Lovecraft Country: Jig-a-Bobo Show Only
October 4, 2020 7:14 PM - Season 1, Episode 8 - Subscribe
A distraught Diana finds herself in Captain Lancaster's crosshairs. Meanwhile, a when a visitor from his past arrives at the boarding house, Atticus and Leti each take steps to protect their future.
Love the cop flying across the screen towards the end of the last scene. A Wilhelm scream would not have been entirely out of place.
posted by jquinby at 8:35 PM on October 4, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by jquinby at 8:35 PM on October 4, 2020 [3 favorites]
The goodest boy just wants head scritches.
posted by confluency at 6:54 AM on October 5, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by confluency at 6:54 AM on October 5, 2020 [7 favorites]
Longer comment: that was a lot of stuff in one episode. Still hoping for a Yahima reveal -- it was heavily telegraphed that Montrose is keeping another major secret from Tic, and it's not that he killed them, because that's what Tic assumes already.
posted by confluency at 6:58 AM on October 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by confluency at 6:58 AM on October 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Why aren't any of the adults in Dee's life helping her??
posted by Gyre,Gimble,Wabe, Esq. at 8:03 AM on October 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by Gyre,Gimble,Wabe, Esq. at 8:03 AM on October 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
Topsy and Bopsy were Dee's apparitions, and they were horrifying. The choreography of their movements was so uncanny and unsettling, even before you saw their claws. The feeling I got watching them was the same terror I felt the first time I saw the tethered from Us. I agree with one of the reviewers linked in the post though, why doesn't Montrose realize something supernatural is happening? That doesn't make a ton of sense to me.
Which bring me to Ji-Ah, Tic, and Leti: where did that anger come from? I think not giving Leti a plot outside of Atticus is a disservice to Journee Smollett. I don't even know the point of bringing Ji-Ah back for that scene when she doesn't have any guidance for them.
Conversely, Ruby and Christina fascinate me. If the show were distilled down to only their story, Ruby on the knife's edge of being seduced by evil, and the evil witch tempting her, I'd watch ten episodes of that.
posted by gladly at 11:03 AM on October 5, 2020 [11 favorites]
Which bring me to Ji-Ah, Tic, and Leti: where did that anger come from? I think not giving Leti a plot outside of Atticus is a disservice to Journee Smollett. I don't even know the point of bringing Ji-Ah back for that scene when she doesn't have any guidance for them.
Conversely, Ruby and Christina fascinate me. If the show were distilled down to only their story, Ruby on the knife's edge of being seduced by evil, and the evil witch tempting her, I'd watch ten episodes of that.
posted by gladly at 11:03 AM on October 5, 2020 [11 favorites]
I had a so creepy it nearly made me jump out of my skin moment while watching LC last night.
I was sitting on the couch watching it on my tablet. You know the moment when Dee's on the train platform, Topsy and Bopsy appear, and Dee says to the man she bumps into, "Do you see that?!"
At the exact same moment -- I kid you not -- my son, who was standing behind me -- shouts, "Did you see that?!" I nearly jumped up off the couch.
Turns out he was playing with our kitten and had gotten it to jump really high. But that timing tho....
Anyway, another episode that had me totally hooked from start to finish. Full respect to those who portrayed Topsy and Bopsy, their fluid switches from awesomely graceful dance moves to uncanny valley/Japanese and Korean horror movie style movements had me creeped way the hell out.
I want to love Tic but he keeps making choices that leave me wondering if he rather t is going to have a death = redemption story arc. They're laying the groundwork for it being Montrose who has one, but I could totally see a swerve. And I wonder if Christina is going to have a similar arc. I don't quite get why she seems to genuinely care for Ruby as William (and is it just me, or does the dude portraying William get hotter every time he appears?) but can't seem to break out of cold and distant mode when presenting as Christina.
I think I'ma need at least one more season of this show.
posted by lord_wolf at 1:27 PM on October 5, 2020 [5 favorites]
I was sitting on the couch watching it on my tablet. You know the moment when Dee's on the train platform, Topsy and Bopsy appear, and Dee says to the man she bumps into, "Do you see that?!"
