Lovecraft Country

The pacing from the first to the second episode was incredibly inconsistent. The first episode was enjoyable enough and showed great imagery of racism prior to the Civil Rights.

The second episode though - my god was that bad. Weird jumps between scenes, it didn't take time to develop the setting, characters, or do horror in any meaningful way. With this being commentary on Lovecraft, I would have thought there'd be horror, and not just vague illusions to tropes like cults or monsters. This was more of a middle grade dark fantasy story. Looking at the novel, this story was only a hundred pages long, and the HBO adaptation didn't add anything to it - so that is about the length of a middle grade novel. Adult horror is usually longer and better developed. With Jordan Peele involved as a producer, I'm really surprised by the low quality.

Wanted to like it. First episode was really good and so was the second and third one but after that it pretty much went downhill.. too much going one and not finishing a story before it starts a new one. Too bad. The beginning it had so much potential

The first few episodes are decent and well written. But, it really gets tedious during the last few episodes. I stopped caring about the characters. Tic could live or die. By the end, I simply didn't care. At some point, you need more than bad white people to keep a story going. This just becomes a convoluted tiresome uninteresting mess. Jordan Peele and JJ Abrams continue to deliver average forgetable content.

The series is neither an adaptation of a Lovecraft work, nor is it based on his mythos or his life. "Lovecraft Country" is a combination of fantasy, horror, mystery, and Indiana Jones adventure, but the emphasis is not only on these aspects, but it significantly concentrates on racism in America in the 1950s. I have the impression that the authors used the "father of horror" to attract the audience to a famous name. We have "racist horror", and Lovecraft is a racist horror writer ... let's name the series after him and attract fans. At first, it may work, but those same fans will very quickly realize what is happening and will be disappointed with the series that they could have liked under some other name, which does not offer false promises.

The other thing that bothered me was the soundtrack. With good production, cinematography, and acting, they skillfully evoked the atmosphere of the fifties, and then spoiled it with inadequate music. I watch the South Side of Chicago in the fifties, but I listen to Rihanna, Manson, and hip-hop ... it doesn't work. It breaks the atmosphere and spoils the experience.

Third and most important, after a promising start, the script turned into a total mess. Had they stick to the great premises from the first couple of episodes until the end, the series could have been awesome. For some reason, they decided to overwhelm it with new subplots from episode to episode, until it turned into an overcomplicated and incomplete mishmash of everything and anything.

However, the series is technically indisputably well done, the visual aspect, atmosphere, and characters are very likable, and the story is, if you don't mind the confusing and chaotic storytelling, basically quite interesting. If you don't expect too much, it's worth a look.

7/10

I really liked the first episode, it was a great pilot. Very refreshing and I would recommend everyone to watch it. I don't know what happened after, but the show quickly after the first one because very boring and unoriginal. I think they might went too far with the racism as well. Not because of the white people, but because it makes the whole story and character actions very predictable and cliche. A part from the first one, this show was a letdown.