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Lovecraft Country - Episode 3 discussion

Lovecraft Country is a [book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovecraft_Country_(novel)) written by Matt Ruff and adapted into a [television show](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovecraft_Country_(TV_series)).

For a review of the book please read AncientHistory's on Deep Cuts.

Please note that there is a dedicated subreddit for the book and show at r/LovecraftCountry as well as r/HBO and r/HBOMax.

A young African-American travels across the U.S. in the 1950s in search of his missing father.

Lovecraft Country follows "Atticus Black as he joins up with his friend Letitia and his Uncle George to embark on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America in search of his missing father. This begins a struggle to survive and overcome both the racist terrors of white America and the terrifying monsters that could be ripped from a Lovecraft paperback."

Produced by Jordan Peele, J. J. Abrams, Misha Green

Developed by Misha Green

Starring

Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Letitia "Leti" Dandridge
Jonathan Majors as Atticus Black
Aunjanue Ellis as Hippolyta Black
Abbey Lee as Christina Braithwhite
Jada Harris as Diana Black
Wunmi Mosaku as Ruby Dandridge
Michael Kenneth Williams as Montrose Freeman

[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovecraft_Country_(TV_series))

IMDB

Please read the subreddit rules if you need a refresher and report any posts that break them. Primarily remember to be polite and civil regardless of your opinion on the book or show and do not post unmarked spoilers. Minimum 8-day bans for violations.

Discussion thread archive

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marct334

Deranged Cultist •

Jurnee Smollet is an absolute scene stealer and I love it!

[deleted]

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Loved this episode (and all the others so far). Somehow, at least to me, this episode felt less “Lovecratian.” However, the story, the writing, and the acting were all on point and really makes me hate HBO for clinging to the weekly episode format.

[deleted]

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IMO it was a nice blend between Lovecraftian horror (mad, racist, Herbert West-like scientist experimenting with people in his house) and a traditional Gothic haunted house.

BrinkMeister

Deranged Cultist •

Yea I, got proper Herbeet West vibes from that dude. I first thought it was going to an episode inspired by the Shunned House, but I liked this.

Going to be very intresting to see what they will find in the tunnels, feels like they could continue to build on the Herbert West guy and his experiments. Also if Letis guesses are correct, the police captain was part of it and might know more.

This was a good step up from episode 2, hope they continue this way!

[deleted]

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There were a lot of unresolved secondary plot points in this episode: Hippolyta and the planetarium thing, the police captain, the tunnels and, of course, the bear trap. I'm curious to see how these will play out.

This was a good step up from episode 2

Huge step up, IMO. I was very hyped after episode 1, but episode 2 had me worried. This one seems to prove that the first episode did represent the standard of quality we can expect from this show.

EndoExo

Iä! Iä! •

Loved this episode (and all the others so far). Somehow, at least to me, this episode felt less “Lovecratian.”

I agree, on both points. Well done, but the supernatural bits were a pretty by-the-numbers haunted house story. The last scene seems to set up some good stuff in future episodes.

[deleted]

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[removed]

[deleted]

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I'm aware of the source material. However, the first couple of episodes felt decidedly ”Lovecraftian” and this one didn't so it felt slightly out of place to me. It doesn't mean it was any less good. Just felt like a sudden thematic shift is all

[deleted]

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Very good episode. Some CGI effects looked a tad weird to me (one in particular) but whatever.

I liked the haunted house way more than in the book. I thought it was very boring in the book.

TheKnightOfAutisma

Deranged Cultist •

i burst out in laughter at the baby head guy.

Envojus

Deranged Cultist •

I like that they look a tad weird and low budget. It's Lovecraft after all - they all should feel as if "something is off"

boredwithlife0b

Deranged Cultist •

Loved the haunted houseness of it with Jim Crow laid on top, put a nice twist on the "man is the real monster" bit.

Also that last scene in the house with the elevator, I want to know more.

noncomposmentis_123

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Agreed. But the pacing is giving me whiplash. There's so much good stuff in each episode, I think they easily had enough in this one for two or three.

WrtngThrowaway

Deranged Cultist •

Very much disagree. I think dragging this out to 2 or 3 hours would have felt like it was dragging. I thought the pacing was pitch-perfect. Every plotline got a good resolution except the creepy sorceror family line thing, which it is clear is going to be the thread running through the whole season tying whatever anthology stories they use together.

Letty and Tic's relationship moved forward.

Letty's mysterious cash infusion got an explanation.

Tic's family hiding things from each other is further developed.

The white neighbors harassing Letty in her house get what they're owed, simultaneously removing a threat and setting an example for the neighborhood in case any other white folks get to feeling froggy.

The mini-mengele ghost in the house was banished, and in the process of doing so those horribly mangled and wounded spirits found themselves as well.

Letty finds a way to assert control of her life again even in this new supernatural paradigm.

I can't think of any of those that felt rushed, and any plots that didn't conclude seemed like they didn't wrap up because they're meant to be further developed this season.

I loved it.

CaptainSaucyPants

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I like the creepy wizard lineage thing. Def an on the nose reference to systemic racism and inherited wealth.

LeoLaDawg

Deranged Cultist •

This was me during most of it: "zzzzzz". Otherwise I was: "fast forward, fast forward."

BamBam299

Deranged Cultist •

How did we go from episode 2 to this?

Zeuvembie

Correlator of Contents •

They appear to be mostly following the book so far.

youreimaginingthings

Deranged Cultist •

This had ghosts, possesions, and hauntings. None of that is lovecraftian. Honestly was cringe at alot of parts at the end. Ive recently learned that this is faithful to the book, however, so maybe this was never meant to be lovecraftian(just perhaps piggybacking off its appeal). Maybe my criticism is more aimed towards the source material book, not the show.