At the exact same moment -- I kid you not -- my son, who was standing behind me -- shouts, "Did you see that?!" I nearly jumped up off the couch.
Turns out he was playing with our kitten and had gotten it to jump really high. But that timing tho....
Anyway, another episode that had me totally hooked from start to finish. Full respect to those who portrayed Topsy and Bopsy, their fluid switches from awesomely graceful dance moves to uncanny valley/Japanese and Korean horror movie style movements had me creeped way the hell out.
I want to love Tic but he keeps making choices that leave me wondering if he rather t is going to have a death = redemption story arc. They're laying the groundwork for it being Montrose who has one, but I could totally see a swerve. And I wonder if Christina is going to have a similar arc. I don't quite get why she seems to genuinely care for Ruby as William (and is it just me, or does the dude portraying William get hotter every time he appears?) but can't seem to break out of cold and distant mode when presenting as Christina.
I think I'ma need at least one more season of this show.
posted by lord_wolf at 1:27 PM on October 5, 2020 [5 favorites]
Oh man when Tic tells Ji-Ah that nothing between them was real...it just broke my heart for her. I can see Ji-Ah's motivation (the man she loves is in danger and she is, after all, a kumiho, so maybe she can help), but in terms of the writing it's a disservice to her character just to bring her back so that Leti is too upset to notice Dee needs help. I hope she serves some greater purpose in the last two episodes and that Tic apologizes to her.
And the dancing in this episode. Wow. Beautiful and terrifying. Topsy and Bopsy are played by dancers/actors Kaelynn Harris and Bianca Brewton, and Choreographer/Creative Director is Jamaica Craft. (Just a side note: it would be great to add these names to the tags for this episode since they are such a key component to its effectiveness.)
posted by miss-lapin at 3:00 PM on October 5, 2020 [6 favorites]
And the dancing in this episode. Wow. Beautiful and terrifying. Topsy and Bopsy are played by dancers/actors Kaelynn Harris and Bianca Brewton, and Choreographer/Creative Director is Jamaica Craft. (Just a side note: it would be great to add these names to the tags for this episode since they are such a key component to its effectiveness.)
posted by miss-lapin at 3:00 PM on October 5, 2020 [6 favorites]
Hippolyta, your daughter evidently does need you, something fierce.
I wonder if she will come back in time?
posted by nat at 12:56 AM on October 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
I wonder if she will come back in time?
posted by nat at 12:56 AM on October 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
I wonder if she will come back in time?
I cant be the only person who wondered who the hooded figure that gave Tic his son's book in the future was, right?
I strongly suspected it would end up being Hippolyta when Tic was telling Montrose about it, but thinking back now, maybe its Diana (did Tops and Bopsy do something to her arm?).
Also are they ever going to explain if there is a relationship between Capt Lancaster's discolored/stapled-on body and Diana's observation about the smell?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 6:03 AM on October 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
I cant be the only person who wondered who the hooded figure that gave Tic his son's book in the future was, right?
I strongly suspected it would end up being Hippolyta when Tic was telling Montrose about it, but thinking back now, maybe its Diana (did Tops and Bopsy do something to her arm?).
Also are they ever going to explain if there is a relationship between Capt Lancaster's discolored/stapled-on body and Diana's observation about the smell?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 6:03 AM on October 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
Also are they ever going to explain if there is a relationship between Capt Lancaster's discolored/stapled-on body and Diana's observation about the smell?
I'm sure the smell was referring to Emmet Till's body.
posted by gaspode at 6:18 AM on October 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
I'm sure the smell was referring to Emmet Till's body.
posted by gaspode at 6:18 AM on October 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
i may be mis-remembering but i was thinking there was a second reference to things smelling when newly empowered Diana confronts the two cops in Lancaster's office, a long while after/away from the opening funeral scene where i agree, the smell reference/images of mourners vomiting outside the building was from the body.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 6:59 AM on October 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 6:59 AM on October 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
There was a person (?) in the closet with Ruby when we saw Captain Lancaster's Franken-body the first time. He seemed to be decaying. I don't know if that's what the smell is.
posted by gladly at 7:20 AM on October 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by gladly at 7:20 AM on October 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
Oh, yep I remember now. As she was leaving.
posted by gaspode at 7:21 AM on October 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by gaspode at 7:21 AM on October 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
As I watched the episode, I thought “hm, this shoggoth looks different than the earlier ones”.
