Lovecraft Country, HBO, Bad Robot, Monkeypaw Productions, Warner Bros. Television

Haunted House

HBO original thriller Lovecraft Country drops its fourth episode tonight September 6th, 2020.

#LovecraftCountry nabbed 1.4m premiere viewers / is based on literature of the same name.


rottentomatoes: 89%

metactric: 79

imdb: 7.5



Atticus Freeman, Lovecraft Country, HBO, Bad Robot, Monkeypaw Productions, Warner Bros. Television, Jonathan Majors
Atticus Freeman, Lovecraft Country, HBO, Bad Robot, Monkeypaw Productions, Warner Bros. Television, Jonathan Majors

Atticus Freeman

Atticus Freeman joins his uncle George on a road trip to write a travel guide outside of 1950s Jim Crow Chicago, Illinois.

Atticus Freeman, Lovecraft Country, HBO, Bad Robot, Monkeypaw Productions, Warner Bros. Television, Jonathan Majors

“Good riddance to old Jim Crow. Damn. Let me get those for you. ‘A Princess of Mars?’ It’s about this man named John Carter… who goes from being a captain in the army of Northern Virginia to becoming a Martian warlord. Starts with him running from Apaches and hiding in this magical cave, which transports him to the Red Planet. That’s when it starts to get good. Ex-Confederate. Stories are like people. Loving them doesn’t make them perfect. You just try and cherish ’em, overlook their flaws. Yeah, they are. But I love pulp stories. I love that the heroes get to go on adventures in other worlds, defy insurmountable odds, defeat the monster, save the day. Little Negro boy from the southside of Chicago don’t notoriously to get to do that. I didn’t join for adventure. I joined to get away from my father. Which is the real funny part, ’cause he’s also now the reason I’m coming back home. He’s gone missing.” — Atticus Freeman

“Diana! What’s going on? You sounded scared to me. Something like that. ‘On the creation of *******. Pops made me memorize that poem word for word after he caught me reading this. Thought it might turn me from the pulp trash I borrow from here to respectable literature. About? You’re not sure. He wrote me. About my mama. Said he found out where her family came from. Wanted me to come home so I could go there with him. ‘I know that, like your mother, you think that you can forget the past. You can’t. The past is a living thing. You own it– owe it. Now I have found something about your mother’s forebearers. You have a sacred… secret legacy, a birthright that’s been kept from you.’ I haven’t even gotten to the strange part. The place he wants me to go with him– it’s Lovecraft Country. Letter says mom’s ancestors are from Arkham, Massachusetts. And Herbert West. You sure? You know, for someone who talked so much about the importance of being educated, you’d think pop would learn how to write clearly.” — Atticus Freeman

“Yeah, I remember. Listen, the guy with the earrings, the owner– he here? Shit. Sorry. When’s the last time you saw him? Was he a cop? You saw what he was driving?” — Atticus Freeman

“Your knees still acting up? That’s why you publish the guidebook, right? Keep us Negros safe. Dee do this? Tell me where I can find Ardham. Devon County. I’m gonna need a car. Woody still running? Uncle George, with them knees– you might not be so sure about that… after you look at this. Devon County?” — Atticus Freeman

“555-438… 520… 3093… 2915. Yes. Leti Lewis. Well, considering you were the only female member of the Southside Futurists Science Fiction Club. Segregated. And you, where you been? Doing? Wait, you coming with us? I got that covered. Where is it? You know what that area be populated by on Diana’s atlas? Buncha trolls who pick their teeth with unwary motorists. Let’s take this next right. Didn’t you say it was called Lydia’s? Book can’t refuse you service. Why don’t we just start with some coffees? Doesn’t mean we have to stay. Get back in the car, we’re what, two, three hours from Marvin’s? Biscuits and gravy did smell pretty damn good. Think I’ll order that… if the waiter ever comes back. Uncle George? Remind me why the White House is white. Burn marks. Come on! Out. They’re gaining on us! Leti. Hit it! Go. Go, Leti, go!” — Atticus Freeman

“Your sister’s precision driving. They couldn’t keep up. It’s getting late, Marvin. Why don’t you tell us what you discovered about our next stop? Ex-Marine. This is his NAACP complaint file. What about Ardham? That’s what you dug up? We need to go to the registry. Maps of the property line should clearly delineate a route in Ardham.” — Atticus Freeman

