Lovecraft Country (TV Series) Full Circle (2020) User Reviews

A Bland Conclusion; The Show Already Said What It Truly Wanted To Say

[ObsessiveCinemaDisorder · 6/10 · 23 October 2020]

Lovecraft Country Episode 10: Full Circle Review

The season finale of Lovecraft Country, titled Full Circle, has Atticus, Letitia and Montrose stop Christina Braithwhite from using Atticus to become immortal.

This final episode was a bland conclusion to the series. Things happen but they do not matter cause the writers haven't given us a reason to care about the main storyline or the characters. What the writers do care about has already been said tangentially through subplots, historical references and its spinning wheel of pulp fiction metaphors.

Christina Braithwhite, over the last few episodes, has stopped feeling like a proper antagonist. Christina's goal of achieving immortality requires Atticus' blood, which conventionally would make them mortal enemies but the two characters have openly discussed this blood ritual so many times over house visits and traded mutual favors that they have become acquaintances. I don't buy this "it's not personal" dynamic put forth by Christina that Atticus and Letitia conveniently entertain. If someone needed to kill me to achieve immortality, it's personal. This just kills all the tension.

Overall, I am glad I saw Lovecraft Country. It has been quite the rollercoaster ride getting intermittently pumped up and being disappointed every week. Its mix of using pulp fiction genres to talk about social topics was fresh and engaging. Showrunner Misha Green capitalized on that but went too far into it, giving less attention to the main story of the season as the finale showed. The show worked better in parts than as a whole; my favorite episodes were the pilot and the ninth episode, Rewind 1921. It is like the show would rather be an anthology series at times, like a Twilight Zone that focuses on covering black history related social topics.

For me, this story has concluded. If Lovecraft Country gets picked up for a second season, I probably would not rush to see it until I heard decent word-of-mouth.

Didn't nail the landing

[hnt_dnl · 7/10 · 19 October 2020]

Hope and expectation can be real bears sometimes. After the absolutely masterful episodes 6 through 9, Lovecraft Country couldn't close the deal. Make no mistake, FULL CIRCLE had a lot of good stuff in it, but for a finale after 4 brilliant episodes leading up to it, it didn't quite reach epic heights. All the characters remain awesome and acted superbly. In fact, I dare say even the first half was great TV and leading up to something special. But the last quarter or so was a real letdown, reeking of main character plot armor and deus ex machina victories.

To start, let's focus on the good, the first half. The early dream-vision scenes of Tic with his mother Dora and Leti with Tic's great grandmother were spot on and emotionally powerful. The way they dealt with the evil Titus Braithwaite were invigorating and tense. Also, there were a bunch of great duo scenes: Tic-Leti, Ruby-Leti, Hippolyta-Dee, Tic-Ji, Montrose-Tic, and Ruby-Christina scenes were great. I also really loved that group singing in the car scene, especially Montrose's reluctance! lol Basically, the episode had the feel of a standard finale where we get the tropey character interactions, but they were really well written and acted.

Now to the bad. The climactic scenes at Ardham just didn't work for me. In the bridge scene, why did Ji not use her powers to stop Christina's minions and force Montrose and Hippolyta to have to go through fighting for themselves? Also, how could Christina be defeated once she gained immortality? Isn't the purpose of being immortal that she can't die? Now, all of a sudden when Ji actually decides to use her powers, it happens in a ham-fisted way that makes zero sense. It's like they needed a way to defeat Christina, plus an excuse for Ji to be useful. Why are the adults always leaving Dee alone? She gets left alone in the car in the middle of the woods where Tic and Leti know there are monsters lurking and waiting to attack. Also, Dee coming out of nowhere to kill Christina felt weird. Why and how would this even happen? It's like the writers needed the big bad villain to lose and they just threw together a pile of nonsense writing to accomplish it. And Ruby's end felt so anti-climactic.

In fairness, I'd even say that there were more minutes of good writing in this episode than bad, but when all of the good comes early and the bad late, it leaves a bad taste. And everything leading up to this finale predicted it would be a masterpiece. Unfortunately, it was just good but unfortunately not great.

