With "Holy Ghost," Lovecraft Country pulls ahead, proving itself to be a contender among the all-time great Horror TV shows. "Holy Ghost" gives hope that the series can do the compelling episodic format just as well as the more arc-oriented episodes, if not better. Even better, "Holy Ghost" is goddam terrifying!
Personally, i am loving how this show is taking the fear and horror of racism and adding in a supernatural element. Like, moving into an all-white neighborhood where yr decidedly unwelcome and terrorized non-stop is already nerve-wracking. O, and guess what? Yr house also has the ghost of a bigoted serial killer and undead wizard, as well as their victims!
10/10, it doesn't get better than this imo. Some excellent performances from the cast, and top shelf chemistry, just seals the deal. Lovecraft Country is quickly becoming one of my new favourite shows!
The scene with Letitia giving the racist pig spirit a shot with the help of the souls of the black people he killed, was spectacular OMFG.
Best episode for me so far.
First episode was a bit slow to setup.
Second episode was too fast with too many things happening.
This one was just perfect!
I didn’t expect the horror and racism mix to be this powerful… but it makes sense now that I’m writing it.
What the hell is going on & what is this show about. So confused.
This is such a good show! My favorite episode so far.
I grew up in Redwood City (SF Bay Area, California), in a poor neighborhood apartment complex. I wasn't aware of our being poor. I wasn't aware of racism. I was beat up a couple of times by black kids in fifth grade. And, to this day, I remain unaware of how I upset those two classmates who started fights with me. But, I was unaware of my ADD most of my life, and. once I became aware of it, coupled with some Cognitive Behavior Training through the, "More To Life," foundation, got to see how I used holding others in lower esteem as a false sense of power...just to get some brief dopamine access once in a while by having a script in my head that had more to do with my believing how separate I was from whomever I'd get upset with, since at that time I didn't know how to get better and more consistent dopamine access through feeling solidarity with others....
I always wonder if the racism I experienced as a kid was the result of certain attitudes I picked up from my father, which might've come out as things I said. I was emotionally retarded...still am to some extent. But, I enjoy see a show like this and get to imagine myself as being one of the People of color, fore-armed with the lore of the books they'd read to deal with the evil they face.... Just, 'WOW!.'
The first episode was great but it's been downhill since then.
[7.6/10] Here’s the weird thing about Lovecraft Country -- it doesn’t fit neatly into any of TV’s meta-genres. It’s not really an episodic show, because there’s not really a premise or a formula that it applies in varying forms from week-to-week. It’s not really a serialized show, because while there’s continuing elements and characters, it’s not as though each episode is a chapter of the story that feeds directly into the next. And it’s not an anthology show either, since it uses the same cast of characters and the same universe even as it tells new standalone stories from week-to-week.
It’s a strange hybrid, more a mix between an anthology show and something serialized than anything else. With a few minor changes, each of the first three installments could be their own thing: a horror on the road story, a magical cult story, and a haunted house story. There’s continuing elements in each of them, but a lot of them feel spackled on to narratives that don’t really require them, making it kind of an odd fit. There’s times when the show seems like neither fish nor fowl, which can make it hard to get a handle on.
But here’s the thing -- I really like the standalone story concept here. As cliché as Haunted House stories have become in the last...oh...one hundred and fifty years, there’s a really compelling approach here. Matching the supernatural horror of a ghost trying to get the new occupants to vacate his home with the real life horror of racists trying to drive people of color out of their neighborhoods gives “Holy Ghost” a resonance that’s missing from more traditional versions of the tale.
The episode does a good job of mixing both. The racism Leti and her friends and family face is equal parts galling and terrifying. The harassment by other locals in the form of perpetually honking horns, the appalling cross-burning on her lawn, and the horrifying treatment by the cops gives the audience a reflection of the true prejudices and abuses real black people faced in these neighborhoods.
At the same time, the horror elements work nearly as well. I’ll admit that the ouija board and the initial “something’s off in the basement” bits didn’t do much for me. But the climax of the haunted house element in particular was really well done. There is, again, a real life resonance to the notion that a callous doctor performed terrible experiments on black people in the home, as the cause of its haunting. And the presence of a witch doctor to break the curse, replete with some creepy lights flashing and possession and ghostly images, works well as an exorcism climax.
There’s something very cathartic about the resolution of both of them. Seeing Leti having had her fill and using a baseball bat to smash the hell out of the cars used to disturb her peace not only makes for a well-shot sequence but one that’s very satisfying in the force of her rebuke. Likewise, seeing the ghosts of the people harmed by that doctor join with Leti to repel him and banish him from the house in response to his harassment is cathartic and symbolic. If you stripped this one down to just the story of Leti moving into a haunted house, it would be great.
But it’s the serialized elements that leave this one less availing than it could be. The notion of Hippolyta knowing something’s up Uncle George’s death, seeming to hold it against Tic, and maybe even resenting him as George’s secret love child has meat to it, but feels undercooked and underdeveloped given the focus on all else that’s going on. The business between Leti and her sister over their mom’s “inheritance” likewise has a lot of weight, particularly given the actresses’ great performances, but it feels out of place within the episode’s story.
