We are wrapping up our recap of the horror series, Lovecraft Country! For ten episodes, this horror series has brought us ghosts, apparitions, monstrous beasts, and time travel, but the finale, “Full Circle,” brings Lovecraft Country Season One to a resounding end. “Full Circle,” much like the name implies, leaves little room for theory or questions as we see the heartbreaking conclusion to Tic’s saga.
The episode opens with the gang returning to Earl’s auto shop with Dee. Dee’s curse has nearly reached permanence but Tic and Leti manage to get her in position on the guest bedroom upstairs. Tic recites a few words of magic and the Book of Names springs to life, opening itself halfway on the table. “That’s your birthmark,” Montrose says as the symbol of rebirth is written atop the page’s header. Suddenly, both Tic and Leti faint to the floor, leaving Montrose and Hippolyta bewildered at their condition.
Tic is introduced to his ancestor Hanna as she appeared the night of escaping from Braithwhite Manor. Hanna recounts her story to Tic, explaining that when she realized what Titus was trying to do with her unborn child, she sought to dismantle his establishment by taking the Book of Names. She chose to bind the book shut as she believed it to be too evil, barring anyone in the family from being found by the Braithwhites.
On the other side, Leti awakens to the room that she previously saw Auntie Hattie perish in. Hattie approaches and tells her that because of her pregnancy she is now bound by blood to Tic, also informing her that Tic has now unbound the book from Hanna’s lock. Tic and Leti recite the language of Adam and a black fog begins to form on the bed. Dee’s petrification begins to cure, and her hair gradually returns to normal. Dee awakens in terror as she finally sees her arm, now all but totally dead from the curse.
Preparing for The End
Montrose and Tic argue over the proper mode of action in defeating Christina. To prevent her from performing the sacrifice on the autumnal equinox, Leti believes a binding spell would work to keep her from enacting her ritual. Tic agrees with this and they together decide that they will need a physical piece of Christina, Tic and Titus in order to trap her to a specific location. The pair venture back to Ardham with their new magical knowledge in tow. Inside the museum, in the first underground chamber the group found, the pair lay down a circle of salt with symbols of resurrection on either side of the border. Finally, they recite their magical language and suddenly the circle fills with dust as an apparition of a white man in a grey suit manifests in the circle. Titus Braithwhite looks on at the pair in confusion.
Titus is confronted by Hanna, who recounts her intent and need to get away from his devious plans. The spirits of Hanna and Hattie assist Leti in a group chant to strengthen the circle’s border while Tic finishes his task. Titus vanishes from their view and reappears in front of Christina, who happens to be driving home with Ruby. The image of Titus manifests in the middle of the road and causes Ruby to crash into a telephone poll.
Back in the chamber, Tic gruesomely stabs and fillets at Titus’ chest, finally tearing out a large chunk of flesh from his torso. As this part of their ritual is now finished, Leti releases the souls of Hanna and Hattie so that they can finally pass on.
Leti believes the best method of getting a piece of Christina is through Ruby. Montrose immediately disagrees but the conversation is cut short when Christina barges into the front door. Christina realizes from the group’s spell with Titus that they now have the Book of Names and promises to cease her spell if they give it to her. Tic refuses, and Christina retaliates by removing the invulnerability mark on Leti before leaving.
Meanwhile, Tic meets Ji-Ah in a local bar to console and apologize for his behavior at their last meeting. Like his mother, Tic believes that present circumstances and their history make the pair family, although he chooses to maintain his romantic dealings with Leti. The pair reconcile and the dark distance between the two is finally absolved.
While visiting their mother’s funeral with Ruby, Leti confesses that she missed the ceremony because she was in jail. This opens the conversation to the two about the true interpretation of family despite their mother’s cold shrill nature. Ruby is upset when Leti asks her to again spy on Christina and retrieve a piece of her blood to perform their binding spell. Leti continues to fill Ruby in on the details of the groups plans despite her objection.
The next day, the group prepares for their trip to Ardham. Tic looks on at his family for what seems like the last time as we prepare Lovecraft Country’s final 30 minutes. Ruby suddenly approaches Leti with a red vial. They embrace one final time before the group leaves, and a bit later, the group finally reaches the ruins of Braithwhite manor. Montrose and Tic set perimeters of salt through the forest while Leti, Hippolyta and Ji-Ah mark the walls and bridges with a symbol of Adam. Upon reaching the ruins, Tic is led to the centerpiece of the ritual chamber by a group of white people with torches that descend on him.
Inside the tower, Leti has a horrifying realization when she overhears Ruby reminiscing about finally understanding the true value of family. This statement makes Leti uneasy as she remembers their meeting in the cemetery the day before, wondering if this is the same Ruby that she communed with then. Ruby stares back at Leti’s bewildered expression with a cold air of calm and poise. Christina then outs herself by saying that she already caught Ruby trying to steal the potion for her. Outside on the bridge, a mob with pitchforks and torches approaches the group. Ji-Ah looks on as she realizes that the plan has been totally foiled.