George Freeman, Lovecraft Country, HBO, Bad Robot, Monkeypaw Productions, Warner Bros. Television, Courtney B. Vance

Uncle George Freeman

“My wife. I’m leaving tomorrow on the guide trip. I’m looking at my wife because I feel I’ve been spending too much time on the road and not enough time in bed with her. If he’s watching, I think we should give him a show. You serious? No, no. No. Mm-hmm. Oh. Hmm. You know the road is a dangerous place for a woman traveling alone. You know the shit I deal with out there. It’s dangerous out there, Hippolytta. Where you going? Stay with me. I can’t remember the last time we made love in the light of day. I want to see my wife. She’s fine. She just got surprised, is all. Your nephew is back.” — George Freeman

“I believe, but I still have to triple-check. A bad tip in the guidebook gets someone killed. Ahh. Getting reacquainted with old friends. I’m surprised that one caught your interest. Horror is usually my thing. Now that’s one of Lovecraft’s we don’t hear mentioned often. Mm. He’s been missing about two weeks. You know how he can get on the sauce. I– I didn’t think anything of it until his landlord dropped by when he didn’t pay rent. I don’t know where he could’ve gone. I might have an idea. What, uh… wh– wh– what’d he say? He’s still obsessing over her ancestry? I thought he’d given all that up when she passed. That’s strange; that doesn’t really even sound like your father. Home of the corpse reanimator and– Lovecraft based it on Salem, but that’s not real. Let me see the letter. That’s a ‘D.’ It’s not Arkham with a ‘K.’ It’s Ardham with a ‘D.’ That’s a ‘D.’I’m gonna look into this Ardham and see if I can glean any clues as to what this ‘secret legacy’ Montrose is going on about. I-I’m serious. Don’t delete that.” — George Freeman

“It’s a blessing they’re doing anything at all after two shattered kneecaps. And now Hippolyta got this crazy idea to go out on the road. I can’t imagine what would happen if those crackers had caught her outside of Anna instead of me. Kid’s got imagination like you. Terrifying, ain’t they? Well, now, that’s gonna be a little tricky. The last mentioned of it in any census that I can find is over two centuries ago… which puts it somewhere around Devon County, Massachusetts. You goin’ after him. Woody’ll outlast us all. That’s the only thing I’m sure of other than that I’m going with you. I was heading out on a guide trip anyway. Devon County will be a good addition.” — George Freeman

“Y’all ready to go? Part way. Marvin’s working for the Springfield African American these days. He’s gonna look into that mysterious town of Ardham for us. Anything we’re forgetting? I think there’s something missing. Oh, that’s right, Dee’s travel comic. That’s what’s missing because I’ve been waiting patiently to see what happens to Panther Man. Boop. You will, baby. Mmm. Yes. Thank you, baby. Be safe.” — George Freeman

“There’s a diner called Lydia’s I got a tip on near here. Won’t take us too far off course to have lunch there. What do you say to a detour? Simmonsville. What? Funny. I need to add some entries to the guide. I’m on a deadline. Exactly, which is why I know how much of a hard-ass I can be. You heard the girl. What you doing, girl? What you know about B.B.? Her music. Now, we’re looking for a red-brick building. Should be on the left-hand side, far end of town. That must be it. All right. It’s in the right place. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Good afternoon. We were just driving by, thought we’d stop in and have some lunch. We’ll seat ourselves, then. Yes, that’s what we’ll do. Thank you. Menu, please? What’s good here? Yeah, okay, but we’re here now. We’re here, dammit. We have every right to be. We’re citizens. You’re a veteran for God’s sake. Our money spends just as good as everyone else’s. Hmm? War of 1812. British soldiers put the executive branch to torch, and later, when the slaves rebuilt it, they had to paint the walls white to cover up the– burn marks. Let me drive. Keep it steady! Take this left up ahead. Slow down, or Woody will spin out. Damnit, girl, you’re gonna crash us.” — George Freeman

“And the way those white boys went flying. Reminds me of a scene out of Bradbury novel. She did save the day. Letitia fucking Lewis. Y-you’re saying that Bideford was founded by witches? Eustice Hunt. Hmm. That right there is the middle of nowhere with no guide stops. What do you want to do?” — George Freeman

