The Lovecraft of the title refers to the world of H.P Lovecraft, the horror author who created fantastical mythology of monstrous creatures from another dimension breaking into our reality. While Lovecraft's literary world was hugely influential, he was also virulently racist and his work is filled with bigoted attitudes toward non-whites.
This HBO series, developed by Misha Green from the Matt Ruff novel of the same name, draws upon Lovecraftian mythology as a crucible to confront historical racism and defy the bigotry of Lovecraft with a story centered on black characters in 1950s America. Jonathan Majors stars as Atticus Freeman, a Korean War veteran who travels with his Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) and old friend Letitia (Jurnee Smollet) from Chicago to a small Massachusetts town to search for his missing father (Michael K. Williams).
They discover is a secret society of occultists, an all-white organization to which they are reluctantly invited thanks to blood ties to the Braithwaite clan. Misha Green previously created the historical drama Underground, which revolved around the Underground Railway that helped enslaved African-Americans escape the South in the years before the Civil War.
Lovecraft Country uses the crucible of fantasy and horror to explore the black lives in 1950s America. It sets their introduction to the supernatural world against the very real dangers they face in their everyday lives, from the institutional racism that restricts their access to jobs and housing to racist cops and "sundown laws" and lynch mobs, and it grapples with the legacy of slavery in their family history. As the series plays out, additional members of the extended Freeman clan are pulled into the family legacy, which both threatens and empowers them, especially Hippolyta (Aunjanue Ellis), whose previously thwarted potential is nurtured in an empowering time-traveling odyssey.
The pulp sensibility comes out in such nightmarish beings as the shoggoths, massive bulldog-like monsters with giant mouths and rows of jagged teeth, and in the gory violence inflicted by both magical creatures and human beings. Abbey Lee costars as a Braithwaite descendent who is denied acceptance because she's a woman and Jamie Chung is a Korean woman from Tic's past with her own supernatural legacy.
The series makes an interesting companion piece to HBO's earlier Watchmen limited series (they both confront the 1921 Tulsa race massacre) and offers a different perspective on the Green Book guide featured in the Oscar-winning film by the same name.
It's rated TV-MA and features nudity, bloody violence, horrific imagery, foul language, and racist language. For mature audiences. 10 episodes on DVD and Blu-ray, with the original featurettes "Compendium of Horrors" and "Orithyia Blue and the Imagination of Diana Freeman" (around 12 minutes apiece), the half-hour production featurette "Crafting Lovecraft Country" made for HBO, and two collections of very brief cast and crew interviews. Highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)