Lovecraft Country: Season 1 / Episode 3 “Holy Ghost” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

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Three weeks since Ardham and there is some attempt to move on. However, ghosts and Christina remind Atticus and company things have just begun.

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Director(s)	Daniel Sackheim
Writer(s)	Misha Green
Aired (HBO)	8/30/2020

This content contains pertinent spoilers.

Recap

Trying To Move On & Move Out – Leti, Ruby, Atticus, Monstrose, Hippolyta

1955 is the year, and it is memorable beyond the rise of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. for Atticus and his family, for it is also the year his uncle died. The official cause of death is a racist sheriff killing him, but the parties who were there know the truth and try not to talk about it. In fact, Atticus has tried his best to move on and step in for Uncle George by cooking, cleaning, working on the guide, and this leaves Hippolyta too much time on her hands to think.

This leads to the vibe that he is overstaying his welcome, so he decides perhaps it would be best to spend some time with his father but, Montrose being Montrose, it seems that isn’t a good idea either. So, with that in mind, he planned to say his goodbyes to Leti, who just purchased herself a new house, but things don’t get to be that simple.

Why? Well, old feelings rise up between Leti and Atticus and add in some unwelcoming neighbors, and this keeps Atticus from heading back to Florida. However, what he walks into with Leti’s new home is something serious. For one, Leti and Ruby end up having an argument over the idea their mother left money to Leti to buy said house. Thus Ruby revealing she doesn’t just think Leti has been a f*** up but is f***ed up.

Yet, the real trouble for Leti might be that 8 Black folk died in the basement, killed by a man named Hiram Epstein, and his ghost, alongside theirs, haunt the house and threaten Leti’s guest. Making her hopes of having a rooming house on the northside seem unlikely.

Something Gnawing At My Spirit – Leti, Ruby, Atticus, Monstrose, Hippolyta

However, while scared, Leti has no intentions to run. Instead, she starts investigating the history of the house, the name Winthrop, and gets a voodoo woman to cleanse the place. A task which ultimately works, but does leave some loose ends.

Such as? Well, you could include her and Atticus having sex, and Atticus being her first, which leaves you to wonder, with the ghost gone, what can be said about their relationship now? Never mind his life back in Florida?

However, another issue might be Hippolyta’s spirit knowing she doesn’t know the whole truth about George, and it gnawing at her. Making it so, while she loves her husband’s family, something about Atticus, even Montrose, disturbs her spirit. But, as Montrose notes to Atticus, what good would it do to tell the woman the truth? Never mind, could she handle it?

We’ve Only Just Begun – Atticus, Christina, Leti

Getting back to loose ends, the idea Leti’s mom would leave money just to Leti, never mind enough to get a house, is ridiculous to many. Plus, with Atticus taking note of the research Leti was doing on the former owner, he goes to visit the realtor and comes across Christina. Someone he tries to kill on sight, but Christina puts a spell on her cousin to keep him from killing her and rather pushes him to search for the missing pages from the book of names.

After all, with her father disposed of, for now, as well as the majority of the Sons of Adam, this means she has the opportunity to use all her studies of the dark arts. However, Atticus is a necessary component for her goals, and she’d rather him help than be opposed and attempting to kill her, a white woman, which would only lead to him dying. So she pushes him to find the pages Horatio Winthrop stole from the book of names so that her studies can continue and her power grow.

Things To Note | Question(s) Left Unanswered

1. Do you think Leti is going to end up pregnant? Ain’t like there were any condoms involved.
2. Did Christina have any influence or power over the spirits in Leti’s house?
3. To get to the floor where the bodies are held, can that only be done by accident or does Leti know they are down there?
4. How is Marvin going to react to the idea Leti was left money?
5. What does Montrose do for work to afford his place?
6. How did the ghost Dee was dealing with know she was George’s daughter?
7. Even with the ghosts being dealt with, who is going to room at Leti’s place with racist surrounding her? Never mind, with the missing bodies and what she did to those cars, are we to believe her neighbors and the cops are just going to leave her alone?
8. With that said, are the ghost of the 8 people now protecting the house or free?
9. Taking note Christina spoke to Atticus like they are family, should we assume her side of the family married into Titus’ and she has access to that shipping fortune?

Review

Highlights

The Disturbing Imagery

The baby head on the grown man, the woman holding the fetus cut out of her, I’m not going to say that’s going to give me nightmares, for Martyrs heightened my tolerance for gory imagery, but that was something, right? It makes you wonder if Lovecraft Country is going to play a game of escalation with itself in trying to be more twisted, violent, and gory? Especially considering we saw someone’s head chopped off by an elevator, amongst the results of Hiram’s experiments.

Christina Makes The Perfect Endgame Villain

What you have to enjoy about Christina is she isn’t necessarily evil. Is she an adversary? Yes. However, she is one who would prefer to be a benevolent puppet master than someone you feel the need to fight and challenge. Making her far more intriguing than her father and what you might expect from a villain on a show like this.

Now, this isn’t to say she may not switch it up as Atticus wises up and perhaps can match her in power. However, it will take a long time for us to get to that point, and until then, it’ll be interesting seeing her trying to play nice while also being ready to have someone’s neck get snapped.

Atticus and Letitia

As individuals and a duo, I don’t think we can get better than Atticus and Letitia. Letitia continues to show that she is that girl. From not running from the house just because it’s haunted, but rather researching why and finding someone who could dispel the evil spirit, and destroying the cars or her harassers, she gives you so much. I mean, the desire to live vicariously is high.

Then with Atticus, he is made to be this ideal yet isn’t boring. He is this big dude, strong, reliable, smart, and loving. Granted, it didn’t take him long to get off, but let’s not pretend every time people have sex it lasts hours and hours. Sometimes it is a heat of the moment kind of thing.

Atticus lasting a minute or two aside, there is something you have to love about seeing him help his aunt, trying to mend his relationship with his father, and stepping up when Leti needed him to. It makes it, so their relationship doesn’t seem rushed or forced, but a long time coming. Even without seeing them as kids and us only 3 episodes in.

Where To Watch

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