Lovecraft Country S1.02 — The Garden of Eden
It seems like each episode of Lovecraft Country is a mini-movie, with a full theme, plot, and fairly succinct ending (yes, I’m making this generalization after watching 2 episodes and the teaser for next week). But all of them have one thing in common: racism. They do an incredible job of weaving the fantastical with the very real and very sad history of racism and violence against Black people in this country.
In episode 2, Leti and Uncle George find paradise in the mansion, at lease for a short while. Their rooms are full of their favorite books (for George) and clothes that fit just right (for Leti). Tic tries to convince them that something isn’t right and when he reminds them of the monsters they faced the night before, they can’t remember anything.
They decide to go into the village to look for Montrose, Tic’s dad. They figure their best bet is the only stone building for miles — a silo that is full of meat and guarded by German Shepherds and their racist owner. They have a very not subtle conversation with her about black (bears) and then head back to the mansion as the sun goes down.
In the forest, George remembers that Tic’s mother once told him she had a great-ancestor who worked for Titus Braithewhite, the man who built the mansion and started the Order. He was “very nice” to his slaves (aka he raped them). The great-ancestor ran from the house when it burned down. So, quick family tree:
- Titus Braithewhite rapes Tic’s great-great-ancestor and she runs away while pregnant
- She gives birth and the line continues to Tic’s mother
- Tic’s mother and his father or Uncle George produce Tic
2 monsters appear once more but they are called off by Christina Braithewhite, the daughter of Samuel, who currently owns the mansion. George and Leti have their memories wiped once more and then they are brought back to their rooms. Tic follows Christina to her father’s lab where he is having something (a kidney?) removed. They have a fairly ridiculous conversation about Adam naming all of the animals and “putting them in their places” and then Tic is dismissed.
Obviously, Samuel is not a good guy. Christina is not great either, but because she is a woman and can never become part of the Order, she seems somewhat willing to help Tic. She removes the amnesia spell from George and Leti, but locks all 3 of them in their separate rooms with some clear magic barrier. But, George finds a secret passageway through the bookcase (of course) to a huge library where he stumbles upon the bylaws of the Order. I’m pretty sure Christina and potentially William set it up so that George would find this because the passageway opened on George’s favorite book.
Then, all 3 of them experience hallucinations and the guests at the party watch and laugh while drinking their wine. Jerks. Tic fights with the woman he was seeing/potentially has a baby with in Vietnam, Leti hooks up with a version of Tic who has a snake instead of a penis, and George dances with Dora, who we are pretty sure is Tic’s mom.
After their hallucinations end, the men are told to dress in formally and go downstairs for dinner. Everyone sits and the guests are clearly unhappy that there are 2 Black men joining. They are doubly unhappy when each person is served a tiny sliver of what can only be Samuel’s kidney. And then they are triply unhappy when George monologues about their bylaws and reveals that Tic, as a son of sons (descendent of Titus) can order them all around.
Tic orders everyone except Samuel to leave and they do! Score one for Tic and George. But, Samuel reveals that he doesn’t actually care about the bylaws — he just cares that because Titus had put spells on his body, some of his power is now in Tic. “Diluted and tainted” but in there. He walks away, presumably to continue prepping for the dawn ceremony.
Meanwhile, Tic and George break into the silo to find Montrose. The racist dog owner follows behind them but Leti hits her over the head with a shovel. They realize Montrose (played by Michael K. Williams who also played Omar in The Wire) has escaped on his own, but they find him easily. Montrose is immediately mean to Tic and reveals that he wrote the letter under duress, which makes sense because Samuel needs Tic to open the door to the Garden of Eden.
The 4 of them jump in the silver Bentley and hit the road. Unfortunately, they run straight into one of those invisible barriers (clearly the same thing that happened to that truck from last episode) and crash. As they exit the car, Samuel shoots Leti and she dies. He also shoots Uncle George.
Cut to: they are washing Tic for the ceremony. Through a clear doorway barrier, we see Leti come back to life — she is healed! Christina explains that, if Tic cooperates for the ceremony, Samuel will heal George as well. She gives him a gold ring and tells him that their destinies are not set in stone.
At the ceremony, Tic is electrified as Samuel speaks the Language of Adam. Lightening flows through Tic into the gateway and all sorts of plants start to grow. It looks like it is working until through the gateway, Tic sees his great-great-ancestor. She works to stop the magic and, like what happened when Titus tried this many years ago, the entire place explodes.
Tic follows his ancestor through the doorway and meets up with Leti who tearfully tells him that Uncle George didn’t make it. It is sad, but they gave him a scene last ep where he called his wife and told her about all of the things they were going to do together when he returned…he was obviously not going to survive.
Next episode looks like a straight horror storyline with, of course, some very real racism added in. See you then!
Originally published at http://lizziekreitman.wordpress.com on August 24, 2020.