‘Lovecraft Country’ Episode 5’s Big Twist is a Wild Departure from the Book

**LOVECRAFT COUNTRY EPISODE 5 SPOILERS AHEAD**

“You’ve been William this whole fucking time?!?” Ruby (Wunmi Mosaku) screeches at Christina Braithwhite (Abbey Lee) towards the end of Lovecraft Country Episode 5 “Strange Case.” It’s an all-time hilarious line delivery from Mosaku and sums up the rabid levels of shock Lovecraft Country fans should be experiencing at this moment. Sure, the signs started to stack up towards the end of last night’s episode, but for book readers, it’s a total 180 from what we were expecting. That’s because in the novel written by Matt Ruff, Ruby is seduced by Caleb Braithwhite (whose manservant is named William).

Lovecraft Country didn’t just gender-bend one of its key characters; it opened up a whole new level of conversation about sex, gender, sexism, and ambition by revealing that William is merely Christina’s masculine alter-ego. (Or is something even wilder going on?) Let’s just say the Christina/William Lovecraft Country twist forces us to ask a helluva lot of questions…

Lovecraft Country Episode 5 “Strange Case” is loosely based on Chapter 5 “Jekyll in Hyde Park.” As in that tale, Ruby is romantically approached by a white man — Caleb Braithwhite, in the book — who offers her a life-changing opportunity. What she doesn’t realize is that he wants to use magic to make her white. While Lovecraft Country the show started this storyline last week, this week’s episode is all about Ruby experiencing life through the eyes of a white woman she dubs “Hillary” (Jamie Neumann). With this physical change, Ruby is able to obtain her dream job at Marshall Fields and discover how twisted white culture is.

Ruby is also asked to help her white lover spy on the Chicago chapter of the Sons of Adam. The whole relationship is a transactional one. Ruby gets to transcend the racial and economic barriers that frustrate her ambitions, while Caleb gets a spy on the inside of his rivals’ court. However, by introducing the William/Christina twist, HBO’s Lovecraft Country complicates this relationship. Not only do we get to examine another level of persecution — the sexism of the Sons of Adam and, indeed, the patriarchy — but there’s a suggestion that Christina might actually be into Ruby as more than a pawn. As a lover.

Of course, the revelation that Christina has been “playing” the part of William all this time introduces another wrinkle to Lovecraft Country‘s storyline that’s not there in the books. There, Caleb merely wants to wrest control of the Sons of Adam away from the antiquated notions of the older generation. Christina, however, seems interested by revenge. Not for her but “William.” As she tells Ruby at the Chicago lodge, William is the rightful heir to the Chicago chapter, but Police Captain Seamus Lancaster (Mac Brandt) shot him in the back and left him for dead.

…but Lancaster has already seen Christina in the timeline of the show and knows she’s in Chicago? So was Christina shot and Lancaster is oblivious to her alter ego? Or was there an ur-William (original William) who was shot and Christina is posing as him??

That last theory might sound wild, but it’s obvious that the show is keeping one mechanic of the story from the book. Ruby didn’t just change her skin; she adopted the form of another person. In her case, “Hillary” was Dell. The surly Ardham groundskeeper in Episode 2. It’s explained to Ruby in the book that Dell is essentially comatose after receiving a blow to the head and the magical serum is extracted from her blood.

So what is in the basement for real? Is the original William down there, to boot? Are we going to finally see what Christina has been hiding in a future episode of Lovecraft Country? And what does it say about Christina that she enjoys playing the part of a man, right down to seducing Ruby?

Lovecraft Country‘s latest twist just makes us hungry for more of the HBO show…

Where to stream Lovecraft Country