Source: HBO / HBO
‘s third episode, aptly titled “Holy Ghost,” takes place after the untimely loss of Uncle George. With Leti literally movin’ on up to the Northside of Chicago, the ghosts of racism’s past and the ghouls in present-day are contended with, while Tic and Leti’s romance is seemingly blooming to boot.
“Holy Ghost” opens with Atticus “Tic” Freeman serving to replace the void left by the loss of Uncle George with his aunt Hippolyta and niece Diana. Of course, nothing can effectively replace the presence of the father and husband, so Tic looks to stay periodically with his father, Montrose Freeman, but it’s clear the men are on different wavelengths in regards to telling Hippolyta the truth about what happened to George.
The show focuses a great deal on Leti, who purchases the Winthrop House on the Northside and aims to make it a safe haven for Black Chicago residents. However, Leti and her half-sister Ruby soon learn that there’s something going on with the home. This moment speaks directly to a practice known then as “pioneering,” where Black residents moved into largely white neighborhoods where they were almost universally unwelcomed, braving threats of violence and worse.
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At Leti’s urging, Ruby moves into the home and rents out a variety of extra rooms to other Black city residents. However, what appeared to be sisters reconnecting on the surface, Leti reveals that her mother left her an inheritance that allowed her to purchase the property which causes more distance between the siblings.
Things take a dark turn when the elevator in the home nearly takes off Leti and Ruby’s head, and later while asleep, Leti has her sheets yanked from her by a ghastly figure. Then, in the home’s basement tries to escape from the walls and marks another terrifying revelation that they are not alone.
What is always readily apparent in
Lovecraft Country is the dread of the world beyond, and the real-life horrors of racism and bigotry that the protagonists face. During a raucous housewarming party, a crew of white street toughs parked cars in front of the home with bricks attached to the horns to blare all night and disturb the peaceful resident inside.
The physical attraction between Tic and Leti had been brewing since episode one, and it’s clear they were soon to dive headfirst while giving in to their passions. At the housewarming, a seemingly jealous Tic watches Leti dancing sensually with another man but they connect in a bathroom for a romp that audiences learn was Leti’s first time. As the party rages on, a cross is set on fire on Leti’s lawn, leading up to one of the more powerful scenes so far for the show.
Leti, with a bat in tow, breaks apart the gaggle of horn-blowing cars at the dismay of white onlookers and she assumes the position when the police arrive. Making a heroic stand once again, it is then the viewers learn that Leti isn’t just a pretty face with big dreams and has been getting the attention of cops for quite some time. A white officer grills Leti in the paddywagon, which violently tossed her about and let her known that eight Black people died at the hands of Hiram Epstein inside the home.
We shouldn’t skip over the fact that it appears that Uncle George is still with us somehow, after Diana and other young guests at the house party are seen taking in a game of Ouija, with George’s spirit spelling out his name much to Diana’s annoyance. Will Uncle George appear from the afterworld this season? Seems so. There’s also a nod to the unfortunate lynching of Emmett Till during this pivotal scene.
Returning to the home with a mystic, complete with a sacrificial goat for protection, Tic and Leti enter the home ready to cast out the demonic spirit of Epstein within. In an intense battle of the physical and spirit worlds, Leti calls on the spirits of the eight slain to battle Epstein once and for all, and the battle is won. However, there’s the pesky disappearance of two of the white street toughs who were killed by the ghosts of the home and are now rotting away in a lower dwelling that leads to some ominous place.
With the home now ghost-free, Leti is ready to reclaim the home as her own but there’s always a twist with
Lovecraft Country. We come to discover that Christina Braithwhite was behind Leti’s decision to buy the Winthrop House. Tic, tiring of the manipulation, confronts the woman and aims to gun her down but magic forces prevent him from carrying out the crime. She begins to tell him of Horatio Winthrop, who was a founding member of the Sons of Adam, and his thievery of a book of spells thus perhaps explaining the weird markings inside the elevator shaft.
With yet another stellar episode wrapped up, Twitter has been filled with reactions and we’ve gathered some of them below.
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