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Lovecraft Country might be the most ambitious show on television today. In just one season, we’ve dealt with the horrors of Tulsa massacre, the tragedy of Emmett Till, and even danced in 1920s Paris with Josephine Baker. Oh, and there’s magic. Lovecraft Country showrunner Misha Green is juggling a lot in the HBO series’ first season, which is why it’s incredible that she admitted on Twitter last night that she knows she “failed” one particular character’s storyline: Yahima (Monique Candalaria).
Yahima is an indigenous Two Spirit character who was introduced in Lovecraft Country Episode 4 “A History of Violence,” only to be senselessly murdered a few scenes later. Atticus (Jonathan Majors), Montrose (Michael K. Williams), and Leti (Jurnee Smollett) meet them while exploring the Braithwhite tomb that’s hidden under a Natural History museum. While at first, they seem like some kind of decaying monster, magic soon reveals Yahima to be a tragic prisoner of Titus Braithwhite’s hideous magic.
In Arawak, Yahima explains to Tic that they met Titus on one of his journeys to Guyana. Not knowing that the man was evil, Yahima helped him decipher some of the symbols in the Book of Names. Titus repaid Yahima by murdering their family and imprisoning them for centuries…until Tic and company show up.
While Yahima seems at first to be a wonderful ally in the fight against the Sons of Adam, Montrose murders them to ensure that Tic can’t learn more about the Book of Names. Tic is angry at Montrose at first, but uh, about an episode later, it’s forgotten. So what gives? For a show that’s so determined to bring dignity to the oppressed in American history, why treat an indigenous and an intersex character so brutally?
Well, a fan asked Lovecraft Country showrunner Misha Green about Yahima last night. And she had a thoughtful answer.
When asked by Twitter user @YungAllyce “why y’all chose to portray Yahima the y’all did,” Green said this:
“I wanted to show the uncomfortable truth that oppressed folks can also be oppressors. But I didn’t examine or unpack the moment/portrayal of Yahima as thoroughly as I should have. It’s a story point worth making, but I failed in the way I chose to make it.”
Green’s mea culpa in this situation is something of a rarity among showrunners working today, which is something many fans in the replies to her tweet took to heart. And as one fan noted, there may still yet be an opportunity to do right by Yahima if Lovecraft Country returns for a second season. Yahima’s history with Titus Braithwhite could be featured in an episode much like Lovecraft Country dealt with Ji-Ah (Jamie Chung) and Tic’s own role as an oppressor in the Korean War.
Still for now, Misha Green knows she mishandled Yahima’s story. She admits it and she’s been able to explain what she had hoped the story would be in the first place.
