So, hello to both er all of you who have stumbled upon this humble blog.
It’s been awhile, so I understand if you want to beat me with the wet noodle…
Just try to be gentle, okay?
But, after this prolonged absence, I am trying to get back into the swing of things.
I mean, it’s not like I am out partying, unless you count video calls as partying…
2020, amiright?
Luckily, HBO has obliged us with something to sink our teeth into (heehee, may or may not have intended this particular pun, see below.)
This weekend, the long awaited Lovecraft Country premiered.
So far, only one episode (sniff.)
But, this episode was not a sleeper.
If you slept through any of this, you may want to look in the mirror and confirm that you are a people, and not a comatose zucchini.
So, strap in, and get ready for the review of the first episode of Lovecraft Country, titled Sundown.
And, always:
Summary
The episode begins with a surreal dream sequence, which involves a young African American man fighting the trenches of what appears to the Korean War.
However, the scene is overtaken by eldritch monsters, flying saucers and a bikini clad alien.
The young man awakens from his dream, and we learn that he is actually riding a bus somewhere in 1950’s America. Because he is African American, the young man is seated in the back of the segregated bus. We learn the young man’s name is Atticus “Tic” Freeman.
The bus then breaks down, and Atticus and the other African American passenger are forced to walk to their destination. Atticus speaks to the woman of his love of science fiction, and that he enjoys the escape that the literature provides him, even though this genre does not love him back.
We also learn that Atticus’ father Montrose is missing, and Atticus is searching for him.
Eventually, Atticus reaches his destination: his hometown, Chicago. There, he reunites with his Uncle George, a man in the business of publishing travel guides for African Americans, educating African Americans on “safe” travel destinations.
Tic and George discuss the possible whereabouts of Montrose. Tic believes Montrose may have traveled to a town named Arkham, a town featured in the works of HP Lovecraft.
George then informs Atticus that the name of the town is actually Ardham, and also reminds Atticus that Lovecraft was a racist and his works are fictional.
We also meet a young woman Letitia Lewis. Letitia shares Tic’s love of science fiction, and Tic remembers that she was the only female member of a science fiction fan club that he was also a member of, when they were children.
Letitia argues with her sister Ruby over finances, and Ruby states that she will only allow her sister to stay with her for two days, maximum, even though Letitia is currently unemployed, in a heavily segregated city. Ruby also reminds Letitia that she did not attend their mother’s funeral.
George and Tic make the decision to travel to Ardham to locate Montrose. Letitia tags along, ostensibly so that she can catch a ride to her brother’s house and seek temporary shelter.
Tic, Letitia and George then proceed to travel across a segregated United States. The racism haunts them at every turn, from the taunts from white teenagers, to racist police officers, to “sundown towns,” towns that allow the slaughter of African Americans at any point after sunset.
The group eventually stops at a diner they believe to be a safe haven, according to George’s travel guides. The three take a seat, and wait to be served.
Letitia uses the lady’s room, and hears a bus boy on the phone, talking to someone about the diner’s latest customers. She quickly realizes that the diner is not safe, and rushes out of the restroom.
In the meantime, Tic and George try to relax. By chance, Tic notices that the diner appears to have been burned and then remodeled, putting together the pieces.
Letitia rushes out of the restroom, yelling for the men to run. Letitia hops behind the wheel of the car, and Tic and George soon follow.
A wild car chase then ensues. The three are able to escape due the fact that a large silver vehicle suddenly appears, and the car chasing the three appears to bounce off an invisible force field that surrounds the mysterious vehicle. An equally mysterious woman steps out of the vehicle, and she glances in the direction in the direction of Tic and his friends.
Tic and his friends then arrive at Letitia’s brother’s home, and ask advice on how to locate Ardham, as Ardham is not a part of any map. Tic and George learn that Ardham has a colorful history, as it was founded by a coven of witches. Rumors of disappearances also surround the town.
Tic and his friends are also warned of Eustace Hunt, the sheriff of Devon County, who is known to be racist and downright dangerous.
Letitia argues with her brother long into the night. This opens up old wounds for Tic, as he discusses Montrose’s actions towards him, including Montrose’s reaction to Tic’s decision to enlist in the military.
Letitia chooses not to stay with her brother, and heads back out on the road with Tic and George the next morning.
The group pulls over to search for Ardham, as they believe they may need to travel through the woods to find the town. As they are walking through the woods, Tic mentions creatures that he refers to “shoggoths,” or massive blobs with hundreds of eyes.
Eustace Hunt, the sheriff of Devon county, then pulls up beside the vehicle. Hunt states that Devon County is actually a sundown county, and that Tic and his friends have approximately seven minutes to leave the county or they will be executed. Hunt also engages in humiliating Tic.
A slow speed car chase ensues, as Hunt warns the trio that they will be arrested if they violate the speed limit.
Tic, George and Letitia make it to the outskirts of Devon County just in time, but are arrested by the sheriff’s men and escorted into the woods. The sheriff and his men then accuse Tic and his friends of committing a series of local robberies.
Creatures that bear a resemblance to the “shoggoths” described by Tic then appear, and attack everyone. The sheriff is attacked, along with several of his men.
Letitia and Tic run, and seek shelter in a cabin. They are followed by George and the sheriff.
George realizes that the creatures are afraid of light, and suggests that the lights from the vehicle can be used to subdue them.
The sheriff allows Letitia to leave the cabin to retrieve the vehicle. Letitia is able to use light as a weapon against the creatures, proving George’s theory to be correct.
In the meantime, George realizes that Hunt has been bitten by the creatures and will be transformed into one. This theory also proves to be correct, and a battle ensues.
Letitia crashes the vehicle into the cabin, just in time to help her friends. However, the creatures are then called off by a whistle, and the three escape.