Thankfully the companion podcast pointed out what I was s overlooking: Tic’s shoggoth is Black! I can’t believe that slipped past me; totally changes my understanding of that scene.
posted by FallibleHuman at 11:20 AM on October 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
Thankfully the companion podcast pointed out what I was s overlooking: Tic’s shoggoth is Black! I can’t believe that slipped past me; totally changes my understanding of that scene.
posted by FallibleHuman at 11:20 AM on October 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
Watching Christina's reenactment of Emmett Till's death again, I wonder if it's meant to work on a meta-level as well as representing an attempt on her part to feel something per Ruby's plea.
One thing I've noticed watching various weird fiction shows is that a lot of guys who would never crack open a book about the evils of American slavery and the genocides of indigenous peoples are very much capable of feeling outrage and empathy when a pretty blonde white robot lady is getting mistreated by humans, as in WestWorld and Battlestar Galactica to name a few recent sows. Because of this, any amount of savagery PBWR lady and the other synths engage in when freeing themselves is seen as justified. When reading righteous and/or sympathetic comments on Reddit and other places about these shows, I often find myself thinking things like, "Dudes, do you not realize that worse than what Dolores is going through has happened and is happening right now in America and other places? And that the victims lack an android's super strength, ability to hack computer systems, and nigh-immortality?"
So part of me wonders if Misha Green and the writers were saying via that scene "You have probably dispassionately read about what happened to Emmett Till -- if you've even read about him at all -- but let us drive home how inhuman his final moments and the disposal of his body were by having it happen to a pretty blonde white lady. Will you care now?"
posted by lord_wolf at 12:42 PM on October 6, 2020 [12 favorites]
One thing I've noticed watching various weird fiction shows is that a lot of guys who would never crack open a book about the evils of American slavery and the genocides of indigenous peoples are very much capable of feeling outrage and empathy when a pretty blonde white robot lady is getting mistreated by humans, as in WestWorld and Battlestar Galactica to name a few recent sows. Because of this, any amount of savagery PBWR lady and the other synths engage in when freeing themselves is seen as justified. When reading righteous and/or sympathetic comments on Reddit and other places about these shows, I often find myself thinking things like, "Dudes, do you not realize that worse than what Dolores is going through has happened and is happening right now in America and other places? And that the victims lack an android's super strength, ability to hack computer systems, and nigh-immortality?"
So part of me wonders if Misha Green and the writers were saying via that scene "You have probably dispassionately read about what happened to Emmett Till -- if you've even read about him at all -- but let us drive home how inhuman his final moments and the disposal of his body were by having it happen to a pretty blonde white lady. Will you care now?"
posted by lord_wolf at 12:42 PM on October 6, 2020 [12 favorites]
Conversely, Ruby and Christina fascinate me. If the show were distilled down to only their story, Ruby on the knife's edge of being seduced by evil, and the evil witch tempting her, I'd watch ten episodes of that.
You're in luck, Hannibal has three seasons
posted by Rinku at 12:50 PM on October 6, 2020 [16 favorites]
You're in luck, Hannibal has three seasons
posted by Rinku at 12:50 PM on October 6, 2020 [16 favorites]
So part of me wonders if Misha Green and the writers were saying via that scene "You have probably dispassionately read about what happened to Emmett Till -- if you've even read about him at all -- but let us drive home how inhuman his final moments and the disposal of his body were by having it happen to a pretty blonde white lady.
