Lovecraft Country has been a show on a mission since Episode 1, the mission being: put characters who white authors have historically neglected in certain genres as central players in those genres.
Then bring the interaction of race, class and storytelling into the historical context of a fictional series that loves to play with horror tropes.
All episodes have had that in common since Episode 1 and Episode 6 does this and some more.
Let's dig in...
Episode 6 is titled Meet Me in Daegu, a play on the musical that opens the episode which features Judy Garland's Meet Me in St. Louis.
In great musical tradition, the musical we open to is whimsical and colourful, which is contrasted with Ji-Ah who does the whimsical dance routine she's watching but we quickly see it's all in her head.
As the theatre she's in gets rocked by the war that is about to start.
So from the get-go the ideals of musical whimsical love, song and dance is contrasted with the reality of war and it gets complicated even further.
Complicated by the show touching on American imperialism, Korean mythology and the atrocities of war.
The show, true to brand, draws attention to the facts that most of us outside of Korea won't be aware of about this period.
The war itself, the savagery of it and America's hand in the savagery is not so well known as the Vietnam war atrocities.
Yet it's the people who have to live in these whorish times that are marked and changed by the war.
We see the contradictions, hopes and dreams through them. Jamie Chung plays Ji-Ah with such sensitivity. We see what the war is doing to her as individual, her friends and family.
Which is contrasted with what her relationship to her mother is doing to her as a person.
Fans of Naruto would be familiar with the 9 tails from the Japanese series but it's interesting to be exposed to Korean myth and mysticism around the similar concept.
Ji-Ah battle's with her humanity and identity this is made even more amazing as it is contrasted with Atticus.
So we finally get the backstory to the red alien in the first episode and the phone calls to Korea.
Since Atticus does not truly understand who Ji-Ah is, it is no wonder he dreamed her as an alien in the first episode.
We get to see how she knows the future because when she kills people she sees their entire lifespan as she sucks their life-force.
So Ji-Ah is a monster of her mother's creation and Atticus is a monster of his father's creation and the war lets out their monstrous impulses but also offers a chance for love.
Majors and Chung throw themselves into these roles. Whether it be the sex scenes, their confusion or moments of connection, we as the audience are there with them. The series gives us a whole cycle of a relationship in one episode.
Which was amazing to behold. These two characters being pushed by two different forces finding common ground but tragically are left at two different points by the end of the episode.
I hope it's not the last we will see of Ji-Ah because this background episode on what happened in Korea also opens up a can of worms.
Atticus said he has never loved anyone before but he was clearly in love with Ji-Ah.
Is there any correlation between the magic of Ji-ah's Kumiho spirit and the magic of Atticus's people?
Who was that other lady that Atticus was sleeping with in California before he went to Chicago?
Will Leti and Ji-Ah meet and is everything truly over between Atticus and Ji-Ah?
This episode was packed with great ideas and stories. Some I haven't even touched on, like the issue of race and class as it relates to the Koreans, the value most societies put on the male child over the female, the savagery of revolutions.
But I thought it's amazing with beasts destroying and sucking people's souls and soldiers destroying society the episode is also the most sentimental of all the stories thus far.
The episode was able to give us a story about two people with flaws trying to find love and acceptance... it's great television and I can't wait for next week as we get to see Hippolyta travel through space and time.
It felt like: A great anti-war movie with a true love story in the middle to rival any great love story set to the backdrop of war.
Verdict :
*****
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* trash ** you are on your own ***it tries ****Almost Perfect *****Instant Classic