Have you ever wondered if magic was real and wasn’t just in storybooks? Mythical creatures, daring quests, and immortality are all real in HBO’s Lovecraft Country. Lovecraft Country is a sci-fi drama roller-coaster from start to finish and I enjoyed every minute of it. Season 1 just finished and I needed to tell someone about it, so here’s the season 1 review.
Lovecraft Country follows the story of Atticus “Tic” Freeman (Johnathan Majors) as he goes on a road trip with his friend Letitia Lewis (Jurnee Smollett) and his uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) across 1950’s Jim Crow America to find his missing father. During the road trip, not everything is as it seems once the sun goes down and from then on out, all hell breaks loose.
What’s interesting about this show is how easily it shows you the horrors of H.P. Lovecraft’s monsters and fantastical adventures, but deep down, the true monster of the show lies in its real world setting. Misha Green masterfully blends the supernatural horrors with the real world horrors of Jim Crow America and racism. The show touches on subjects such as sundown towns, redlining, generational trauma, and the death of Emmett Till in a way that gives it nuance that you wouldn’t usually expect from shows and movies during that time. Usually with shows covering the subject of Jim Crow America, they tend to lean towards the “white savior” narrative and don’t fully make the Black characters full characters. When it comes to Sci-fi and dark fantasy, Black and other POC are majorly never seen. I was really excited to finally see a show that not only covers the subject of Jim Crow America in a new way, but gives the Black characters agency in their own show.
Lovecraft Country completely blew me away with the storytelling, characters, and the fashion. Let me also just say that this show needs all of its flowers. It has one of the single best horror movie runs that I have ever seen and it’s thanks to Jurnee Smollett’s incredible acting and running skills (give Jurnee her flowers!).
I believe that HBO struck gold with Lovecraft Country, especially after the success of Watchmen. Lovecraft Country is an amazing sci-fi adventure that had me questioning everything from start to finish… and honestly, I still have questions! With only 10 episodes, Lovecraft Country is available to stream on HBO Max. There hasn’t been a confirmation of whether or not it gets a season 2, but with the way it’s being received, I have high hopes.