So close to greatness, falls just short

[webheaddesign · 6/10 · 20 October 2020]

After four masterfully told episodes, the finale just dropped the ball in the final 15-20 minutes. It almost felt like it should have been divided in two, instead of some of the rushed scenes. The show did a good job of decompressing scenes, allowing the actors to chew the scenery. And it felt like they ran out of real estate in the final third of the episode. Leti surviving the fall left my head scratching a bit. Did Christina feel guilty, and reimplemented the protection spell? Or she got cocky, and knew that completing the ritual and becoming immortal, Leti wouldn't be able to do anything to her? That scene is a perfect example of allowing it to breathe more, it would have made more sense.

I hated that they turned Ji into a deus-ex machina, especially after her having probably the best episode in episode 6. I'm hoping she'll have a bigger role in Season 2, if this show isn't turned into an anthology-style series. Which is the gist I got from the ending, because it left no threads open for a Season 2. If they do go for a Season 2 with this cast, I'd want to see more Hippolyta/Dee mother/daughter team ups.

Speaking of Dee, that final scene where she kills Christina didn't have the impact I think was intended. I think from a metaphorical standpoint it made sense; new generation rooting out the last remnant of old-school racism. But Dee doesn't really have much of a directly narrative connection to Christina. The Jig-a-Bobo curse was given to her by the racist police captain, not Christina. Her Dad, George was killed by Christina's father. If anything, Christina's only direct connection is she helped the family to reverse the curse on her.

This show had a series of highs and lows, and its greatest highs were leading up to the Season finale. I really wish they would have pulled it off, but it just didn't leave the impact the previous episodes had built towards. I will definitely get Season 2 a chance, whether it's the same cast coming back or a new anthology. Such great acting, concepts, and usually good writing. Hopefully they'll just let their Season 2 finale run a better course.

Season One Review

[southdavid · 7/10 · 20 October 2020]

So, the first season of "Lovecraft Country" comes to an end. If you look through my individual episode reviews, I'd initially hoped that it would match "Watchmen" and whilst it never reached those highs consistently, it did have its moments.

With the Book of Names in their possession, Atticus (Jonathan Majors), Leti (Jurnee Smollett), Montrose (Michael K Williams) and Hippolyta (Aunjanue Ellis) try to lift the curse on Diana (Jada Harris). Before turning their attention to Christina's (Abbey Lee) spell and whether there's a way turn the tables on her. Ruby (Wunmi Mosaku) must decide whether her loyalties lie with her sister, or her lover.

Whilst performances and visual effects across this season was always perfect and the idea of reflecting modern politics and the racism of the inspirational author through this lens is a wonderful one, looking back on the season as a whole, I feel that it wasn't narratively strong enough to match those endowments. I do think, I'd have preferred a season at Ardham, culminating in the failed sacrifice and it burning down. A second season involving the house, museum and Hippolyta's odyssey, 3rd set entirely in Tulsa 1921 and the Korean War, and a final of returning to Ardham. All that crowbarred into a single season felt too disjointed and compressed to really give the story the time it needed.

The question is, I suppose, would I watch a second season if it were to be forthcoming. The honest answer is yes, I probably would but by the same token, if that was all we were ever to get of the show, then I wouldn't be massively disappointed.

The beginning was soooo good but....

[gouldgang · 7/10 · 19 October 2020]

The first half of the series was incredible. Didn't mind the episodic nature of the middle couple of episodes either.. but I kept waiting for everything to mean something more while watching this episode. Hopefully they'll continue on the series in the future with Tic and Leti's son with new villains and such. Christina was such a good complex villain I don't think bringing in another one to interact with the same characters would be as interesting. On the same note I don't think having her come back to life would be that interesting either. Her motivations tbh were kinda boring me by the end. Same with Tic if we brought him back meh where else could they go with the story. Overall an incredibly powerful show well written, acted, and spOOOooky. Hope to see the new generation with Tic and Leti's son hopefully the story will be more cohesive and have the character motivations make more sense.

A truly groundbreaking show! So excited for the future!

[HOPSQUIAT · 9/10 · 24 October 2020]

One of the best things about film and television before the internet was that there was this little thing called mystery. Mystery is what makes entertainment enjoyable. EVERYTHING DOES NOT HAVE TO BE ANSWERED. THE GOAL IS TO KEEP YOU ON THE JOURNEY! We only got a piece of Lovecraft Country!

I loved the ending of Season 1. It left a lot of questions unanswered but thats the point of a cliffhanger. We don't know what is going to happen next. Some characters we don't know if they are going to come back at all. That excites me!

