Oscar-winning director Jordan Peele’s new TV series
Lovecraft Country debuted last night (streaming Sundays at 9pm on Crave) and it is unlike anything you’ve seen before. A little bit horror, a little bit comic book hero, and all of that is told through the harrowing lens of Jim Crow-era America. Just like in his horror film
Get Out, racism is the true horror of the story. Based on the 2016 novel by Matt Ruff, and using the works of early 20
th century horror writer H.P. Lovecraft (who himself was notoriously an
extreme racist), the first episode was loaded with more than just jolts, shocks, and thrills. Almost every scene, every prop, and every shot had a hidden meaning behind it, and Twitter was ablaze with viewers and fans gobbling these little Easter eggs like it was dinner. Warning: Spoilers ahead!The opening monologue we hear is a quote from the 1950 biopic
The Jackie Robinson Story; “This is the story of a boy and his dream. But more than that, it is the story of an American boy and dream that is truly American.” Then we’re treated to the visual of famed baseball player Jackie, the first Black player to play in the major leagues, exploding a Cthulhu monster with a baseball bat, much to Twitter’s
joy and delight, all of which takes place within the dream of our protagonist, Atticus a.k.a. Tic (played by Jonathan Majors). This is only in the first minute, and already we’re shook.[video_embed id='2014526']RELATED: The 'Lovecraft Country' cast wanted to make a grounded horror[/video_embed]Tic’s uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) makes a travel guide book that is an homage to the real
Green Book that guided Black Americans during the Jim Crow era to safe hotels, bars, barbers, restaurants and other establishments. Of course, most of you have heard about the Green Book from the questionable
Best Picture winner a few years ago, but there's really no connection to the Viggo Mortensen-Mahershala Ali flick.When Letitia's (Jurnee Smollett) sister Ruby (Wunmi Mosaku) is performing, there's a request for “Hound Dog” and “Whole Lotta Shaking Going On;” songs that made white musicians tons of money while Black musicians had their names erased from memory. As one Twitter user put it, it seems as if the show is basically clapping back at Jerry Lee Lewis for
stealing “Whole Lotta Shaking” from Big Maybelle.As Tic, Uncle George, and Leti begin their road trip, on the radio we hear, “I find myself, not for the first time, in the position of a kind of Jeremiah…” which of course cannot be mistaken as anything other than the mellifluous voice of James Baldwin during his legendary debate with William F. Buckley in 1965, entitled, “Is the American Dream at the expense of the American Negro?” Baldwin hands-down won the debate, in a speech that would later be titled “The American Dream and the American Negro.”
Twitter nearly exploded
with glee as Baldwin acts as a not-to-subtle narrator to the scenes viewers are about to see.As Baldwin speaks, images flash beyond the windows of the car. Pay attention, because those images aren’t haphazardly slapped together. No, they're a direct homage to photographer
Gordon Parks and his 1955 photographic series taken in Alabama during Jim Crow. Eagle-eyed fans on Twitter immediately
sourced the original images so we can
compare and contrast with what's shown in
Lovecraft Country. They are truly a remarkable and striking sight to behold.As the trio travel, the show reminds viewers with little subtlety about the existence of
“sundown towns,” which basically meant that Black Americans weren’t welcome within the city limits after sundown. Should they be “caught” in town after dark, there’s no telling the horrors they might encounter. And as the first episode sets up, that horror is a white cop who hunts our heroes and the result, as one Twitter user put it, is us witnessing actress Jurnee Smollett become “
the Usain Bolt of horror scenes.”[video_embed id='2012763']BEFORE YOU GO: 'Lovecraft Country' cast explore supernatural and real-life horrors in new series[/video_embed]