Letitia Lewis, Lovecraft Country, HBO, Bad Robot, Monkeypaw Productions, Warner Bros. Television, Jurnee Smollett

Letitia Lewis

“‘Whole Lotta Shakin’!’ Sure is no secret that hose days are long gone. ♪ Come on over, baby, hey! ♪ A whole lotta kicikin’ in the barn ♪ Come on over, baby ♪ We got the bull by the horn ♪ Everything is kickin’ ♪ Whole lotta shakin’ going on ♪ Bakin’ it and makin’ it shake ♪ Cake and pie on the plate ♪ Shakin’ and shakin’ and shakin’ the place ♪ Come on over baby, come on ♪ We done found that ding-dong ♪ Come on over, baby ♪ Whole lotta shakin’ going on ♪ Come on over, baby ♪ Baby, you can’t go wrong ♪ Ain’t nodody fakin’ ♪ Whole lotta shakin’ going on ♪. All right! All right, now! Thanks, fellas. That was fun. Yeah!” — Leti Lewis

“Who said I can’t afford ’em? I don’t need a handout, Ruby, just a place to stay for a while. Who’s that? That’s Tic? Skinny, glasses kid who was too smart for his own good, Tic? Oh, that place is a shithole. What happened on the room on Linden? Ruby– and what job am I supposed to find in two days? I’m not cleaning house. Yes, I do. Yes, I do. Well, If I get the job, it’ll be enough money for both of us to move. We could have our own rooms for once. Hell, our own house, maybe. There’s a lot of colored folks pioneering into all-white neighborhoods these days.” — Leti Lewis

“You just gonna stand there, Tic, or you gonna help me? Now, only my friends get to call me that. We still friends? I was. I was. I heard you were down in Florida hiding out. How was it? Mm. Mm, I’ve been a little a little bit everywhere. Everything. Aren’t you the publisher? Well, no that either of you asked my opinion, but I could use a hot meal. Since the girl’s not allowed to drive, I’m picking the radio station. I’m turning up B.B. That’s my music. ♪ Yes, you upsets me, baby ♪ Like being hit by a falling tree ♪. Or spit in your water glass. Looks like Simmonsville Dinette isn’t making the guide. I gotta visit the ladies’ room. Get your ass up! We gotta the fuck outta here now! Come on, come on, George. Get your ass in the car! Come on, come on, come on, come on. We’re being shot at! How the hell am I supposed to keep it steady? Oh, just shut up and let me drive. My name’s not ‘girl.’ It’s Letitia fucking Lewis! I see it. Shit.” — Leti Lewis

“Stop. It was surreal. Wait, wait, now, now, now. Say that again one more time. Did I hear that right? Who saved your asses? By what?” — Leti Lewis

Hippolytta Freeman, Lovecraft Country, HBO, Bad Robot, Monkeypaw Productions, Warner Bros. Television, Aunjanue Ellis

Hippolyta Freeman

“What are you looking at, George Freeman? And why you looking at your wife? You waiting for her to fix you breakfast? I’m aware. Why, George Freeman, you got me blushing before God. What has gotten into you? You’re only gonna be gone for a few days. Used to be you couldn’t wait to go on some grand adventure. You know, I could go. Make the trip instead of you. Is that idea so crazy? Is it? You know, I’ve written more than my share of reviews for the guide. The best ones. And all of them based on your notes. Now… imagine how good they could get if I could take notes on my own. Mm-hmm. My party starts at noon, and those pecans in the kitchen are not gonna turn themselves into pies. What are you doing? You know Dee is up. You know these walls are thin. George, baby, what’s going on in there? Is that Dee? Oh, Tic’s back! I know you weren’t. Tic’s back! Yes!”

“Why, thank you, baby. Are we checklist-ready? All right, mattress and blankets. Spare tire and jack. Flares and first-aid kit. Reading materials. Very well. I think the travel checklist is complete. Oh, no, I think that’s everything. ‘Orithyia Blue?’ Oh, pumpkin, you decided to change it.”

Diana Freeman, Lovecraft Country, HBO, Bad Robot, Monkeypaw Productions, Warner Bros. Television, Jada Harris

Diana Freeman

“Gross. Atticus! Get over here. I wasn’t scared. Who’s that?”

