dees journey.
She, like her mother, is smart.
But Hippolyta trusts her instincts and ignores her fears.
Now, back in Chicago, Hippolyta is tinkering with the orrery she found.
Shes close to getting it working again, but getting frustrated, she shoves it to the ground.
Im sorry, she says to Georges empty spot in the bed, I just cant figure it out.
Looking at it knocked sideways she realizes something: the tilts of the planets axes arent right.
She twists one of the metal rods so that the planets spin differently.
And voila, it begins to whir and clank.
Its lights turn on, and the orb on top opens, revealing engraved coordinates and a golden key.
Its a gorgeous visual, and exciting and thrilling in its unknown.
Shell go wherever this takes her.
We also catch up with our other characters where we last left them.
They see Montroses shirt still unbuttoned and his hand on Sammys wrist; his secret is now out.
After the reveal that Christina was, in fact, posing as William, Ruby is upset.
I was hoping this wasnt actually the case, because as Ruby notes … this complicates things.
This is my least favorite arc, and Im ready for Rubys story to move on!
Im ready to move on too!
Whatisnice about Rubys story this episode is the satisfying reconciliation between Leti and Ruby.
Its a nice break from the horror and drama that will likely come in the following episodes.
The orrerys coordinates lead Hippolyta to Mayfield, Kansas where she arrives at an observatory.
There she finds a machine that fits the orrerys key.
Tic throws a cop through the tear and Hippolyta shoots the other cop who bleeds out.
Then, standing too close to the disruption in time and space, Hippolyta is sucked in.
Hippolyta arrives, descending meteorically onto what seems to be a planet somewhere in space.
Is she in the future?
Is that some kind of extraterrestrial ship?
Before she can figure it out, two beings looking both robotic and alien approach her.
She wakes up in a white room, nude and with purple implants in the beds of her wrists.
(In the credits this character is named as Seraphina a.k.a.
Beyond Cest like Beyonce, get it?)
Seraphina nudges her again.
Who does she want to be?
The script and Aunjanue Ellis are wonderful here.
I feel like they just found a smart way to lynch me without me noticing a noose …
Sometimes I just, I wanna kill white folks.
And its not just them …
I hate me, for letting them make me feel small.
The audience is forced to feel her emotion here, to listen and be on her side.
These very bold feelings become justified.
Its pretty incredible to have her admit this all and have Josephine Baker nod and respond in knowing kinship.
If youre confused about where and when Hippolyta travels next, thats part of the point.
We see Hippolyta surrounded by other Black women in warrior garb.
She begins to spar, in training, with the groups leader.
We watch as her skills grow.
And its revealed that theyre training to fight … white Confederate soldiers.
Or as Hippolyta puts it, she can find a world where I can name myself anything.
The battle is a bloodbath for the soldiers that ends in Hippolyta kicking off a mans loosened head.
She connects these emotions to freedom.
Shes accomplished what shes needed to and shes instantaneously on to the next.
Ill admit that Hippolyta returning to the scene we first met her in is touching.
Her revisiting this moment of tenderness with George is grand because she is able to express her true feelings.
She calls out George furtherindicating that he influenced her to do this.
This version of George is hesitant but apologies and admits that he dulled her shine.
With that off her chest, we get her final declaration: I am Hippolyta; Discoverer.
She grabs Georges hand and the two are transported to a colorful, yet-to-be-explored planet.
They make peace with the aliens living there and help catalog and discover new flora and fauna.
In the end, Hippolyta chooses to return home.
She asks Seraphina, How could I fit in everything that I am now, into that place?
Its a lovely, poetic question that Ill be thinking about for a long time.
She explains, ThatHippolyta, she was so small, but Dee needs her mother.
Its not sad because shes not that same person.
She is now a Hippolyta transformed.
Josephine asks Hippolyta (and us), What are you gonna do with all that anger?
as both an affirmation and a call to action.
I am …HIPPOLYTAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Hippolytas arc in this episodefeltgood.
A feeling I havent had in a while in the show.
This episode did so right by her.
As Atticus says to Leti: Christinas going after the pages.
We gon get the whole damn book.
I HOLLERED at Hippolyta telling Atticus to Back up!
The world does not revolve around you, Tic!
The joy that Hippolyta gets in that moment from seeing this woman be so free is wonderful.
Flashback spinoff for Ms. Bertie (Carol Sutton) and Ethel, yo.
Did I forget to mention that Leti is pregnant?
