‘Lovecraft Country’ 1×10: “Full Circle” Recap
Full Circle definitely lives up to its name, but did they rush to the finish line?
Full Circle was it. As of the writing of this article, HBO has neither confirmed nor denied plans for a second season. If that was the series finale, are you happy with how it turned out? Let’s get into it!
1. Doing too much?
Was it just me, or did they cover a LOT of ground in this final chapter? Where Sundown was a tension building slow boil of an introduction, Full Circle felt like a bombastic blitz to the end. We went to the ancestral plane, saved Dee, stabbed the ghost of Titus in his chest meat, reconciled with Ji-Ah, sang a song, Hippolyta became Bruce Lee, Dee became Misty Knight, fake killed Leti, really killed Tic and that fails to mention the stuff they tried to breeze through during Ji-Ah mind meld!
As much as I love the clean feel of a ten-episode season, I think Full Circle could have been stretched into one more episode. I wanted longer moments for Tic and Hanna, Leti and Ruby, Montrose and Tic, etc. It just feels as though certain spots needed to breathe more. Maybe eleven episodes is too weird of a number to end on, but I think fans were going to show up en masse regardless.
2. Christina and the Issue with White Women
Before I really begin, those that know this don’t need this, but for the sake of argument – #NotAllWhiteWomen. Now, what I believe Christina consistently represented, especially in the back half of the season is the worst kind of white feminist ally. She lays her head down at night completely comfortable with the fact that she is not “racist”. She does not harbor any ill will to Tic, Leti, and the rest simply because they are Black. Christina went as far as putting herself through Emmett Till’s grisly murder to better understand Ruby’s pain, but it was meaningless in the end.
An ever-present critique of white feminism is the lack of intersectionality. There is the idea that despite their claims, the priorities are self, whiteness, and then all women. This was clearly Christina’s M.O. from her introduction. When Tic confronted her in an earlier episode, she said he can’t “just go shooting white women”; a display that despite her magical advantage, she knew she had an Amy Cooper sized trump card. I believe she genuinely was growing close to Ruby, trying to understand Ruby, her experience, and promising not to harm Leti. When push came to shove, she killed Ruby, attempted to kill Leti, and killed Tic. Her wants and desires made anyone expendable and the only thing that came “full circle” for her was karma.
3. The family failed Dee
Okay, epic last shot of the show, right? Dee has a Terminator arm and turned Christina’s neck into a Gusher. She can control one of the demon dogs. It should feel epic and triumphant, but it’s just not. This is a child that just killed, in cold blood, no hesitation. She is NOT okay. Think about this show from her perspective. Earlier in the summer, her dad is killed. Her mom disappears. One of her best friends is the victim of a grizzly murder. The day of the funeral, she is harassed by police and ends up attacked and possessed. When she is saved, she’s lost the arm/hand she uses to draw a.k.a. the one joy we knew she had. All this to end up on a road trip where you get attacked by demons and commit a murder.
The family spent so much energy trying to figure out how to protect the family that they forgot to actually protect the family. She is lied to about her mother and father’s disappearance. That feeling leads her to slip away at the funeral, and with everyone so preoccupied they don’t realize she is gone.
When she is solo is when the police Captain is able to put a hex on her. She survives this ordeal only to be taken to the grounds upon which her father died and left in the car alone. I damn near threw something at the screen.
There is no one-size-fits-all way to help a child with trauma, but please believe that the Freeman’s are not the example to follow. Dee is now likely a hardened shell of her former self and it’s largely to her slipping through the cracks until it was too late. As much as Full Circle feels like it closed some loops, Dee’s arc is an opened ended tragedy.
Random Closing Thoughts
The villagers on the bridge were total trash. If I get 20 of my closest friends to go handle a group of 3 people in a physical altercation and the outcome is EVER in doubt… shame
I can’t believe they cut Titus chest meat like that.
Dee was right to be mad with Hippolyta. Even if someones actions are justified, if they hurt you, they hurt you.
When Hanna starts explaining the power of the ancestral plane, for a split second I head “everything changed when the fire nation attacked”.
Marvel can definitely pull off a Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur series. Misha Green did your ground work, so run her a check, please.
TLDR
Christina was ready to cross any and everyone to unlock all magic for herself and died for her efforts. Thanks to the ancestors, Leti hijacked the spell and cut all white people off from magic. Tic and Ruby ended up dead for the cause, and Diana and Hippolyta are basically superheroes now.