“Yep. Check and check. Check. Double check. You don’t have to do this every time. Mm-hmm. It’s no big deal, ma. I will see you when you get back, pop. Oh, and the atlas is in Woody.”

“Now, this is just the first issue, but the plan is she’ll be called to repair faulty telescopes or malfunctioning computers on different planets. And guess what. She zips from planet to planet in her trusted Buick Spacewagon from Stoney. Pop?”

Ruby Baptiste, Lovecraft Country, HBO, Bad Robot, Monkeypaw Productions, Warner Bros. Television, Wunki Mosaku

Ruby Baptiste

” ♪ I want a tall, skinny papa ♪ I want a tall, skinny papa ♪ I want a tall, skinny papa ♪ I want a tall, skinny papa ♪ I want a tall, skinny papa ♪ That’s all I’ll ever need ♪ He’s got to be all mine ♪ Treat me fine, walk the chalk line ♪ And stay on my mind ♪ He’s got to be all right ♪ Fight all night ♪ Mama will do the rest ♪ Now how ’bout that, miss? ♪ He’s got to do what he’s told ♪ And bring sweet mama that gold ♪ To satisfy my soul ♪ Oh, yeah! Yes! There you go! ♪ He’s gotta be tall ♪ Tall! ♪ He’s gotta be tall! ♪ Tall! ♪ I want a tall, skinny papa ♪ That’s all I’ll ever need ♪. Whoo! Thank you, thank you. All right, all right, I think I got time for one more before Slick Willie comes up with his guitar. Now, what y’all want to hear? Come on, y’all don’t really like that lily-white shit they play on the radio now, do you? ♪ Life could be a dream ♪ Sh’boom, sh’bored. Now, let me hear something that’ll wake me up. Thank you, Floyd. I have eyes. A little bit of blues it is, then. Now, now. I’m sure my sister’s tired from traveling in from wherever it is she just magically appeared from. Y’all are gonna have to bear with us. We haven’t sang together since our church days. All right. ‘Whole lotta shakin’.’ ♪ 21 drums and an old bass horn ♪ And somebody beating on a ding-dong ♪ Come on, now. ♪ Come on over, baby, ♪ A whole lotta shakin’ going on ♪ Come on over, baby ♪ Baby, you can’t go wrong ♪ Ain’t nobody fakin’ ♪ Whole lotta shakin’ going on ♪. All right now. ♪ Bakin’ and makin’ it shake ♪ Door and the floor and the gate ♪ Bakin’ and makin’ it shake ♪ Cake and pie on the plate ♪ Shakin’ and shakin’ and shakin’ the place ♪ Come on over baby, come on ♪ We done found that ding-dong ♪ Come on over, baby, ♪ Whole lotta shakin’ going on ♪ Come on over, baby ♪ Baby, you can’t go wrong ♪ Ain’t nodody fakin’ ♪ Whole lotta shakin’ going on ♪”

“Dress that short, should be wearing some stockings. You can’t even afford stockings? You don’t need to say it; I know you only here ’cause you need money. And don’t think just ’cause you got up and sang with me that you’re getting any of these tips. There it is. Who, Tic? Yeah, he’s grown up. More than I can say for you. I’m over at the boarding house on McCarthy. Mama’s funeral happened. There’s nothing to read into me bringing it up. It’s just facts. You can stay two nights. You can get a job on the Northside. So what then? You think you’re gonna go downtown get a job in one of those department stores? You think it’s that easy, huh? You know I’ve been applying for years. You know, I’m fine where I am. Then maybe you should ask one of them to put you up. Or go to Marvin’s. Two nights, Leti. That’s it.”

Narrator

“This is the story of a boy and his dream. But more than that, it is the story of an American boy and a dream that is truly American. What’s the matter? Where ya goin’, black boy? Black boy, we’re the welcoming committee. You’d better get outta here. It just makes it tougher having you here. The year, 1928. The time, spring. If you were a young man, your thoughts were undoubtedly turning to those of love. But if you were a young boy, your thoughts were of one thing… baseball.”

Jackie Robinson

“I got ya, kid.”

Bus Lady

“Just going over another bridge named after some dead slave owner. Finally made it to the promised land. Hallelujah. Amen.”

“Tell me. What’s that book you been readin’ about? Mm-hmm. Huh. Hold on. You said the hero was a Confederate officer. He fought for slavery. You don’t get to put an ‘ex’ in front of that. Yeah, but the flaws are still there. Unless they join the army. Hmm. Is he sick?”

