I didn’t know what to expect when I started watching this. Nothing much happens as the story goes along but somehow is engaging, maybe the simple story playing along, meeting the characters or just simply....good acting.... but by the end of the episode I was stuck to my sofa..... I need more!!!!!
Only the first episode is out thus far but I liked what I saw. Was pretty genius really to use 50s racism as a horror element. I found the sundown town scene tense as hell.
This isn’t lovecraftian at all, don’t get your hopes up. This is more like if old racist America met with a magic cult.
However the actors are really what carry this show, it’s better as a character drama than it is as a lovecraftian horror show.
The first episode was ok, but the second and third... this is not Lovecraft.
I watched two episodes. Man... I was so pumped for this show. What a waste of talent, Jonathan Majors could well alone drag a show on his shoulders.
The story is confusing and unengaging, some weird real-world quotes used as a narration element (I only recognized James Baldwin)...
After an hour and a half into the story, I realized. I don't care about anything on the screen.
I guess it's supposed to be artsy and cool, but it just feels like a bad show.
P.S. Americans, can we stop with the racism already? They go into a restaurant and then white guys appear and chase them trying to shoot them in a broad daylight? I don't know the history but feels a bit unrealistic. At least the delivery.
it was very good to watch the series, but I have to say that at times it seemed like they wanted to put more stories than there was time, the main thing for me was the second episode, it was confusing and super rushed because it was a lot of information at once , but overall it's a very good story, the monsters were super well done (there could have been a lot more of them)
ps: if you think racism against POC wasn't as bad as it was shown in the series, do your research and get out of your bubble.
Of course a bunch of people are whining "racism". Wait... Did i just hear that correctly... Do they understand the meaning of that... Or how they are using it?
I thought this was incredible, the acting was even better, and it was great to see such a story or... Whatever... Filled with racism (to show people what it's like. And for many of the rest to understand the experiences, not because i enjoyed it.) and based on or written by someone obsessed with eugenics anyway - that is an interesting thing to me, it's different, and I doubt HP would "appreciate" his work used this way, and that's another reason it's good. Im so sorry if someone wanted to take Lovecraft stories and turn them into something completely different - like a story that doesn't challenge you. Oh and btw - if you're sick of racism, maybe do something about it. I didn't see anything here that was super historically inaccurate when it came to the treatment of POC, during the time then, or even a lot of now. So shut it.
As for the show, it was compelling, terrifying at times, and the story was good. Well written. Well acted. I burned through this for every reason. The horror was not the bad CGI either, that kind that looks so fake it's not believable enough to bother watching. Episode 3 scared the living crap out of me.
I really liked the overall arc of this & i really wish it hadn't been canceled. Idk. I just liked it
I can't believe it's cancelled...
Just announced it was canceled.
This was different, and I liked it. I avoided this at first. I recently got HBO Max to watch Synder's Justice League. After watching that, I seen this and said what the hell why not, y'know? I was thoroughly surprised by this "hybrid-genre" series. Although I wasn't interested in Lovecraftian lit, I was aware of it. (I lean more trekkie, than high fantasy). After the first episode I was pretty engrossed into the series. I thought the premise and how it weaves through major events in American history ala Forrest Gump pretty enthralling. The blending of real world events, science fiction, classic horror, social commentary, magic, religious undertones, some anime vibes (in the episode based in Korea) and yes time travel, puts this series in a class of its own. I really can't compare it to anything off the top of my head. As time passes I think people are really really going to like this season.
Good job HBO, I gotta go buy some AT&T stock.
Thoroughly disappointing series. I gave it a chance and finished the entire first season.
Hamfisted, cliched, one dimensional and even offensive at times. The episode based solely in Korea was the highpoint of the series.
I'm quite surpised HBO greenlit this. HBO produced content has never let me down except for this one.
Hard pass.
Aside from the out of place (and time) modern rap music, I enjoyed this first episode a lot.
Absolutely loving everything about this show, though I have to say, it’s a little disheartening, yet not surprising, that it appears many reviewers are not understanding the true meaning behind the show’s title. Hopefully they’ll stick with the show and get the deeper meaning behind it’s perfect play on words.
I hope this show has a long, long life and continues to uncompromisingly retell some of the most defining moments in black history while maintaining its colorful use of sci-fi and horror to drive its stories along.
The writing and acting is just short of being simply pure perfection in my book. 9/10
I like weird shows, I've enjoyed other Bad Robot shows where a bunch of wacky things happen, this one was too hard to follow for me though. It just seemed weird for the sake of weirdness, and I fully understand why it got cancelled because even six episodes in I couldn't figure out what the real draw was.
