Review of 'Lovecraft Country' 1.3

It should be apparent by now that Lovecraft Country is an anthology of separate stories set on a foundation of a continuing underlying story, rather than just a straightforward continuing story. This has the effect of making the underlying story more difficult to follow, but allowing the series to explore a lot more than one classic horror trope.

Last night, episode 1.3 brought us a deeply haunted house. Leti buys it, a real fix-me up, on the white side of Chicago. She not only encounters all manner of ghostly inhabitants in the basement, but white racist hoodlums who put up a burning KKK cross on her lawn and do their best to frighten her into leaving the house. She of course isn't frightened by them -- she has the ghosts to worry about -- and before the episode is over, the racists get their due comeuppance.

Meanwhile, the underlying story has at least once excellent development: Leti and Atticus have at it. This is handled with grace and sensitivity and vulnerability. Amidst all the horror around them, it's good to see human relationships triumphing.

Unfortunately, it looks like Uncle George is indeed dead. But when you're dealing with magic and horror, it's always important to keep in mind that dead isn't the same as in our non-magical world, in which the horror can and does have irrevocable effects. So can we look forward to George returning, and, if so, in a fully corporeal human not ghostly fashion?

Just one of the things I'll be watching for in the weeks ahead.