Lovecraft Country Episode 2: Whitey’s on the Moon

The first episode of Lovecraft Country was brilliant, and I was looking forward to the second episode all week. I assumed that the first episode was setup for what would be a longer plot-line in which it would slowly reveal Atticus’s family history would be explored. It seems after the second episode that isn’t the case.

I didn’t enjoy this episode as much as the first episode, not that it wasn’t an excellent episode of TV. Part of it is that a show can’t surprise you as easily the second or third time, and part of it is that some more subtle undercurrents seemed less prevalent as the show plowed forward into even stranger things.

As Atticus, Letitia and George had finally reached their destination this episode began with them inside the strange old mansion. And immediately something odd seemed to be going on, as both Letitia and George seemed to be enjoying themselves. This wouldn’t be all that strange except that they had both witnessed multiple horrific deaths only a few hours before and dancing around while dressing seemed out of character.

But this wasn’t a mistake or break in continuity as I had feared. Instead, someone had erased the memories of the night before from both of their memories. They had also fixed their damaged car and were doing everything they could to make it seem as if nothing had happened, though they hadn’t altered Atticus’s memories.

A lot happens in this episode. They visit the town while Atticus tries to convince the others they had lost their memories and were attacked by monsters and they, reasonably, don’t believe him. They are eventually forced back to the mansion where they continue their search for Atticus’s father. But the wizards who run the place use magic to manipulate the three of them.

After a failed attempt to escape, they force Atticus to take place in a ritual which the wizards hope will give them immortality. Without spoiling it too much, it doesn’t go well and Atticus escapes. Which leads to my problems with this episode.

The primary concern is that it didn’t really feel as if the protagonists of the story did that much. They survived, but the way they survived felt more like a lucky break than something that came out of their own actions. That said, it is possible that I missed something or that more will be revealed later, but for now it just felt unsatisfying.

The second problem is that this felt a bit as if the show will be more episodic than I had hoped. I had assumed that the first episode was taking time to explore the characters and that they would then move into the longer story. But since most of the story I thought they were moving into seemed completed by the end of this episode I’m uncertain if that is the case or not since the preview from the next episode seemed to have them back in Chicago doing something that appeared loosely connected to what happened in this episode.

I never expected Lovecraft Country to keep up the same level of quality as the first episode. But I had hoped that the series might build on itself more. It may still do that, but as it is, it feels as if aside from the characters every episode is starting from 0 and that will make every reaching the quality of the first episode difficult if not impossible.