[deleted]

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Um... Have you even read Lovecraft? He wrote a wide variety of things. He wrote about decadence and how it corrupts society, dreams and how people relate with them, bodily possession (which has been done over and over again in his stories), and incestuous families that degrade into ape-like people. "Lovecraftian" does not mean "tentacle alien blobs." "Lovecraftian" means everything Lovecraft has written, which is more than just the Mythos. And it's funny you called the Mythos "fresh" even though the Mythos is filled with cliches that have been copied again and again and again throughout popular media. The Mythos is so cliched now that I'm seeing more authors claiming they're sick of Lovecraft even when they used to be fans of him, including myself.

youreimaginingthings

Deranged Cultist •

UMMM The show better have some tentacles or Im out. And let me know which stories had haunted houses or ghosts- but be careful, I will check it. And how is the cthulhu mythos not fresh? Name a piece of media that has similar mythos/creatures

ravendisco

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Faithful to what book? I’m one for creative freedom, but not when it’s presented in such a choppy and rushed manner. I don’t even feel like I know what’s going on half the time and I read the book. I’m going to keep watching...but...meh.

youreimaginingthings

Deranged Cultist •

The lovecraft country book. I dont even know, I havent read it, thats just what Ive heard ppl saying. Meh is right

agentyage

Deranged Cultist •

Have you read HP Lovecraft? His stories have all of those things...

Mr_Banewolf

Deranged Cultist •

This one sort of reminded me of The Alchemist for some reason! Don't really get why people don't think it's lovecraftian, Lovecraft wrote a wide array of genres/types.

youreimaginingthings

Deranged Cultist •

...which one

agentyage

Deranged Cultist •

Possession and calling up of ghosts and spirits is not uncommon. Shadow out of Time has possession, In the Vault is a straightforward ghost story, Charles Dexter Ward is all about rising up spirits of past sorcerers and being possessed by them.

Those titles are off the top of my head so I may be not exact. He wrote way more than just "mythos" style stories and even the mythos stories are pretty varied. He never thought of himself as working in a single continuity, they are separate stories that may share some names and themes but there's no clear sign that the Old Ones in one story refer to the same things as the Old Ones of another. In fact Lovecraft referred to the beings who lived in Antarctica as old ones in Mountains of Madness but they were basically just high tech aliens, otherwise very "human" (not in looks but they had a society and workers and such), that clearly isn't the old ones that Cthulhu is a part of and even Cthulhu seems a lot more concrete and understandable than Yog Sothoth or Azathoth who also get described as old ones.

youreimaginingthings

Deranged Cultist •

I know the old ones are basically aliens- the beings of the mythos cross over into alien stuff for sure. I wasn't saying anything about aliens tho, I was reffering to the ghosts, hauntings etc. I guess the beings of the mythos could "possess" people. After all, the color out of space does that. So Ill take back the possession criticism. Even if he crossed over into the ghosts/haunting genre in other books, his greatest known works were those of the "mythos". And theyre his unique creation- Thats what I want to see. Not more of the same ghost stories and hauntings that sooo many movies get into. The mythos is fresh. Into the vault was a "special" short story made by request by some editor friend of his. It was dedicated to him- and I dont remember it having ghosts, but you would assume that because of the "claw marks" he found on himself at the end.

[deleted]

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Why did so many people downvote your comment? Lovecraft wrote a lot about possessions, it's one of his well known tropes. And many of his stories are about places haunted by some monster, spirit, etc. Just read "Shunned House" one of his famous non-Mythos stories, as an example.

Specialist-Pipe

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OMG. Just because the title has the word “Lovecraft” in it doesn’t mean it’s an ode to everything Lovecraft

youreimaginingthings

Deranged Cultist •

Lmao... Smh. Calm down big boi. Its IS an ode to lovecraft, make no mistake. It had shoggoths in the first episode. Stop messing around.

[deleted]

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This series is following thw book by the same name, it's not "an ode to Lovecraft".

youreimaginingthings

Deranged Cultist •

The books title threw me off I guess (Lol)

GideonHendrik

Deranged Cultist •

Ep3 was an improvement. As much as I liked the first episode I had been disappointed by the second and what I felt was a steep drop in the atmosphere and semi-realism that made the premier stand out. The mingling of period social politics and the supernatural is where this show thrives in my opinion

kaya_te

Deranged Cultist •

I felt really disturbed by the way in which they went about portraying Leti and Tic’s first sexual encounter, it felt like trowing a crumpled piece of paper in the garbage. They didn’t give it a second thought or the proper treatment the action called for.

idevastate

Deranged Cultist •

That was very disappointing, this seems to be going downhill since episode 1. The first episode hinted at something brilliant, with the racial setting and this emerging Lovecraftian element to it, but this is just turning into woke American Horror story with black people.

briandt75

Deranged Cultist •

Bi-polar nonsense, and barely Lovecraft. Not worth continuing with imo.

Deep__Friar

Deranged Cultist •

The one thing I couldn't get past....

What "experiments" would an Astrophysicist be conducting??

The_Wolfshead

Deranged Cultist •

Much better episode this time around, although it felt like a more conventional ghost story again than anything terribly Lovecraftian. I feel it would have been more so if it explored what the main antagonist was aiming to achieve, and indulged in a little more body horror ala Pickman's model or Charles Dexter Ward, but it was a mostly good episode, if leaving a few loose ends at its tail.

[deleted]

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Far fewer comments than the previous two episodes, and while they're more optimistic, the fact that this is the 13th one + the first two being absolutely awful, this post is my last check in with this series