Leti and Christina face each other now at the top of the tower. When asked of Ruby’s demise, Christina simply replies that its Leti’s fault for involving her in their rivalry. The pair immediately begin fighting for control of the tower. Moreover, the vial that Christina handed her earlier did not contain Christina’s blood, but Ruby’s. Leti fights for dominance as Christina punches and yanks at her hair, throwing her across the towers’ podium and slamming her into the wall.
Hippolyta and Montrose trade blows with various mob men while Ji-Ah tries to remain calm and stationary amid the chaos. Ruby finally gets back to her feet before again body slamming Leti into a wall and then tossing her over the edge of the tower. Leti screams in terror as she falls some 40 feet and her body slams against the forest floor. Eventually, Hippolyta, Montrose and Ji-Ah are overwhelmed and captured along with Leti while Tic is preparing for the ceremony.
In the forest, Dee looks over the copy of Lovecraft Country that Tic handed when suddenly she hears a rustle in the trees. She searches with the beam of her flashlight, circling around the car when a quadruped suddenly smashes against the car window, shattering glass and wrecking the metal. Dee screams in terror as she tries to scurry for some form of safety in this tiny metal box. It appears the beast is about to go for the kill until a shadow snatches it away from the car, tossing it clear through the forest tree line. Pale white beasts huff and puff as a much bigger black one stands at attention between them and Dee. This likely is the hound that saved Tic from Officer Lancaster a few episodes prior.
Tic is disappointed when Christina finally arrives at the ritual chamber site, not bound by any magic. She gives him credit for attempting to hijack her spell as she positions his body harness to face the apex of the moon, now glowing a silvery light down on them. We watch in sadness as Tic tries to no avail to break out of his restraints. He shouts and growls in tears as Christina begins chanting the language of Adam while waving a ceremonial short word. The ambient background audio is muted as we watch his harness rotated to the precise degree and angle to align with the moon. Christina slashes away at Tic’s wrists, creating a waterfall of blood on either side as she continues to chant. She walks through the stream and showers herself in his blood. The red mixes with the white silk and linen, and blue light begins to shoot from Tic’s chest onto Christina. Leti, now awakened after finding a mark of Kane again burned on her abdomen, arrives just in time to see Tic staring off in the distance to her as the life drains from his eyes.
Suddenly, Leti drives a blade right through Christina’s back. This is a useless action now as Christina has already achieved immortality: her wound heals in seconds. Leti chants the language of Adam as Christina chuckles in disbelief at her success. In the background, black smoke reaches from Tic’s body toward the moon. Hippolyta laments that Leti’s spell will not work if they do not have the bodies connected, to which Ji-Ah retcons by standing in front of the stream of smoke and attaching her tails to both Christina and Tic. Memories of Tic’s life flow through Ji-Ah and Christina as the smoke now totally covers the entire chamber. The screen cuts to black.
Pursuing Equality
Christina awakens with various slabs of concrete stapling her body down. She chants words but no magic is invoked. When she realizes that she has been bound from doing magic, Leti corrects her, saying that it’s also all white people on Earth who have been bound from magic. “Magic is ours now.” She says before tending to Tic with Montrose, though by now, tragically, Tic has already passed. Hippolyta then gives Montrose a farewell letter left by Tic.
Dee walks out of the forest with her new beastly friend to find Christina still stapled to the ground, she then kneels near Christina and reveals her new robotic arm, reminding us about Hippolyta’s surprise for her from earlier in the episode. The metal seems otherworldly and has plenty of strength for Dee to utilize, which of course she immediately does by choking Christina to death. Dee is a murderer now, apparently.
“Full Circle” brings the horror series to a crashing end with some bittersweet results. Since this horror series debut, show creator Misha Green depicted science fiction and horror in a very subtle and interesting way.
While the show chooses to imagine itself as the antithesis of H.P. Lovecraft’s racial views, it ultimately misses the mark on the most important lesson of all—equality.
If magic is a symbol for power, then it makes perfect sense on an emotional level to want to wish the establishment’s power taken away, or to even want to see them suffer. However, the filter that Leti chooses to use for her judgement is far too broad and does not do justice at depicting, well, justice.
This ending does not serve any further purpose other than fulfilling a power-fantasy of minorities to oppress their oppressors, and that only makes us just as isolationist and bigoted as H.P. Lovecraft and the very prejudice that we are, in real life, rising above. This horror series was very inconsistent throughout, and though the finale wasn’t entirely bad, the overall meaning, just like the season, is disappointing. Going forward, one can only hope that this is not the beginning of a trend in retaliatory racial fiction for Lovecraft Country, assuming it’s renewed, or other horror series.
