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Lovecraft Country
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Lovecraft Country Episode 2 “Whitey’s on the Moon” ripped our hearts out with as much gusto as Christina Braithwhite (Abbey Lee) pulled that baby shoggoth out of that poor cow. In just two episodes, showrunner Misha Green has given us references to Gil Scott-Heron, characters who survived the Tulsa Massacre, and emotionally destroyed us with a beloved character’s shocking death. (Yeah, no, that person does not die in Lovecraft Country the book!!) So what does it all mean? Did you catch all the world-building Easter eggs? And did Green really have to needle drop Leon Bridges’s “River” at such an emotionally compromising moment!?!?
**LOVECRAFT COUNTRY EPISODE 2 SPOILERS AHEAD**
Taking (most of) its cues from Matt Ruff’s book, Lovecraft Country Episode 2 concludes the first chapter installment of the bestselling novel. However, there were some major changes. For one, Caleb Braithwhite, the mysterious son of Samuel Braithwhite (Tony Goldwin), is Christina Braithwhite in the show. Heroine Leti Lewis (Jurnee Smollett) gets to do a whole lot more — including wiping out Ardham’s racist groundswoman Dell (Jamie Neumann). Oh, and yeah, Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) DOES NOT DIE in the book! He’s actually around for a whole lot more action.
So what do these changes mean for the show? What does the episode’s title, “Whitey’s on the Moon”, have to do with the ceremony that Atticus (Jonathan Majors) barely survives? And does Lovecraft Country officially connect to HBO’s Watchmen?!?
Here are five things you may have missed in Lovecraft Country Episode 2 “Whitey’s on the Moon.”
Leon Bridges's "River" Must Mean... Uncle George is Really Dead!
Closing out Lovecraft Country Episode 2’s literally explosive ending? Leon Bridges’s song “River.” The emotional song seems to play as a memorial honoring Uncle George’s sacrifice.
A few things to note here. Lovecraft Country is not the first HBO show to use the powerful ballad in its soundtrack. Oh no, that honor goes to Big Little Lies.
The bigger issue at hand? Uncle George doesn’t die in the book!!! So is it possible that magic could bring Uncle George back? Could he secretly be alive? Lovecraft Country star Jurnee Smollett’s tweets last night…do not inspire hope.
Yep, showrunner Misha Green might be using Matt Ruff’s novel as a framework for her audacious show, but she’s going to be far more ruthless than Ruff was. So who else is in trouble???
The Meaning of Gil Scott-Heron's "Whitey on the Moon"
Lovecraft Country Episode 2 takes its title from a song/spoken word poem by artist Gil Scott-Heron. The lyrics of “Whitey on the Moon” detail the numerous sorrows plaguing Scott-Heron’s narrator thanks to poverty. While the few hard earned dollars the narrator makes are siphoned away with taxes, those tax dollars fund white astronauts’ journeys to the moon. The implication is that Black people suffer while white folks drain them for their own miraculous luxuries.
The song plays while Tic is offered up in the Sons of Adam’s mystical ceremony. Samuel Braithwhite is using the Braithwhite blood in Tic’s body to ostensibly open up a gate to paradise. This will drain the life out of Tic while giving Titus immortality.
Gil Scott-Heron died in 2011, but his work — most notably, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” — is considered foundational for the rise of hip hop.
Who's Horacio Winthrop?? Book Readers Already Know
In a “blink and you may have missed it” moment, Tic sees the names of two of the founders of the Sons of Adam painted in the Braithwhite house. Notably: Titus Braithwhite and Horacio Winthrop.
Now Titus Braithwhite is the shared ancestor of Tic, Christina, and Samuel. It was he who built the original house and he who perished when he botched the ceremony in the early 1800s. But who is Horacio Winthrop? Book readers already have a good idea…
The Winthrop line is another major house in the Sons of Adam. And let’s just say, Winthrop is a name you might be hearing a lot about staring as soon as next week…
'Lovecraft Country's Chilling Connection to 'Watchmen': Tulsa
When trailers first dropped for Lovecraft Country, speculation was rampant that this show could be HBO’s follow up to the mega hit Watchmen. After all, we’re talking thrills, chills, and a head on confrontation with the sin of racism. However, Lovecraft Country is a wildly different show. Except they have one devastating thing in common: their heroes are survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre.
In tonight’s episode, we learn through George’s vision that he, Montrose (Courtney B. Vance), and Tic’s mother Dora (Erica Tazel) were all from Tulsa. Though they don’t go into it, the timeline suggests that the Freeman family were survivors of the same horrific event that touched Angela Abar’s family in Watchmen (and so many in real life). This is further expounded upon in Matt Ruff’s book.
The other interesting thing that this scene revealed? Montrose may not be Atticus’s real father. Uncle George may have been. Though he’s devoted to his wife and daughter in Chicago, this scene makes it clear that George and Dora had feelings for each other. Plus, the fact that Tic seems wildly more like George than his father suggests we might have some paternity drama on our hands.
Where Do Babies Come From, Shoggoth Edition
In the work of HP Lovecraft, shoggoths were created by the alien species Elder Things to be enslaved workhorses only used for labor. In Lovecraft Country, they’re used as guard dogs for Ardham and seemingly birthed from a normal cow??
Look this scene was weird. It combined the horror of a gooey monster being born with the feel-good sweetness of an agrarian farm birth. It was also, seemingly, Christina’s big moment to prove she has the goods to keep the Braithwhite legacy alive.
By gender swapping Christina’s character from the book, Misha Green opens up the possibility for additional social commentary in her show. Caleb Braithwhite butted heads with his father and dreamed of a more “progressive” order, but Christina has to deal with the inherent sexism of lodge culture to boot.
What that cow-shoggoth birthing scene bodes for the future is anyone’s guess. We’re just guessing that it’s going to be important somehow…