I have been stuck on this show since the first episode. I have never seen anything like it. A show with a predominantly African American cast that has magic in it. That is awesome to me. I loved all of the characters. Atticus commands the lead role and Leti is a powerhouse. Even the supporting characters like Montrose, Hippolyta, Ji-Ah, Diana, Ruby, and Christina are amazing on the show.

Yes it does jump around at times and it can be a little cheesy at times, but its one of my favorite shows out right now.

The final scene is very important and the subtext is very powerful. There are so many directions they can go. The scariest thing about the show isn't the monsters or the magic. It is America's dark history that continues to linger to this day. CAN'T WAIT FOR SEASON 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Musical Error

[speedo232 · 6/10 · 20 October 2020]

The last episode showed Sh-Boom by the Coasters. It is by the Chords, shown correct on this site. Other than that, I found the entire series to be confusing. Many interesting and absorbing episodes, especially the beginning. Special effects excellent, but overall disappointing.

What are these reviews...

[kedavien-14531 · 10/10 · 19 October 2020]

It is sad that this show keeps getting bombarded with a lot of hateful reviews.. and I wonder why? Hmmm this finale was AMAZING the story, visuals, acting, directing, and characters were amazing. I fell in love with every character by the ending. I loved every moment of the finale and feel it is being picked apart by people who refuse to give this show a chance, and I believe it is obvious why.

Another finale...

[songod-95003 · 7/10 · 20 October 2020]

... that trips over it's own feet. By that I mean it runs over an hour yet fails to use that time in meaningful ways. Instead of giving the audience excitement, it bored it with overly long scenes of "family bonding" which by now, ep 10, had already been established.

This is not the first time a shows finale, season or series, has packed all the important elements into a few key scenes and left the rest of the running time in neutral. So much more could have been done, like more background into how the Book of Names came to be.

For a show called "Lovecraft Country" it had very few references to HP Lovecraft's work. Even his cornerstone location where 99% of the evil in his tales comes from, Arkham, was changed to Ardham! And no doubt the Book of Names was his famed Necromicon.

Also, over all, while I know this is the Age of Retcon and so I am not surprised all the characters that mattered were black and all the evil characters were white. Lovecraft made no distinction in his stories what race\color his characters were (unless they were the fish people of Innsmouth). The times suggest all were Caucasian. Like "The Watchman" series, turning Lovecraft into a lesson in race relations was unnecessary. Except perhaps to show the BLM people of today just how awful things were a mere 70 years ago.

I doubt there will be more as Atticus was the main protagonist. Just as well.

Disappointing

[joealbanese-53658 · 4/10 · 19 October 2020]

This series has been all over the place and inconsistent in quality. While the last few episodes were impressive the finale was pretty bad. I found myself so bored with the so called plot I found myself on Twitter half paying attention. Again, the series had great potential and at times was brilliant but this last episode was just a hot mess.

I don't get the haters

[vjeko93 · 9/10 · 20 October 2020]

I don't know what were people expecting!? Season is over and show only has a slight chance of renewal for season two. This is where the book ended and I'm happy with all the character arcs.

An ending that closes the circle

[evemeirelles-32711 · 7/10 · 21 October 2020]

I found the ending to be satisfying, it put together the many pieces of the puzzle and ended on a good note in my opinion. I didn't feel like i was craving a next season after i watched it, nor i think there's much to be done after this ending, it was very well made. The reason why i can't give it a higher score is because it's quite hard to make something as good as ep 5 and 6, they were mind-blowing.

Incredibly let down

[greenday05 · 3/10 · 19 October 2020]

I would argue the last episode was a better season finale then this. That left me with almost no interest in seeing where the show goes next. Shame, I really did like this show quite a bit.

Unworthy ending, but...

[billsoccer · 7/10 · 20 October 2020]

Now we know all the secrets behind the various characters, episodes, the Book of Names, etc. It doesn't leave much (hope or suspense) for a second season, but that's OK with me. I would love to hear more from these writers though.

good finale to a great show

[kingofcats-55396 · 9/10 · 19 October 2020]

While its def not the best episode in the series I think it was a solid conclusion and I'm excited to see more. montrose was def the best written char in the series, and while not a lot he had some interesting moments in this episode. the final scene is a bit odd but it makes me interested in what they're gonna do next. overall great show.