The next morning, Tic, George and Letitia arrive at a large mansion. They are greeted by a white, blonde man, who appears to have been expecting them. The man greets Tic by name, along with “welcome home.”
My Thoughts
Whoa…
Plenty to unpack here, and I am looking forward to this immensely.
But first, a word about the grandfather of horror…
Or maybe, the embarrassing great uncle of horror who has some really awful views about…
Well. everything?
But, let’s focus on Lovecraft’s dislike of…
*People not from Rhode Island*
(Asterisks are mine, of course.)
Lovecraft’s dislike of *people not from Rhode Island* should be pretty well known by now.
And this is something worthy of discussion, so if you don’t like it, just scroll and roll, no one wants to hear your angry mayonnaise noises.
Lovecraft had a fear of the unknown, and that translates to the unknown being *people not from Rhode Island.*
This permeates everything Lovecraft, from his stories, to even the name of his cat.
And his poetry about *people not from Rhode Island.*
(I promise my Google search history is not indicative of any of my beliefs. Really.)
Okay, enough of the embarrassing great uncle of horror, and his feelings on *people not from Rhode Island.*
Let’s talk about Lovecraft Country and its monsters, and the terror that our main characters are subjected to from the get go.
And oh yeah, seems there is a supernatural element to this show as well…
Now, there is something to be said for a slow burn…
But there is also something to be said for cutting right to the chase.
And Lovecraft Country does cut right to the chase.
That opening scene though…
That opening scene would have made the writers and illustrators of those Weird Tales comics that I read as a kid proud.
In fact, that scene could be classified as a 3D comic book.
It was a trip.
Now, to me, horror stories work best when there is an element of reality surrounding them, along with interesting characters.
This is something Stephen King is…well…the king of, although several other authors, such as Joe Hill and even Dean Koontz incorporate that element of reality into their stories.
The writers of Lovecraft have also decided to take this approach, along with giving us a refresher on the darker side of our country’s history.
When Tic awakens from his 3D comic dream, he is traveling by bus in mid twentieth century America.
As a black man, he is segregated from everyone but the other black passengers, and is not even offered the dignity of a ride to town when the bus breaks down.
Keep in mind that this was less than 60 years ago, so many of the people who experienced it are still alive, and it’s not something that’s part of the distant past.
Really, supernatural monsters are not needed in this show, as the horrors of racism provide enough of a story line.
Our heroes do not need to be chasing down witches and eldritch monsters in order in order for a story to be told.
We could watch a TV series on what it was like for African Americans to travel across the United States in mid 20th century America, and there would be a host of material that would make for something more horrific than any horror movie where the killer has a bone to pick (see what I did there?) with teenagers having premarital sex.
Tic, George and Letitia are subject to several forms of racism.
Of course, there is the overt kind, where police officers enforce “sundown laws” and drag African Americans into the woods with the intent of shooting them down (more on that in a bit.)
There is also the literal whitewashing and erasure of African American culture, when Tic and his friends discover that a diner previously known to be friendly to African Americans was burned down, and then painted white.
When Tic moves that tile aside, we feel the chill creep over.
But there are other, more subtle forms of racism.
We are shown an ice cream parlor. African American children wait to be served, but are ignored by the waitresses.
Sometimes, being unseen and unheard is the most marginalizing thing of all.
And then, there are car chases.
More than one car chase, actually.
One to get away from the diner and the mob sent to chase Tic and his friends, liked hunted animals.
Insane.
Luckily, we have Letitia FUCKING Lewis to the rescue!
I have not seen a lot of movies or TV shows that feature a car chase led by a woman, much less a woman of color.
And I never thought I would see a car chase like this on a TV show about cosmic horror and eldritch monsters.
(Really, one of the few cool surprises from 2020. It can happen, I suppose.)
And then, another car chase.
A 25 mile per hour car chase, where our heroes are getting chased by someone who has the name of Eustace Hunt.
(Seriously, Eustance Hunt? Talk about your mother not liking you. That is more mayonnaise than mayonnaise.)
A second car chase, after our heroes have barely recovered from the first.
This car chase also served to educate us on the horror of sundown towns, as many of have had the privilege of not knowing what a sundown is.
Given what has been happening in our country over the past several months, this chase scene was relevant.
Tic and his friends followed all the rules.
They didn’t speed, they did not take a u turn.
Yet, they still ran afoul of the police and were nearly executed.
Luckily, shoggoths to the rescue!
Yeah, monsters.
In the first episode.
Well, supernatural monsters, at any rate.
Not that I am judging for bringing in monsters in the first episode.
After all, I enjoyed it too…
And I will have you know that reading horror stories saves lives!
When you and your friends are dragged into the woods by a group led by a man by the name of Eustace, come within seconds of being shot and are then chased into an empty cabin by supernatural creatures, you will need to call on your knowledge of horror trivia in order to rescue yourself and your friends.
So, it’s handy to have knowledge of vampire lore, per George, the Van Helsing of the group.
The creatures can’t stand light.
Oh, and if they bite you, you become one
(Can’t feel too bad for the sheriff whose arm was bitten off. A real man would have replaced that limb with a chainsaw, right?)
So, we get a scene right out of Evil Dead, with Letitia ramming the car into the cabin, and Tic shouting out something that would make Ash Williams proud:
SHOOT THE MOTHAFUCKA!
The trio escapes. and arrives at a place that should make any horror fan leery:
A mysterious mansion.
They are also greeted by someone who they have never seen, who says that he has been expecting them.
What could go wrong?
Well, that’s it for Sundown…what a ride!
Join me next week as I continue the ride with episode two, titled Whitey’s On the Moon.
Tune in next week…
Same bat time, same bat channel!
Nerd girl power! 