'Lovecraft Country': Season 1 Episode 2 "Whitey's on the Moon" Recap
“Lovecraft Country”returns for a second episode of weirdness, staking it’s claim as the must-watch show of the season.
Warning: Major Spoilers Ahead
We are already left to play catch-up as episode two of “Lovecraft Country”—titled ‘Whitey’s on the Moon’—opens. Leti (Journee Smollett) and George (Courtney B. Vance) seem to be having the time of their lives at the mysterious mansion the trio arrived at in the final moments of episode one, but Tic (Johnathan Majors) is skeptical. William (Jordan Patrick Smith), the lodge’s attendant, tries to assure them that everything is in order, leading our main characters on a tour of the house.
Tic asks about his father, but William waves away the question, claiming that Tic’s father is in Boston, carrying out secret orders.
The lodge is currently home to the still unseen Samuel Braithwhite, but was built by his ancestor and founder of Ardham, Titus Braithwhite, a shipping magnate—Leti let’s us know that’s code for “slave-owner”. In response, William assures Leti that Titus Braithwhite was “very kind to those who worked for him.” Tic notices that the painting of Braithwhite is dressed in a suspiciously Klan-like outfit is sporting a silver ring, a status symbol of high-ranking KKK members. William goes on to explain that Titus was killed when the lodge mysteriously burned down during a ceremony taking place at the autumnal equinox.
Later, at lunch, Tic grows frustrated that the search for his father has come to a halt and insists on taking a walk around the surrounding village. Distressed that Leti can stomach lunch after enduring last night's monster attack, Tic chastises her, but it turns out neither Leti nor George can recall anything before waking up at the lodge that morning.
The trio are much less warmly received while wandering around the village. Dell, the town sheriff, barely makes an attempt to keep her dogs from attacking and wastes no time comparing black people to scavenging animals. Tic notices that the large tower Dell lives in is the only stone structure in town, and probably has a large dungeon underneath it to support the structure.
On a walk through the woods, George recalls a story that Tic’s mother told him about her ancestry. Apparently, one of Tic’s ancestors was a slave named Hanna who escaped slavery when her masters was killed in a fire. The three instantly connect this to the fire at the Braithwhite lodge William told them about. George also recalls the comment about Titus Braithwhite being “notoriously kind to his slaves”, meaning Hanna may have been pregnant, making Tic a direct Braithwhite descendant.
Immediately after, more monsters attack, but are called off by the same whistle Tic heard in the previous episode. Leti and George forget about the monsters all over again as soon as they appear. The whistle-blower turns out to be Samuel Braithwhite’s daughter, Christina (Abbey Lee). She escorts Tic to see her father.
Samuel Braitwhite (Tony Goldwyn) is in the process of having his liver ritualistically removed (very casually, to make it even weirder). Samuel explains to Tic that he sees himself as an allegory for Adam naming the animals; anointed by God to put everything in it’s proper place.
Meanwhile upstairs, George realizes that if Tic is a Braithwhite descended, then his father Montrose could have just been the bate used to lewer them there.
Christina, escorting Tic back to his roommate, says that her father and his cult The Sons of Adam are powerful enemies, and suggests that she could be an ally to Tic. As a show of good faith, she restores Leti and George’s memories but locks all three of them in their respective rooms to experience some very disturbing illusions for the amusement of the Sons of Adam. This whole sequence involves a couple of great fakeouts and surprises you deserve to see for yourself.
George and Tic later join the Sons of Adam for dinner (Leti is excluded, it’s male-only) and George reveals that he knows what they’re up to. Because Tic is the last direct descendent of Titus Braithwhite, the cult’s rules grant him immediate access. He demands from Samuel the release of his father, but Samuel makes it clear that Tic is only there because he is a receptacle for Titus’s power, and that his usefulness doesn’t make him indispensable.
Joining up with Leti after dinner, the three of them decide to search the dungeon under Dell’s tower for a sign of Tic’s father. They find his flask and a tunnel that Montrose (Michael K. Williams) burrowed into the wall, Shawshanking his way out of prison. He breaks through the dirt just in time for Tic, George, and Leti to find him, and the three have a brief but contentious reunion. Montrose chastises his son for taking the obvious bait and coming to Ardham.
The four of them slip into a car and it looks like it’s going to be smooth sailing until the car runs smack into an invisible forcefield, leaving it totaled. Samuel and Christina drive up behind them and, in a shocking scene, Samuel shoots both Leti and George, promising to heal them if Tic takes part in a ritual that will open a door to the Garden of Eden.
Leti gets healed pretty instantly, George isn’t so lucky. While tending to his brother’s wounds, Montrose and George have a discussion and there seems to be some contention over who Tic’s father is.
The ceremony seems to be going according to plan, with Tic having his soul/power siphoned to open up the doorway to Eden. On the other side, however, Tic sees a vision of Hanna and decides to redirect his own power to destroy the lodge again, this time for good. All of the Sons of Adam, Samuel included, are turned to ash, and the lodge crumbles, with our four heroes just barely escaping in time.
George, however, was not so lucky. Samuel Braithwhite was disintegrated before he could heal George’s gunshot wound, and George dies at the end of the episode. Will he remain dead? Only the next episode can tell.