Well, that surely was an episode. We do our best to reflect on the season as a whole and consider why some of these decisions might've been made. We try to identify a few of the things that we felt were missing to have made it work. And how do we feel about where the characters are now? It depends. We've still got some transcripts to finish, but will be on hiatus otherwise for the foreseeable future. Ruth: If you're missing Lovecraft Country, we encourage you to check out the IGNYTE awards final...
Oct 21, 2020•Ep. 11
Content note: This week we'll be talking about the episode which takes place during the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. We primarily discuss family relationships and plot threads and how they connect to this week's events. Rather than do a media break, we'd recommend our fellow white listeners spend some time learning how widespread such massacres were and spend time reflecting on the knowledge, connection, sense of home, and lives taken. There is also a technical issue in this episode. Rachel was ...
Oct 15, 2020•44 min•Ep. 10
In one of the most terrifying episodes yet, Dee is left on her own to face down police violence, evil magic, and two monstrous creatures dreamed up by white imagination. And let's not forget the trauma of her mother's disappearance and the murders of her father and good friend. She began the series as a little girl with a beautiful Afrofuturist vision and we don't want her to lose that—but as Montrose says, they keep taking. All the adults, except Montrose, are caught up in making devil's bargai...
Oct 08, 2020•41 min•Ep. 9
We've been on a few road trips this season, but Episode 7 is a full-fledged journey across time, space, and dimensions. After a quick checkin with Montrose (oh dear), Christina (strong bisexual energy), Ruby (on a break, but we think she's hooked), and our main duo, we follow Hippolyta on her journey of discovery. She is Hippolyta, free and in Paris and being smooth as fuck with Josephine Baker's cigarette. She is Hippolyta, Dahomi Amazon warrior, fighting for her freedom and avenging herself an...
Oct 01, 2020•48 min•Ep. 8
We finally get to learn about Ji-Ah, who's been a voice on the phone and a figure in Tic's nightmares. We look at the parallels between her life, Tic's, and those of the episode's supporting characters while asking an important question... can monsters love? This podcast supports monsters loving. We're not too big on the whole eye-tail-tentacle mashup thing. We're also not big on proxy wars and imperialist interference in other peoples' lives. Some additional context, this 1996 retrospective on ...
Sep 24, 2020•38 min•Ep. 7
A note on content: Episode 5, "Strange Case," contains a graphic sexual assault. We decided to discuss it in the most abstract terms, not to linger over it, and instead to explore some of the themes we saw throughout the character plots in this episode. This one's tough. We explore themes of embodiedment, monstrosity, control, and the legacy of last week's "History of Violence." Is Ruby hooked to using this as a tool? Is William real at all, or is he 100% Christina's tool now? (also, Ruth was ri...
Sep 17, 2020•40 min•Ep. 6
This week's got it all: trust issues, trauma, timed levels, and Tree's Big Adventure. Jurnee Smollett gets yet another acting challenge, just add water. Ruth speculates on the nature of Christina and William's relationship. We shout out shushing kid. What's going to happen to Ruby next week? Hippolyta is making some choices we support, but we're still worried. And will Tic ever learn to trust Leti? She's already died the once. Don't miss the post-music stinger, for some thoughts on a classic vid...
Sep 10, 2020•38 min•Ep. 5
A content note: We discuss the ways the violence represented in these first 3 episodes has not gone away, from sundown towns to rough rides. While viewers will have seen these, not everyone is aware that Emmett Till is represented in the ouiji scene. After talking about the ways the episode identifies him, the next 2-3 minutes touch on the ways in which the level of white supremacy that led two white men to murder him and get away with it persists today. While it is not graphic, some listeners m...
Sep 03, 2020•45 min•Ep. 4
Wow, the musical captioning on Episode 2 was a journey . Distressed music? Hard same. Eerie music? Seriously. Tender music? I don't trust this. Ominous music... yeah, told ya. In this episode of the podcast, we ask "what is up with this village?" "who IS this racist dog lady anyway?" "why did your fantasy film ride into my horror?" and "who is this birthright from anyway?" Why is the spoken-word poem "Whitey's on the Moon" a good choice for a ritual taking place 15 years earlier? We digress on t...
Aug 27, 2020•41 min•Ep. 3
... that would be silly. What would happen if a stranger told you to claim your birthright? In its action and story-packed first episode, Lovecraft Country sets the tone: "this ain't your racist uncle's Lovecraft." We dive into our reactions to the mystery of Atticus's mother, the daylight monster of white supremacy, the fight/chase/terror scene that left us holding our breath, and more. Things we forgot to mention (vs. things that got cut out when we tried to make our episode a manageable lengt...
Aug 20, 2020•38 min•Ep. 2
With HBO's new series Lovecraft Country starting on 8/16, Rachel's got a few questions for Ruth: Who is this guy? What's his deal? ...and more We get into our hopes for what we'll see in this first season, just how unspoiled we remain, and a digression on why Ruth can't do zombies but loves ghouls with every fiber of her being. Read the episode transcript . Intro music from "The Ninth Crewman" by Patrick de Arteaga . Outro music "In the Pines" performed by Micah Tillman....
Aug 13, 2020•24 min•Ep. 1
