Lovecraft Country

The pacing from the first to the second episode was incredibly inconsistent. The first episode was enjoyable enough and showed great imagery of racism prior to the Civil Rights.

The second episode though - my god was that bad. Weird jumps between scenes, it didn't take time to develop the setting, characters, or do horror in any meaningful way. With this being commentary on Lovecraft, I would have thought there'd be horror, and not just vague illusions to tropes like cults or monsters. This was more of a middle grade dark fantasy story. Looking at the novel, this story was only a hundred pages long, and the HBO adaptation didn't add anything to it - so that is about the length of a middle grade novel. Adult horror is usually longer and better developed. With Jordan Peele involved as a producer, I'm really surprised by the low quality.

The series is neither an adaptation of a Lovecraft work, nor is it based on his mythos or his life. "Lovecraft Country" is a combination of fantasy, horror, mystery, and Indiana Jones adventure, but the emphasis is not only on these aspects, but it significantly concentrates on racism in America in the 1950s. I have the impression that the authors used the "father of horror" to attract the audience to a famous name. We have "racist horror", and Lovecraft is a racist horror writer ... let's name the series after him and attract fans. At first, it may work, but those same fans will very quickly realize what is happening and will be disappointed with the series that they could have liked under some other name, which does not offer false promises.

The other thing that bothered me was the soundtrack. With good production, cinematography, and acting, they skillfully evoked the atmosphere of the fifties, and then spoiled it with inadequate music. I watch the South Side of Chicago in the fifties, but I listen to Rihanna, Manson, and hip-hop ... it doesn't work. It breaks the atmosphere and spoils the experience.

Third and most important, after a promising start, the script turned into a total mess. Had they stick to the great premises from the first couple of episodes until the end, the series could have been awesome. For some reason, they decided to overwhelm it with new subplots from episode to episode, until it turned into an overcomplicated and incomplete mishmash of everything and anything.

However, the series is technically indisputably well done, the visual aspect, atmosphere, and characters are very likable, and the story is, if you don't mind the confusing and chaotic storytelling, basically quite interesting. If you don't expect too much, it's worth a look.

7/10

The biggest question I had about the show was how much of the horror themes were gonna be racial or Lovecraftian. As of episode three, the horror is fairly evenly balanced. There are a lot of scenes that focus on racial tensions and horrors that are extremely well done, and never feels like a slap-in-the-face message about racism. Rather they produce genuine tension and anxiety. As for the Lovecraftian horror themes, they are fairly sparse and scattered (nothing really happens until the end of episode one), but when they do show up, they are exquisitely well done and interesting. There are constant nods to Lovecraft, and his mythos- i.e. episode three is a love letter to "The Rats in The Walls"- and the story incorporates and weaves them in well so far, but it is only episode three. Now for why it may not be for everyone; it does have a complex story and method of delivery. A lot of information is alluded to, or glazed over so you really have to pay attention, and episode two was very confusing on the first watch and required two watches, paying close attention each time. It is not the show for you if you are looking for an easy story to digest, this one will make you think and put things together yourself. On the other hand, if you don't mind using your brain when watching this show, it's superb, especially for those who love and are familiar with Lovecraft and his mythos. The overall direction of the show is still a little unclear. It started out with a clear motive but switches up really quick. That is one thing I am still waiting to see is the overall story arc and direction. As I said though, it is only episode three of supposedly ten so far. I would highly recommend watching if anything mentioned about it sounds interesting.

This series starts out very well hitting character development, backstory and monsters. A lot of action and likable characters. The series goes along just fine and is very enjoyable . . . Until it wasn't. It got stupid, preachy and disjointed toward the end. So promising, yet so disappointing.

This show is based on Matt Ruff's novel. Not on any of the original Lovecraft works. The people who are complaining about propaganda, liberal media, or bla bla bla are idiots. The TV-show is following the source material fairly well. They didn't choose the title just to cash in on the Lovecraft name, they choose this work because they clearly liked the source.

However! The novel is so loosely connected to the Lovecraft's original work, that it's almost insulting. The novel is really bad and the show is doing absolutely nothing to improve upon it.

I really feel like I'm watching two completely different things here. On one hand it's a really well-crafted story about racism in the south during the Jim Crow era. On the other hand it's a horrible bad attempt at horror.

The acting is really solid. The story is well-developed, but the characters are so flat and predictable. Both the antagonists and the protagonists are boring stereotypes. The side-characters are almost parodying. They are an exaggerated imitation that fails to be humorously. The only character that seems to have some flesh on his bones are Atticus.

The dialogue is really well-written. But, The pacing of the script is terrible. It feels like I'm watching a 50 minute intro to a 2 minute movie.

The soundtrack is just all over the place. I appreciate BB King everyday of the week, but when it's inter-cut with some unflinchingly generic hiphop it just hurts my ears. The intro is suppose to show a scene from Korea, but has music form the 20's. The show takes place during the Korea war (that ended in '53), but 'you upset me baby' wasn't released until 1957.

The CGI is awful. Really really bad 2001-ish quality CGI. This is an HBO-show. Why does it look like a LOTR rip-off from some b-rate studio VHS tape?

And it's just all these small details that constantly shakes you out of immersion with the show. Every time you relaxed and start to get dragged into it, you get jolted back into your own living room by the fact that you are watching a screen-play of a amateur novel.