If so, it recalls what Cole Porter is sometimes said to have been doing with his 1934 song Miss Otis Regrets. Written for a stage revue at the height of America's lynching era, the song seems to ask its rich society audience, "OK. Suppose it was a wealthy white woman being hanged by a mob. Would you care then?"
posted by Paul Slade at 1:49 PM on October 6, 2020 [4 favorites]
If so, it recalls what Cole Porter is sometimes said to have been doing with his 1934 song Miss Otis Regrets. Written for a stage revue at the height of America's lynching era, the song seems to ask its rich society audience, "OK. Suppose it was a wealthy white woman being hanged by a mob. Would you care then?"
posted by Paul Slade at 1:49 PM on October 6, 2020 [4 favorites]
I think the guy in the closet was a normal alive guy missing some parts (a tongue?) who smelled terrible because he'd been hanging in there for some time.
posted by confluency at 2:38 PM on October 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by confluency at 2:38 PM on October 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
The goodest boy just wants head scritches.
Someone on twitter dubbed Tic's shoggoth "Sprinkles" and that's what we have to call it now, it's the law. Who's a good little cop muncher, Sprinkles is! Yes him is!
posted by Gyre,Gimble,Wabe, Esq. at 5:42 PM on October 6, 2020 [6 favorites]
Someone on twitter dubbed Tic's shoggoth "Sprinkles" and that's what we have to call it now, it's the law. Who's a good little cop muncher, Sprinkles is! Yes him is!
posted by Gyre,Gimble,Wabe, Esq. at 5:42 PM on October 6, 2020 [6 favorites]
I think the guy in the closet was a normal alive guy missing some parts (a tongue?) who smelled terrible
I wondered if the smell might be coming from the captain's humanskin vest - which he'd presumably have been wearing under his shirt just as he was a few episodes ago.
This was a hall of an episode. The sex scene with White Ruby shedding her skin as she orgasms was genuinely unsettling - as were Topsy and Bopsy, of course. It's the series' strongest lean into pure horror tropes yet, and they pulled it off magnificently.
posted by Paul Slade at 1:49 AM on October 7, 2020
I wondered if the smell might be coming from the captain's humanskin vest - which he'd presumably have been wearing under his shirt just as he was a few episodes ago.
This was a hall of an episode. The sex scene with White Ruby shedding her skin as she orgasms was genuinely unsettling - as were Topsy and Bopsy, of course. It's the series' strongest lean into pure horror tropes yet, and they pulled it off magnificently.
posted by Paul Slade at 1:49 AM on October 7, 2020
it recalls what Cole Porter is sometimes said to have been doing with his 1934 song Miss Otis Regrets
An extraordinary song - when I first heard it (Kirsty MacColl, I think), I couldn't understand where it had come from. My favourite version - and I think the best - is by Ella Fitzgerald, to add on-point frissons.
posted by Grangousier at 2:37 AM on October 7, 2020
An extraordinary song - when I first heard it (Kirsty MacColl, I think), I couldn't understand where it had come from. My favourite version - and I think the best - is by Ella Fitzgerald, to add on-point frissons.
posted by Grangousier at 2:37 AM on October 7, 2020
I wondered if the smell might be coming from the captain's humanskin vest
I also thought this, but it seems odd that nobody seems to find him smelly outside of that room.
posted by confluency at 4:21 AM on October 7, 2020
I also thought this, but it seems odd that nobody seems to find him smelly outside of that room.
posted by confluency at 4:21 AM on October 7, 2020
Perhaps white people can't smell it.
posted by Grangousier at 5:25 AM on October 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Grangousier at 5:25 AM on October 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
Someone on twitter dubbed Tic's shoggoth "Sprinkles"
relevant gif (via)
posted by exogenous at 7:49 AM on October 7, 2020
relevant gif (via)
posted by exogenous at 7:49 AM on October 7, 2020
Who's a good shoggoth?! So good! So blinky with all those eyes. As the gunfire started, I had a moment of dread with Tic thinking he might be invulnerable vs Leti actually being invulnerable (and her facial expression realizing "hey, wait, nevermind bullets" was fabulous) leading to something very bad happening to Tic, but then we got his new pet showing up.
