HBO's Lovecraft Country review: Racial commentary meets witches and vampires - CNET

Vance, Jonathan Majors and Jurnee Smollet in Lovecraft Country.

But just when you think the story couldn't be more historically accurate, the show takes a turn to the paranormal. .

I was often disturbed by Lovecraft Country, but not only by its monsters and evil spirits lurking in the dark.

Jonathan Majors (The Last Black Man in San Francisco) plays Atticus Freeman, a Korean War veteran with a penchant for science fiction novels.

Atticus ends up embarking on a road trip quest across the Midwest and into Massachusetts with his uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) and his childhood friend Leti (Jurnee Smollett.).

The trip starts with a driving sequence set to James Baldwin's 1965 words during a debate at Cambridge University about the unattainability of the American dream for Black people.

There's a sequence of Leti at church that incorporates the sound from this 2017 Nike campaign that champions equality for the LGBTQ community.

Jonathan Majors and Jurnee Smollett in Lovecraft Country.

Amid this summer's global protests calling for racial justice, you might think Lovecraft Country is a timely historical drama that comments on race in the US.

The opening sequence of Lovecraft Country is Atticus' nightmare, haunted by ghosts from his past as a soldier in the trenches.

Jonathan Majors in Lovecraft Country.

After watching the five episodes available for review, I realized I made a lot of mistaken assumptions about Leti, Ruby, Atticus and the others when I met them. .

It is a very sexy show, from the mean production and costume design and cinematography to the incredible chemistry between Atticus and Leti.

But more than that, it is the story of an American boy and a dream that is truly American." This quote from the 1950 movie The Jackie Robinson Story appears at the beginning of Lovecraft Country and introduces the show magnificently

This is an intrinsically American story