[HBO] The proposal to offer a historical vision on racism, mixed with a monsters fantasy that is quite childish, doesn't work well. Using racist elements to condemn racism and a certain macho vision (female characters always are around a male one), the story is messy and confusing. Only episodes that have some independence ("Meet me in Daegu") manage to stand out from idiotic musical anachronisms and poor FX.
Monsters n humpin n killin n cussin ... momma wouldn't approve
I’m 7 episodes in at the time of writing this and since episode 3 I’ve only had one thing on my mind to say to the writers of this show.... I want whatever you’re smoking.
Unflinching depictions of racism, compelling and suspenseful writing and world building topped off with great acting and direction. Really one of the only shows on tv currently that is this unique and affecting. I really hope this gets renewed for season 2!
This is a great show. Interesting and engaging. It seems like every episode hits a different genre. You're never quite sure what's going to happen next.
The performances were all very good I especially liked the Letitia "Letty" character. She was very strong and didn't let anything shake her as she accepted every new piece of crazyness that came her way each episode. All the female characters in this show are very strong and resilient.
It's definitely worth a watch.
How I rate:
1-3 :heart: = seriously! don't waste your time
4-6 :heart: = you may or may not enjoy this
7-8 :heart: = I expect you will like this too
9-10 :heart: = movies and TV shows I really love!
Top notch show it has everything I could want. People are gonna hate for saying this but it was way better than Black Panther. No disrespect to the late Chadwick Bosemen.
Boring. It had some nice moments here and there, but in the end I just felt like I wasted all my time watching it.
The worst series that i've ever seen! Awfull
Very boring show that ramps up to 11 in the last 5 minutes. Judging from the other comments not falling for that trap is a good start
This is perhaps one of the most difficult to review seasons I've seen because of the vast quality onscreen as well as the extremely varied content. The ways in which Lovecraft Country let me down were on an episode to episode basis. In a lot of ways it reminds me of monster of the week storytelling for the first half with a more conventional three episode arc at the end. All in all, yeah that sounds a lot like The X-Files. Which, if you know me, is a pretty high complement. However, like The X-Files that range in quality has some serious shortcomings. And in Lovecraft Country, those shortcomings become somewhat baffling at times considering this is a show about recontextualizing inequality in a new, fresh lens. It's simultaneously one of its biggest selling points while also being something of a let down because although its messages on blackness and racism in America are consistently excellent, the ways in which it shares that load with other forms of diversity and discrimination are muddled, by Misha Green's own admonition.
I'll start with the good. The aesthetic and acting firmly root the show within pulp science-fiction, nearly without a hitch. We have acting that feels at time intentionally over the top with intentionally cheesy VFX to bolster a general sense that this is not meant to be rooted in reality. It allows some of the more gnarly visuals to have a lessened punch to weaker stomached viewers while also letting the themes boil more to the forefront. Jonathon Majors and Jurnee Smollett are revelations onscreen. Michael Kenneth Williams is (predictably) fantastic. And the rest of the cast fills out the show with a varying degrees of success, but Aunjanue Ellis's arc onscreen is stellar. It feels like a rare form where the cast is actually aware of the subgenre they're in. They're not bringing too much to the seriousness that it roots itself in melodrama, but they also know when the drama needs its gravitas. Majors is clearly on a meteoric rise at the moment, and I am enamored. He rocks.
The writing here becomes a bit of a mixed bag, but Lovecraft Country still delivers two of the best episodes of television that aired in 2020: Sundown and Rewind 1921. Both so excellently weave the weird pulpy-ness of the source material with the thematic weight in a way that internalizes the black experience in America reminiscent of Get Out--which makes sense considering Peele's name being associated with the show. I'm not giving him all the credit though, Misha Green nailed those two episodes. There's a handful of other extremely solid episodes, from Whitey's on the Moon to A History of Violence and a couple that feel a little unsure of how to put forth an overall narrative with Lovecraftian influence when answers in those stories are intentionally hard to pin down.
Here's where I think Lovecraft Country starts to falter the most. It's also one of the oddest things to falter on, too. When you start looking at the show as a whole, the Lovecraft of it all is actually pretty minimal. There's definitely a root of that unknown dread (particularly in the first few episodes) but whereas Lovecraft never really explored specificity (thankfully, because then those stories would be even more xenophobic), Country is keen to show and tell us all about it. And so all these plot threads that feel weird become less weird. But there's less being thrown at you as you go on that matches the heights of the initial states of confusion in the show so we're missing some pretty confounding gaps of what someone might consider necessary from a Lovecraftian narrative.