Dee was incredible this episode. Completely out of fucks to give and whip-smart and strong as can be. The two phantom-girls haunting Dee were so good - their movements were right in the uncanny valley. Reminiscent of "Us", too. The sex scene was ... uh... that was something alright. And we have Ji-Ah on the board, too. I assume she didn't just travel from Korea to have one argument and leave, so I expect we will see more of her. Overall a solid chunk of horror and plot-crisis after last week's Afrofuturist journey.
posted by rmd1023 at 12:08 PM on October 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
Dee was incredible this episode. Completely out of fucks to give and whip-smart and strong as can be. The two phantom-girls haunting Dee were so good - their movements were right in the uncanny valley. Reminiscent of "Us", too. The sex scene was ... uh... that was something alright. And we have Ji-Ah on the board, too. I assume she didn't just travel from Korea to have one argument and leave, so I expect we will see more of her. Overall a solid chunk of horror and plot-crisis after last week's Afrofuturist journey.
posted by rmd1023 at 12:08 PM on October 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
I wonder if they're building towards an "Avengers Assemble" finale here, where Ji-Ah, Sprinkles, Yahima and a returning Hippolyta line up with our core trio against Christina and Captain Lancaster's racist cops?
posted by Paul Slade at 12:58 PM on October 7, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Paul Slade at 12:58 PM on October 7, 2020 [3 favorites]
I don't think Christina would be on the side of the white cops. She might even help the Black characters. And then kidnap Tic to ritually murder him for her personal quest, of course.
I do keep wondering about Christina's gender identity (because I'd hate to misgender someone). Is the reason she is so cold with Ruby as a woman because she doesn't identify with her female body? Should we be referring to the character as William instead?
posted by Scattercat at 10:14 PM on October 7, 2020
I do keep wondering about Christina's gender identity (because I'd hate to misgender someone). Is the reason she is so cold with Ruby as a woman because she doesn't identify with her female body? Should we be referring to the character as William instead?
posted by Scattercat at 10:14 PM on October 7, 2020
I'm quite sure Christina isn't on the side of the white cops - they're the folks who have been blocking her access to magic. I'm not quite sure what's up with her attempt to experience the way Emmet Till was murdered - could she be developing empathy?
posted by rmd1023 at 7:15 AM on October 8, 2020
posted by rmd1023 at 7:15 AM on October 8, 2020
Lancaster's dead, though, right? I thought we saw him get clobbered by Sprinkles (or at least lose his shootin' arm). Without him running the show, are the racist cops much of a threat?
posted by jquinby at 10:23 AM on October 8, 2020
posted by jquinby at 10:23 AM on October 8, 2020
Racist cops seem to be a renewable resource, so I think they are still going to be a threat. Lancaster’s also got some magic going on, so even if he did get injured I don’t think it’s enough to remove him from the picture.
To me, Christina is not in league with the cops, but kind of the same way the male Braithwhites wouldn’t be seen with the KKK; Christina reads to me more like Rose in Get Out. Her motives are not good ones and she’s definitely up to no good. Maybe there’s hope for redemption if she can develop some empathy, but I don’t see it as likely.
posted by nat at 12:01 PM on October 8, 2020 [3 favorites]
To me, Christina is not in league with the cops, but kind of the same way the male Braithwhites wouldn’t be seen with the KKK; Christina reads to me more like Rose in Get Out. Her motives are not good ones and she’s definitely up to no good. Maybe there’s hope for redemption if she can develop some empathy, but I don’t see it as likely.
posted by nat at 12:01 PM on October 8, 2020 [3 favorites]
Lancaster's dead, though, right? I thought we saw him get clobbered by Sprinkles
I feel like im never totally square on the details from this show but i THOUGHT he walked away before the shooting started?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:16 PM on October 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
I feel like im never totally square on the details from this show but i THOUGHT he walked away before the shooting started?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:16 PM on October 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
I’m late to the thread but let’s have some love for “it’s GREEK you asshole!”
posted by freecellwizard at 7:05 PM on November 18, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by freecellwizard at 7:05 PM on November 18, 2020 [2 favorites]
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And that ending! As violent, horrifying, and bloody as the ending of the latest episode of The Boys, but cathartic as all get out. And inventively directed to boot.
posted by ejs at 8:16 PM on October 4, 2020 [3 favorites]