'Lovecraft Country': Season 1 Episode 7 "I Am" Recap & Review
Within episode seven of “Lovecraft Country,” we focus on Hippolyta’s search for answers that lead to out-of-this-world locations.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
We begin with Hippolyta (Aunjanue Ellis) looking at the orrery from her late husband’s shop. As she is doing this, we flashback to the events of a couple of episodes back, where Hipp and Jada (Diana Freeman) had followed the atlas to where the Braithwhite manor is located. She finds a piece of Jada’s comic book in the rubble and realizes the story Tic (Jonathan Majors) and Leti (Jurnee Smollett) told her was a lie. Back to the present, she is able to manipulate the orrery to open with a key inside and coordinates to a location engraved on the inside. This is what Christina (Abbey Lee) had been looking for, and it seems like Hipp was going to find out what it all means.
Speaking of Christina, we go back to her and Ruby (Wunmi Mosaku), with her explaining the reveal that she’s been both William and herself. She tells Ruby that all she wanted to do was enter the order, but couldn’t because she is a woman. So, she started a relationship with the real William and fell in love with him. When he died, she took over his body to finish out what he was beginning and learn as much of the magic of the order as she could. Ruby is taken aback by the story and decides to hear more. It’s clear Ruby and Christina are on some sort of team at this point, but whether that’s good or bad will have to play out over the next couple of weeks and not right now.
On the other side of town, Leti dreams of running out of the burning manor from episode two. When she stops, she sees Tic ancestor point to her stomach, indicating Leti is pregnant. She jolts out of bed and goes to find Tic, freaked out by what she visualized in this dream. But what she discovers is Tic has similar dreams about his ancestor, and as they talk about it, they find out her holding a book in both of their dreams. They conclude this is the book of spells, and they realize they need to go find out more about where they can find it before Christina finds it.
Flashing to another home, we see Montrose (Michael K. Williams) wake up to Sammy (Jon Hudson Odom), making breakfast for the couple. We discover this is the first time Montrose has let Sammy spend the night in his home, and it’s a pretty beautiful moment. That is until Montrose starts complaining about everything in an attempt to have Sammy storm out. Once he does, Montrose tries to stop him from leaving, but once they hit the hall, Tic and Leti are there and shocked by what they find. Tic asks him if the rumors of Montrose being gay are real, and if his mother knew he was, and his father answers yes to both. This makes Tic anger, and he runs away. Leti catches up with him, and we find out that Montrose would beat Tic to make sure he didn’t turn out soft. It’s a tragic moment when you realize a father ruined his relationship with his son because he wasn’t honest with who he was. But since Tic doesn’t can’t get help from his father, he must go to St. Louis to another relative on his mother’s side to see if he can get answers.
The next day, we see Hippolyta getting ready to go on a trip to the location found on the orrery. She’s asked Ruby to take care of Diana and her home while she’s gone. As she leaves, Tic and Leti show up, and as they see Hippolyta leave with her car, he realizes he will have to take the bus to get to his destination. Back to the sisters, we reconnect for the first time in a long time. A lot has happened to them over the past couple of weeks, but after talking to one another, Leti and Ruby seem to get back to being close again. Whether that is part of some sinister plan, it remains to be seen. Leti helps Ruby take care of the house. As they are about to eat, Leti has a bad reaction to the smells of the food, making us believe her dream might be real, and she might be pregnant. When she goes to Hippolyta’s room for privacy, she finds the orrery on the floor and realizes what Hippolyta is doing.
Meanwhile, Atticus arrives in St. Louis and has dinner with his mother’s cousin. She tells him stories about his mother and what she was like when she was young. He asks her if she ever left anything behind, like the book of spells or anything similar. She tells Tic everything his mother had at the house was burned by white folk’s years ago. Just as she tells him this, the phone rings; it’s Leti looking to inform Tic that his aunt is in danger.
Cut to Mayfield, where Hippolyta has arrived at her destination, which is an open field with a building in the middle. When she goes into the building, she discovers a telescope with a machine connected to it. She finds out that the machine can only start with the key she has; therefore, she puts it in, and the machine starts. Just as it begins to work, some cops come into the room and find Hipp working behind the telescope. Right as they are questioning her, Tic comes to save his aunt. But as he is fighting the cops, a portal opens up, and everyone in the room gets sucked in.
We follow Hippolyta as she gets out of the portal and comes to another planet on the other side. She is captured by an alien being who only says, “I AM,” scaring Hippolyta to death. She escapes her room, but before she tries to leave, the being says more to her, asking where Hippolyta wants to be? She jokingly says she wants to be in Paris dancing with Josephine Baker, to which she is sent to her desired destination. Once she is there, she dances with and talks to Baker, who tells her about freedom and what it truly is. Hippolyta says she’s never truly felt free till tonight, and is so angry all the time in her real world, wanting to even kill white people for how she is treated.
Upon saying this, she is transported back to ancient times, where Hippolyta learns how to become a warrior. Along with other strong female fighters, she battles hordes of white men. But after they kill many and lose more in the battle, more come, and Hippolyta lays down her weapons, accepting the defeat. Right as she is about to die, she moves to another place in time, in which she is in bed with George. As she tells him everything that happened to her, he listens closely to her, wishing they could go on an adventure like that. We then see the couple on a spaceship going to an alien planet, floating around another new world. We can tell the alien is giving Hippolyta a sense of happiness missing in her life.
Back to Mayfield, the portal spits Tic back out, and he is all alone in the room. As he hears more cops coming, he grabs the key and also sees the book of spells by the switchboard of the machine. As he runs away, the camera pans to the floor to see evidence that Hippolyta was there, but we won’t find out the ramifications of these events till next week.