Lovecraft Country

This show is based on Matt Ruff's novel. Not on any of the original Lovecraft works. The people who are complaining about propaganda, liberal media, or bla bla bla are idiots. The TV-show is following the source material fairly well. They didn't choose the title just to cash in on the Lovecraft name, they choose this work because they clearly liked the source.

However! The novel is so loosely connected to the Lovecraft's original work, that it's almost insulting. The novel is really bad and the show is doing absolutely nothing to improve upon it.

I really feel like I'm watching two completely different things here. On one hand it's a really well-crafted story about racism in the south during the Jim Crow era. On the other hand it's a horrible bad attempt at horror.

The acting is really solid. The story is well-developed, but the characters are so flat and predictable. Both the antagonists and the protagonists are boring stereotypes. The side-characters are almost parodying. They are an exaggerated imitation that fails to be humorously. The only character that seems to have some flesh on his bones are Atticus.

The dialogue is really well-written. But, The pacing of the script is terrible. It feels like I'm watching a 50 minute intro to a 2 minute movie.

The soundtrack is just all over the place. I appreciate BB King everyday of the week, but when it's inter-cut with some unflinchingly generic hiphop it just hurts my ears. The intro is suppose to show a scene from Korea, but has music form the 20's. The show takes place during the Korea war (that ended in '53), but 'you upset me baby' wasn't released until 1957.

The CGI is awful. Really really bad 2001-ish quality CGI. This is an HBO-show. Why does it look like a LOTR rip-off from some b-rate studio VHS tape?

And it's just all these small details that constantly shakes you out of immersion with the show. Every time you relaxed and start to get dragged into it, you get jolted back into your own living room by the fact that you are watching a screen-play of a amateur novel.

I have not had a show relate so much to my inner nerd and suspense. This is an excellent show which gives factual Black history.

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

This series starts out very well hitting character development, backstory and monsters. A lot of action and likable characters. The series goes along just fine and is very enjoyable . . . Until it wasn't. It got stupid, preachy and disjointed toward the end. So promising, yet so disappointing.

The biggest question I had about the show was how much of the horror themes were gonna be racial or Lovecraftian. As of episode three, the horror is fairly evenly balanced. There are a lot of scenes that focus on racial tensions and horrors that are extremely well done, and never feels like a slap-in-the-face message about racism. Rather they produce genuine tension and anxiety. As for the Lovecraftian horror themes, they are fairly sparse and scattered (nothing really happens until the end of episode one), but when they do show up, they are exquisitely well done and interesting. There are constant nods to Lovecraft, and his mythos- i.e. episode three is a love letter to "The Rats in The Walls"- and the story incorporates and weaves them in well so far, but it is only episode three. Now for why it may not be for everyone; it does have a complex story and method of delivery. A lot of information is alluded to, or glazed over so you really have to pay attention, and episode two was very confusing on the first watch and required two watches, paying close attention each time. It is not the show for you if you are looking for an easy story to digest, this one will make you think and put things together yourself. On the other hand, if you don't mind using your brain when watching this show, it's superb, especially for those who love and are familiar with Lovecraft and his mythos. The overall direction of the show is still a little unclear. It started out with a clear motive but switches up really quick. That is one thing I am still waiting to see is the overall story arc and direction. As I said though, it is only episode three of supposedly ten so far. I would highly recommend watching if anything mentioned about it sounds interesting.