I do like the bit of progress we make with Tic and Leti’s romance, particularly the reveal that despite her flirtatious and vivacious vibe, Leti is, in fact, a virgin. Theirs hasn’t been the greatest romance in the world, but they’ve already been through a lot together, so seeing them protect one another, help one another, and care for one another is still endearing.
That said, I have very little investment in the overall arc the show’s spinning here. I definitely wasn’t asking for the return of Christine Braithwaite, and her hand in getting Leti into that house and the connections between its former owners and the Order of the Ancient Dawn feel thin and strained. Her magic spell abilities and femme fatale routine aren’t interesting, and the conspiracy/mystery she hints at doesn’t do much to intrigue me either.
That said, the craft in this episode really stands out, in elements like the cinematography, costuming, and music. There’s some great composition and editing here, with the way Leti flows through her housewarming party, the shots chosen for her car destruction rampage, and the cuts and the aesthetic choices made when the spirits come to attack or protect her. Likewise, there’s some good choices between production design and costuming, with duller or dingier backgrounds spiced up with bright primary colors on the performers that makes them pop. Last but not least, this might be the most jam-worthy soundtrack to an episode yet, which is saying something on this show.
Again, I’m left feeling like all the ingredients are there -- an interesting premise for a haunted house story, a host of great performances, and a number of more technical elements used to convey meaning. But the efforts to spin each of them into a continuing narrative, and balance what are effectively standalone plots with evolving characters and mysteries, leaves a lot of the results playing as disjointed or cobbled-together.
8/10
Loved the ghosts designs. Enough for me
Oh my gosh they ran out of budget and hired Mega Shark's FX company.
So freaking confused, similar to American Gods and I actually read that book.
"Hey there's a door up here that's locked".
Miss me with that red room shit! I ain't falling for that again!
I was just saying earlier today that fancied watching something spooky so I'm glad this episode turned out to be just the ticket. An interesting swirl of events over the course of it. Loved the setup and style of the episode.
Also totally loving Christina
Coincidentally, I was just watching Girl On The Third Floor yesterday before watching this Holy Ghost episode. They both have a similar premise of a haunted house with a dark history. Both are not bad, but also not great, still decent watches though.
60% boring shit, 39% racist crap and 1% mediocre horror does not a good show make.
I figured this was mostly a flashback for a large part of the episode so imagine my surprise it wasn't.
Also fun fact (I guess it would be offensive to call this an easter egg but -let's face it- I didn't write or make this show) in case you missed it:
"The boy in the white shirt and black and white tie is dressed exactly like Emmett Till, a 14 years old boy from Chicago who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955, after being accused of offending a white woman in her family's grocery store. That's why his question about whether he will enjoy his trip is answered with a sharp "NO!" " -- Thanks to IMDB for the info.
Another great episode. The pacing of the show is definitely its own thing, I am still unsure of what I'm watching but by the end of each episode Im engaged and on the edge of my seat.
If you wanna watch more... it must be so good. :ok_hand:
Review by filmboicoleBlockedParent2020-09-02T15:09:01Z
There's a different approach to storytelling going on in Lovecraft Country and I love it. It's a combination of old serials from the mid-century combined with a little flair of more modern smaller episode arcs where each episode carries on from the previous one in small ways, but does not always feel absolutely necessary to have seen every episode to enjoy a new one. It's reminiscent of The X-Files. And Holy Ghost is more or less a return to monster of the week storytelling combined with the flair of shorter pulp novels.
The reason why I think this works so well in this series is how clearly they advertise their intentions. Tick and George constantly brought up different monsters, Letitia references past escapades from before the series brought us in--even if they were devoid of supernatural influence. It makes a lot of this adventure feel very nostalgic for an era of TV-past. Of course, you'd still be missing out on a lot of nuance if you don't watch each episode in order, but the style of writing here is very much in that vein. This combines very neatly with this trend towards reclamation of old tropes and updating them, making them more applicable to racial phenomena and systemic injustice. Each episode has bite-sized chunks of truth that are then exacerbated to the supernatural camp of the show--almost like sociopolitical-fiction. I think it's really refreshing--partly because it's so akin to the types of television shows I love so dearly, but also because it is so different from the onslaught of television these days that's just ten+ hour films. It's not only reclamation along racial lines, it's reclamation to the medium itself. It's a return to form in a golden age that seemingly left the old style to wayside. Don't get me wrong, I love many many shows in this new style, but it's just nice to see a show not afraid to embrace something old. It's only bolstered by the period setting.
This episode specifically, works extremely well to outline how systemic racism supports tension on the level seen in the show. It's fascinating. But really I just love how fun it got once the ghosts start showing up. It's not afraid of the camp. And I don't think we have enough of that these days.