'Lovecraft Country': Season 1 Episode 9 '"Rewind 1921" Recap & Review
The penultimate episode of Lovecraft Country’s first season goes back in time and sets up a hell of a finale next week.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
We pick up right after the events of the last episode, with Diana (Jada Harris) unconscious from the spell put on her by the police. Tic (Jonathan Majors), Leti (Jurnee Smollett), Ruby (Wunmi Mosaku), and Montrose (Michael K. Williams) argue about how to get her back. This leads to the group concluding that only Christina (Abbey Lee) can save Dee. Christina comes and tells them she can’t destroy the spell, only start the spell over from the beginning. Tic agrees to let her perform the ritual but in doing so, agrees to meet Christina in Ardham at the time of the eternal equinox. In order to do this, blood from the closest relative must be used, which means it would be Montrose, leading him to become extremely nervous.
Before Christina helps our protagonists, she has to go make a quick stop to visit some old friend at the police station. As she walks in as William, she notices the police performing spells to bring Captain Lancaster (Mac Brandt) back to full strength. When they see she is still alive, they are horrified, considering they left her for dead the last time they saw her. She gleefully watches Lancaster slowly die, knowing full well that nothing will stand in her way now.
Flash to George’s garage, where we find Montrose drinking before the ritual on Dee. Tic finds him and tells him to be strong and not worry, George would have done the same thing if he was in his brother’s shoes. Worrying about what might happen, Montrose tells Tic the last bite of truth he’s been hiding from him, that George might actually have been his father. Not knowing how to act, Tic starts to yell at his father. But right as they are about to get into, with Leti breaking up the pair, we hear someone come in to tell them to cut it out and ask where Dee is, and its Hippolyta (Aunjanue Ellis).
Christina performs the ritual with Hipp’s blood and the spell starts over from the beginning. Christina then leaves, with Ruby leaving with her, both forming a bond that Leti warns her will be dangerous. But Ruby doesn’t care because she feels safe with Christina, fully taking part in whatever schemes might happen. Back to Hipp who’s frantically packing up the car and getting Dee ready to leave. We learn that in order to break this curse, they need the book of spells, which they will only be able to get if they go back in time. Hipp, who has been traveling through the machine for 200 years, learned what she must do and how to do it in order to save her family. So Tic, Leti, and Montrose help her get every in the car and they head back to the portal, where they will travel back to get the book.
As the gang heads to Kentucky, we flash to Ruby and Christina, having a heart to heart about what will happen in Ardham and with Tic. Ruby tells Christina that she trusts her, but whatever happens, Leti must not be harmed at all. Christina agrees, and the duo finally has finally joined the same side.
Meanwhile, in Kentucky, Hipp and Tic work on the motherboard to get the portal opened back up. As this is going on, Montrose and Leti talk, to which Leti discovers that Atticus knows about Leti’s pregnancy, as well as Leti finding out he went into the portal before. Within that time, Tic found out how he died and that their child becomes a best-selling author, telling the story we are seeing on screen. Montrose tells Leti to be careful, for the sake of his son and their child. As their conversation ends, the portal opens up, with Hipp being the source of energy to keep it open.
Tic, Leti, and Montrose go back to Tulsa, Oklahoma, on the day of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. As they enter, we see a lively world of black men, women, and children living glorious lives. We see the group make their way to the side of town where the Freeman’s live. They discover a young Montrose and George, and them interacting with their father, who is drunk and berating both of his boys in front of Tic’s mother. They are children at this time, but we finally get some understanding as to why Montrose was the way he was to his own son as well as the dynamic between both brothers. Haunted by what he sees, Montrose declares he wants to warm people around the town of the events that will happen. But he if does this, it could very well change the future. Tic and Leti try to get him to stop, but he runs off. Tic goes looking for his father, while Leti will look for a way into the Freeman house for the book. Before he leaves, he tells Leti that he loves her and is happy they are going to have their son, revealing to Leti the sex of their baby.
As Tic finally catches up to Montrose, we see a young Montrose talking to a young man. We think it might be George but it’s actually Montrose’s first love. As the father and son look on, Montrose tells him that this is when he broke off their friendship because of his sexual feelings he had for his friend. As heartbreaking as this scene is, it’s even more tragic when you realize this is one of the moments that triggered the start of the massacre. Montrose tells Tic this is one of the many sacrifices he made in his life to be his father, and that he wouldn’t trade any of them to not be in Tic’s life. Touched by this and angered for his father’s hurt heart, Tic races over to the white men and attacks them one by one as the flames in Tulsa start to engulf around them.
As this is going on, Leti was able to get into the Freeman house do to the violence in the street growing and the Freeman’s letting her in. While in the house, helping Tic’s family, she makes it to his great aunt’s room, looking for the book. But as she is looking, she hears a gun cocked and it’s his aunt wondering what she wants. Leti explains to her that she is from the past and how she is connected to her, to which her aunt realizes that Tulsa will burn to the ground tonight and that the book must go with Leti. As she gives her the book, the Freeman house catches on fire, and Leti watches as the houses on every street go up in flames.
Back at the portal, Hipp is struggling to hang on. Tic returns, with Montrose watching the city burning from the window outside the portal. As they see bombs being dropped in the city, Montrose sees Leti with the book walking towards them with tears in her eyes. They are able to get back in just at the last second, though Hipp’s hair changes to blue in the process. Our heroes were able to complete their mission, but next week’s finale will be the true test to see if anything they did changed the course of their history, or if everything is okay. Should be one hell of a finale and leave us wanting more once it’s over.