Good show but yes inconsistent

[calderonandrew · 9/10 · 25 October 2020]

SPOILERS!!

There are a lot reviewers that are upset with the banning all white people from magic bit. I don't understand that really, the show is maybe just not for them. I think it's trying to show a different side of winners. Throughout film history there are always bad guys and the good guys, even though it can be a bit racist. Just like how a lot of movies portray Russians as evil alcoholics and the bald white man as the hero of America. I think those reviewers just aren't comfortable with the change, for once they are the "bad guys" in film.

So everyone is evil in the end

[RnineT · 3/10 · 19 October 2020]

I loved this show but feel incredibly let down by what was a hopeful evil vs good trope... In the end the good guys (main characters), were just as evil and selfish as the individuals they were trying to overcome... Instead of allowing the use of this great power for all the seal it away from an entire race... Which is exactly the kind of evil this show appeared to want to fight... They then also murdered an evil character in duress instead of assisting and being better they proved to be the same as their enemy... This is not the everyone is equal we should all love each other no matter the race background or religion they were trying to push and I loved at the beginning... The story just reverts to petty revenge.

NAILED IT

[SchatziesEarth · 10/10 · 19 October 2020]

First of all, I didn't want this to be the last episode, but I also couldn't see how they could tie up so many loose ends. But they (mostly) did, in a pretty crimson bow :^ ) I really love these characters (except that half and half sheriff, which I never understood). Even the shoggoffs had redeeming qualities. I loved this episode for many many reasons, none of which I can say here because I don't want to ruin it for those who haven't seen it yet. Will I watch this episode at least a few more times to catch the stuff I missed? Of course. but it was also just really good the first time around.

Very disappointing Finale

[quintrelbrown · 4/10 · 19 October 2020]

A lot of unknowns. The build up to this blah finale is very disappointing. I have so many questions that we're not answered. Now we have to wait a whole year.

Exciting climax and ending.

[cruise01 · 8/10 · 25 October 2020]

4 out of 5 stars.

So the last episode does pack a lot to take in. Atticus tries to find another way before the sacrifice. It does build up a little emotionally. And surprises. The climax does add up to that surprise. But i was kind of expecting a little more. While tying up all the loose ends and concluding.

Lovedddd it

[MandrakerezIII · 10/10 · 19 July 2021]

The acting was really great!!! Though I'm praying Atticus isn't dead. Please don't be dead 😕

All in all. I love how this show has many unexpected twist & turns leaving you wondering what will happen next. The world exploration is unmatched and I believe the writers/directors were truly visionaries piecing this creatively thrilling story. I love it! In a time we're Hollywood is becoming repetitive this show shows us a perspective from another set of eyes that is unique, beautiful, and for once genuine. Watching this show I can say I don't feel stereotyped the whole way through as if written by someone with misunderstandings about African Americans. I feel with any movie/show you get what hides deep in the people who created it. And for this peace of work I believe it's beauty, adventure, hope, and understanding. Great work! Even if not renewed. :((((((((

And for those who are giving it horrible reviews based on obvious reasons we all know ((why)) Just find a different show. Let visionaries shine their light please.

Ahead of its time. Truly.

Cristina's only crime was to love too much

[lotavioramos · 1/10 · 3 December 2020]

She saved them from the policemen on episode 1. She saved Let in the shooting, made her invunerable to survive all the "back to the future" episode, made her invunerable again to save her in the last episode. She taught Tic the protection speel, saving him from the shooting too. She saved Dee from turn into the creepy doll. She bought them a mansion. And all she wanted was the sacrifice of a man who was a murder and a torturer of innocent people. Cristina was the true hero, and you know it.

Pot meet kettle

[bpk4390 · 1/10 · 17 November 2020]

'You bound me from magic'

'Not just you.... every white person in the world.'

Yikes

[thiahuff · 1/10 · 19 October 2020]

I wanted this to be good so badly and it was just a horribly fitting end for a show that got progressively worse throughout the season.

Shoddy writing, awkward pace, uninspired finish.

[tristanbaker · 2/10 · 19 October 2020]

This episode was pretty on brand for the whole season. The episode pacing never makes much sense. Plot hole after plot hole thanks to lazy writing. I can't tell if the over dramatic performances from the actors is due to personal choice or production but it just comes across unbelievably corny. I made it through season 1 but have no interest in a season 2.