Lovecraft Country 1×10 Review: Full Circle

The finale of Lovecraft Country, titled ‘Full Circle,’ played out in certain expected ways; however, that’s not to say it didn’t offer some cool moments. Of course, I want Lovecraft Country to come back for a second season.

Lovecraft Country is the kind of series where anything is possible because it covers numerous fictional genres. In a sense, if ‘Full Circle’ showed the narrative pull the restart switch and the final moments showed Tic waking up on the same bus we saw him in during the premiere, but this time aware of what’s going to happen next, I would have bought it. I might not have been happy about such a decision, but I would have understood it because of the ‘Full Circle’ thing.

Well, that didn’t happen. Maybe it did in some other timeline? Anyway, with the Book of Names in their possession, our heroes used it to cure Diana. One would think they would have cast the spell in the observatory last night, but oh well. During the spell casting, Tic and Leti fell unconscious and traveled to some kind of astral plane that Hannah had created for the generations in her family to stay connected in.

One of the long-running narratives in Lovecraft Country deals with every generation ensuring that the future generations stay protected. ‘Full Circle’ showed us a lot of that. Hannah did what she could to protect her family. The same held true for Dora, and so on. Now, it was Tic’s turn. Leti, Tic, and the ghosts of Tic’s ancestors worked together to undo the curse on Diana. However, their work wasn’t done yet. They had to take down Christina.

I liked the scene where Tic, Leti, and the ghosts summoned Titus Braithwaite. They needed a piece of him to cast a spell on Christina. Before he’s destroyed, Titus was able to warn Christina about Tic having found the Book of Names. So, sigh!

At least, Tic’s ancestors got their revenge. So, yay!

Taking down Christina wasn’t easy. They needed a part of her body and that’s where Leti reached out to Ruby for help. Considering how close Ruby’s become to Christina, I understood where Ruby was coming from when she refused to help Leti. As far as she’s concerned, Leti always asked favors from her older sister without giving anything in return. Christina, on the other hand, had been offering a lot to Ruby. Why would Ruby mess that up?

As for Diana and Hippolyta, Diana not wanting to talk to her mother made sense. Of course, a child would be angry if their only parent decided to disappear. I did like that the tension between those two was short-lived. Hippolyta really made it up to Diana (which I’ll get to at the end).

One of the things I didn’t like was how ‘Full Circle’ handled Tic and Ji-Ah’s relationship. I was expecting her to be treated a lot better as a character. In my opinion, the Lovecraft Country series failed at that. The way the two reconciled felt too quick especially after Tic had yelled at her (in episode 8) to leave him alone because he’s with Leti now. Personally, I would have been okay with her not being part of the finale and hopefully having a better role in the second season.

As for the final battle, it’s Tic, Leti, Hippolyta, Ji-Ah, Ruby, and Montrose against Christina. Our heroes decided to leave Diana alone in the car which… okay. The battle, of course, took place in Ardhman because of the ‘Full Circle’ thing. Also, one would think our team of good guys would take guns with them. Being armed would have helped against the village people. I’m just saying.

Due to Lovecraft Country playing around with death (a bit too much), the moment between Leti and not-Ruby was meh to me. We have already seen Leti die before. And though Tic and Ruby are no more, are they really dead? Is this the last we have seen of them? I don’t think so. Even if Tic doesn’t appear, Ruby should only be in a comatose-ish state for Christina to use her body as a disguise, right? So many questions!

A number of moments also seemed to have happened off-screen. We got to know about them when Ji-Ah connected Christina and Tic with two of her tails (which came out of her eyes) and we got a stream of quick flashback sequences.

Coming to the end, I think what Diana decided to do at the end of ‘Full Circle’ is going to make a lot of fans talk. She’s the owner of Tic’s Pokemon/Shoggoth now. Not only that, remember when I said Hippolyta made it up to Diana? Well, she gave her daughter a biomechanical arm. Was it an adult Diana who gave Tic the book and pushed him out of the portal? It sure seemed like it.

Now, I have seen some people share they didn’t appreciate it being Diana who killed Christina. Why didn’t Leti end the witch’s life while she was trapped under the rubble? I mean, Leti being the one to off Christina would have been good to see. But narratively I think it had to be Diana because it’s all about the young leading us into the future. She did what needed to be done. And I applaud her for that.

Lovecraft Country can do a lot if there’s going to be a second season. The writers could explore a different timeline. They could jump a few decades ahead. I’ll be here for a modern take on the supernatural stuff happening in the 2020s and how it connects to racism and discrimination.

As for the live viewing numbers, they aren’t too big, but they are okay (in my opinion). Not a single episode was able to touch the 1 million live viewer milestone. But, then again, HBO numbers work differently than your average network. This series is also available on the HBO Max streaming service. So, that’s another factor to consider. I just hope the numbers and critical reception are good enough for HBO to work with Misha Green for another outing. I want to see more of what Green has to offer.

Before I bring this review to an end, for those wondering about the comic book that’s been showing up in Lovecraft Country, go see the work of artist Afua Richardson.

SNL also did a skit about this series!

So, what did you think of Lovecraft Country as a show?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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