Lovecraft Country (2020 HBO)

[Greg]

Ep 4 was the Indiana Jones Adventure ride. I'm not digging it. It's all pretty silly. The adventure under the streets of Boston was pretty stupid. I'm still trying to figure out how they ended up back in Chicago at the end. There are allusions to weird stuff but still isn't very cohesive.

[thatguy]

Hey, why hasn't this thread migrated to the Streaming->HBO Max section!

I put this show down for a while. It got pretty CGI gory at times and my GF wasn't into it. I picked it back up, but I can't remember what happened in. IIRC:
Ep 7 - "I Am" - WTF? story is all over the place. The titular character has the largest afro. One wonders why this episode is here.
Ep 8 - The episode opens with Emmet Till's funeral. Dee gets a curse and the haunting ghouls are very Jordan Peele, but pretty damn scary! The furry tentacle lady makes an appearance, but then is gone again.
Ep. 9 - Time travel! They gang has to go back to the Tulsa Massacre to get something to save Dee. Hippolyta's Ep.8 journey makes more sense, but still, WTF?
Ep. 10 - Heading down to the showdown at Arkham - why did Jordan Peele decide to put a cast roadtrip song moment here? That seemed unnecessarily cheery and out of character. (also tentacles!)

After I watched the opening of EP. 1 again to see if it made any more sense (not much, and it's such a bait-and-switch to get Cthulhu here and no were else in the series), but I did notice that Ep. 9 had a subtle callback to that Jackie Robinson bit int he dream sequence which I didn't catch (having lapsed watching for so long, I guess). Also, when Tic wakes up on the bus from that dream sequence, the roadtrip song from Ep. 10 is playing, so I suspect there are more clever/subtle callbacks peppered throughout, but I'm not inspired to go back and find them.

--tg

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PS: The sets for end-episode Arkham seemed kinda amateur. The broken wall debris piles had a fakeness to them. I complained about the sets in EP 4 above, too.

PPS: I hadn't intended it, but I was aware of the coincidence of watching the latter episodes during Black History month. The Emmett Till episode was powerful. The Tulsa Massacre episode could have been more so. The Watchmen Series's take on that was stronger, but that was also the first time I was exposed to the story and I was really angry (with America) that I'd never heard about it before. Here, I wasn't surprised, and the presentation (like the rest of this series) was a little clumsy.

PPPS: In Ep 9, you'd think the gang would try to be expeditious in their quest, but no...they're just strolling along, taking their time. I guess when you're time traveling, time is no object.

[Drunk Monk]

Moved.

I lost access to this show when my ninjas were killed.

[Greg]

I gave up after three episodes.

[thatguy]

You have to watch Ep 7 for the afro.

--tg

---

Aw heck, here ya go!



--tg

[Drunk Monk]

I lost track of this show. Seems like it’s just as well now...

'Lovecraft Country' Will Not Return for Second Season on HBO
Originally designed as a limited run, showrunner Misha Green's pitch for another cycle will not move forward.

HBO is passing on taking another trip to Lovecraft Country.
The premium cable outlet has canceled Misha Green’s horror series, opting to not renew the drama that was originally intended as a limited series for a second season. The show had earned largely positive reviews for its first run and has been a solid ratings performer, drawing numbers comparable to those of Watchmen in fall 2019.
“We will not be moving forward with a second season of Lovecraft Country. We are grateful for the dedication and artistry of the gifted cast and crew, and to Misha Green, who crafted this groundbreaking series. And to the fans, thank you for joining us on this journey,” HBO said in a statement Friday.
Limited series that break out push networks and streamers to revisit the original idea for a closed-ended run. HBO is a prime example of that after Big Little Lies became a critical and awards season breakout, sweeping the limited series category before it was renewed for a second season. That has helped change the discourse when shows are billed as limited series.
Based on a novel by Matt Ruff, Lovecraft Country mixes the horror fiction of H.P. Lovecraft with the real-life terrors faced by Black people in Jim Crow-era America. The series starred Jonathan Majors, Jurnee Smollett, Aunjanue Ellis, Michael K. Williams and Courtney B. Vance.
Green had pitched and penned scripts for a second season. The cabler, overseen by Casey Bloys, opted instead to pass on returning the drama. “We’re in talks with HBO the possibility of it, but nothing’s official,” Green told THR last October after what now serves as its series finale.
The show had ratings similar to the audience for Watchmen a year ago. It also was in line with other HBO dramas including The Outsider (9 million) and Perry Mason. Of those, HBO renewed Perry Mason for a second season (with new showrunners) and passed on bringing back The Outsider — another limited series — for another round despite its ratings and critical success.
Green (WGN America’s Underground) executive produced the show with J.J. Abrams, Jordan Peele, Bill Carraro, Yann Demange (who directed the series premiere) and Daniel Sackheim (who helmed episodes two and three). David Knoller was an EP on episode one. Matt King and Rachel Rusch are co-exec producers. Green’s afemme, Inc., Abrams’ Bad Robot and Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions produce in association with Warner Bros. TV