Bus Passenger

“I heard a noise before… okay, ma’am, just– here you go. Very carefully, very carefully.”

Bus Passenger 2

“Thank you.”

Bus Driver

“All right, folks, this is our ride into the next town. Let’s get our luggage and load up.”

Book Store Owner

“Thank you for your business. I’ll vet it then– welcome home, Tic.”

Book Store Patron

“Heading through that part of the country in a couple of months.”

Book store Employee

“Oh, the tip is solid. My cousin bought smokes from there just last week. Okay, I got you.”

Chicagoan

“Come on! It won’t stop.”

Chicagoan 2

“An adventure. An opportunity to see the world. Just sign. We expect…”

Tree

“Hey, we closin’ early for the block party. I said we’re closin’ early for the block… holy shit. Tic, is that you? Almost didn’t recognize you without them damn Coke bottle glasses on. You remember me, Tree. Sammy. He’s out back.”

Sammy

“Oh, shit. You’re Montrose’s son, right? I remember plenty of nights you dragging him off one of my barstools. He hasn’t been perched on one in weeks. ‘Bout two weeks ago. Left here with some white man. Doubt it. Looked like one of Bill Haley’s Comets. Can’t get the clothes he was wearing on a pig’s salary. My guess, he’s a lawyer. Would explain how he could afford the car. Tree did. Said it was a silver sedan. Something Ford. Shot off so fast, it had to be expensive.”

Concert Crowd

“Tall! Tall! Tall! Tall! Leti, Leti! Leti, Leti, Leti, Leti!”

Band Member

“Is that Letitia? Ruby, it’s your sister. Leti, get up there and sing with her.”

Musician

“♪ We gonna ride, ride, ride all night long ♪”

Operator

“Where can I direct your call? South Korea?”

South Korean

“Tic? Is that you? You went home. You shouldn’t have.”

Radio?

“Good evening. I, um– I find myself not for the first time in, um… the position of a kind of Jeremiah. For example, I don’t disagree with Mr. Burford that the, um… the inequality suffered by the American Negro population of the United States has hindered the American dream. Indeed, it has. I quarrel with some other things he has to say. The other, deeper element of a certain awkwardness I feel has to do with, um… it has to one’s point of view; I had to put it that way. One’s, uh, one’s sense, one’s system of reality. It would seem to me the proposition before the House, when I put it that way, is the American dream at the expense of the American Negro, of the American Negro… is a question hideously loaded, and that one’s response to that question or one’s reaction to that question, has to depend on, in effect, on where you find yourself in the world, what your sense of reality is, what your system of reality is. That is, it depends on assumptions which we hold so deeply as to be scarcely aware of them. A white South African or a Mississippi sharecropper or a Mississippi sheriff or a Frenchman driven out of Algeria, all have, at bottom, a system of reality which compels them to, for example, in the case of the French exile from Algeria, to defend French reasons from having ruled Algeria. The Mississippi or the Alabama sheriff, who really does believe, when he’s facing a Negro boy or girl, that this woman, this man, this child must be insane to attack the system to which he owes his entire identity. And on the other hand…”

Restaurant Waiter

“Uh… uh… there’s three of them. Just sat down. I swear I didn’t serve them, not after what you did to Ms. Lydia.”

Assailant

“Go, get on up there! Get up on these sons of bitches!”

Marvin Baptiste

“Wait, what actually happened that caused the crash? Well, I heard a few tales about Devon County before, buy once I started really digging in, it just kept getting stranger and stranger. You see, the county seat, Bideford, is named after a town in England where they had one of the last witch trials. They hung a woman for fornicating with the devil who appeared to her as a Negro man. No, the witch hunters, and they don’t like outsiders at all. I found more than a few stories in our morgue about travelers being attacked in the surrounding woods. Grizzlies, wolves. Who knows? There’s been a bunch of missing person stories, too, some of which might be due to the current sheriff. It’s only a third of it. Between the wild animals and this guy, I don’t know who I’d rather run into. It was settled around the same time as Bideford. Local histories don’t say by who. Yeah, I even tried calling the county record of deeds to get the property records. No one answered. But from what I could pull together… should be somewhere right around here.”

Christina Braithwhite



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