‘Lovecraft Country’ Season 1 Episode 7 ‘I Am’
Culture Editor Bianca Gregg is back with her recap column, this time spotlighting HBO’s newest series “Lovecraft Country.” Get introduced to the characters, memorable scenes, and plot-twists as we dig into the racially-charged supernatural guilty pleasure.
Hippolyta and Diana find themselves at the Ardham Lodge that is now just a pile of rubble. In the rubble, Hippolyta finds a portion of Diana’s signed comic Uncle George had taken with him on the trip. This is proof that Uncle George had made it to Ardham.
As we know Hippolyta is in possession of the orrery which we have discovered could be a time travel device of some sort. The orrery is also something Christina wanted back badly, hence giving Letitia the money to purchase her home. Well tonight Hippolyta finally figures out the orrery. She discovers a key and some coordinates to a place in Mayfield, Kansas. Still angry at the fact that Montrose and Atticus have not told her the truth about George, she sets out on her journey.
Hippolyta arrives to the machine that the orrery key actually unlocks. The machine comes on as two officers are heard coming into the room. The officers are discussing Captain Lancaster, of course he has something to do with all of this. Likely the person who truly wants the orrery. Atticus comes in right as the officers grab Hippolyta. The machine opens a portal and Atticus throws one of the officers in. Hippolyta shoots and kills the other police officer. The portal sucks Hippolyta in and she finds herself on a strange planet. She is transported on to a spaceship where a person that refers to herself as “I Am” is aboard.
“I Am” tells Hippolyta multiple times that she is not a prisoner and as we watch Hippolyta on her journey, the reasoning becomes clear.
First she is transported to Paris where she dances along side Josephine Baker. In Paris, Hippolyta discovers her freedom. She realizes that all her life back in the United States, white people often made her feel small. She expresses her hate for allowing it to happen to Josephine. Once Hippolyta self proclaims herself as “Hippolyta,” she is transported to Africa. She is a warrior in training being taught to protect her freedom from colonizers that wish to strip all those things away. As Hippolyta trains, she becomes stronger and faster eventually beating her trainer and proving ready for combat. She and several other women fight against a large group of colonizers, brutally killing them. Again Hippolyta expresses who she is, this time saying she is also George’s wife.
Hippolyta is transported to her bedroom with Uncle George. One of their final moments together before George took the trip with Atticus and Letitia to Ardham. Hippolyta tells George about her journey and the orrery. George expresses his happiness in Hippolyta referring to herself as his wife. Hippolyta’s mood immediately changes. She tells George how she felt big as a child and that the world made her feel small even once she married George. She told George that he made her feel even smaller once she was married and became a mother and that he allowed it. Hippolyta is a very intelligent woman. She discovered a star as a child that she never received credit for and she figured out the orrery. Society shrunk Hippolyta first through the erasure of Black women and sadly becoming a wife and mother was another layer of erasure. George ultimately apologizes to her for not allowing her to be as big as she could be. Hippolyta finds comfort in those words as well as peace over George being gone. Hippolyta floats around in space and returns to “I Am” with a better understanding that she held herself as a prisoner. “I Am” assures Hippolyta she can return to Earth whenever she would like and although hesitant at first, she knows Diana will need her.
Atticus returns from the portal but it closes with no sign of Hippolyta. Sirens can be heard in the background as law enforcement approaches. Tic rushes to get the machine to reopen the portal but instead the machine shuts down. He grabs the key and rushes out of the building leaving behind Diana’s comic in a pool of the dead police officers blood.
Takeaways:
It’s looking like Letitia is pregnant. I guess we’ll find out for sure soon.
When Diana’s friends come over to play cards, one of them talks about wanting Bo-Bo to come back because he was so good at the game and my heart dropped.
The scene with Montrose, Sammy and Atticus. Whew. Heavy!
Next week appears to focus on Diana and it gave me a bit of a “Nightmare on Elm Street” vibe.