Listen. Those types of stories are notoriously difficult to adapt properly because of how American storytelling begs answers when Lovecraft basically just answered questions with sentences that borderline made no sense. So we're left with the best instances of Lovecraftian adaptations spread far and wide. I'm probably not the first to say that the best for my money is Bloodborne, a game reluctant to give any concrete answers with a progression that never shies away from being absolutely disgusting and continually throws new stuff at you at every corner. And knowledge is virtually nonexistent because Miyazaki never makes games that give concrete answers. Hell, narratively speaking characters in Bloodborne who search for answers literally go insane. So, match made in heaven.
Lovecraft Country doesn't quite do this. Answers are there because answers are key to the theming and it's key to shine a light to racism. So what we're left with is a show that feels less like Lovecraft and a bit more like Harry Potter. I genuinely don't mean that as an insult, either. I love those books. But it does feel like Lovecraft Country was looking to a second season for things to get really bonkers and pool the wool out from under us. Maybe then we could've gotten a Cthulhu onscreen...but wait, why are there tentacles on the poster?
Ultimately, the dust has settled on the series. It's been canceled despite being one of the most nominated shows of the year. It's highly acclaimed, but also nonexistent (which is kind of ironic for a Lovecraftian show). This is all likely a rabbit hole of information stemming from an initial positive reaction to the series which led Green to seek other offers from other networks which then led to her inking a deal with Apple when some of the mid-season ratings started to dip and then when the deal went through, HBO canceled Lovecraft Country as capitalism's competitive spirit strikes again. I initially watched the show week to week and was enamored. Then I had a big move across the country and fell off the wagon and when I got back on it, I watched an episode that I found so extremely difficult to stomach that I stopped watching again for a very long time. I came back though and remembered why I liked the show so much initially. Because it's a series that was genuinely unafraid to throw the baby out with the bath water. Say what you will about it on an episode to episode basis (I sure have), but this is a series that was constantly able to reinvent itself--sometimes to its detriment--to keep us on our toes. What we're left with is a season that also hedged its bets on a second season to wrap up the narrative in such a big way that the news of its cancelation isn't just disappointing, it taints the (now) series finale with a sense of "uhhh...ok?"
But you know, as I think about it that's how tons of Lovecraft's stories also end. Call it divine intervention. I'll call it Cthulhu.
p.s. I know that this is based off a book. I unfortunately haven't read it, although I'd like to.
Passable.
If they had done the racism part in a different way, like in Them series or in Django Unchained then maybe I would give it more marks.
It has more racism than Lovecraft theme and that has done a lot of damage to the series.
The cast is fine, your photography is fine and the idea could have given more play.
Canceled but can be seen.
All together (not so well together) is a very inconsistent show. Try to tell so much stories, much more than has space for it. So it looses gravitas and direction. Deus Ex Machina everywhere, and so needy to be affirmative in so many fronts that the story looses.
The first two or three episodes were really good and after that, it gets really weird. I stopped watching at episode 5 where things were going out of control.
a must see. end of story!
Completely fearless, brave, unique and breathtakingly weird. By far the most original show to come out of 2020, Lovecraft Country is a trip that has to be experienced fully to be believed: I loved it! Its anthology-esque structure is refreshing with largely different storylines each episode with a core group of characters. It throws everything at the wall and most of it sticks, the genre-shifting is handled really well and you will almost certainly be surprised. For a great double-act, pair it with the equally insane Lovecraft horror fare Color out of Space.
I was going to give this movie 9/10 BUT the white guy getting shoe in the ahole made this a perfect 10 for me. LMAOL.
Every episode it´s getting better
The best horror we’ve had on TV in a long, long time.
Great start, I really enjoy the pilot to the end. Did not feel sleepy for a second watching this. Most of the show I watch can really get flat and boring,most of which as meaning less episodes each season. Let's hope the intensity of this show continues. There was just one scene that I didn't like that didn't fit the time period ,however I will not touch that subject matter at this time. Thumbs up for the pilot.
I thought it was brutal, I can say that I liked it a lot and even so I would be short of it, I want more! I'm looking for the book so I can read it.
Shout by RokeefeBlockedParent2020-10-14T04:24:13Z
Don’t waste your time. It’s basically if black people from racist America met magic.
It had so much potential but this is so lame