Lovecraft Country Season 1 (2020) Review

Lovecraft Country Season 1 Review (2020) 

So after 10 weeks the first season of the new show Lovecraft Country has finished and here is my review for it. The premise of the season sees a young African-American travel across the UK in the 1950's to find his missing Father. 

Main Character

Jonathan Majors who might be more busy in the future if reports that he will play Kang in the MCU plays Atticus the lead role here and he does a great job. It is just really easy to root for Atticus and it is interesting to see his character develop over the season and he is more then just your one dimensional hero and that makes him a worthy character here. Jurnee Smollett who played Black Canary in Birds of Prey plays Leti and she was the star of the show for me, she is just such a strong character and honestly she owns every scene that she is in. She is an interesting character and along with Atticus they are two great lead performers and really drag this show to a higher level. 

Supporting Characters

Michael Kenneth Williams is a great actor and he plays Montrose and he gives a really strong performance, there are elements of his character that don't quite work but Williams does a great job anyway and gives a really strong emotional performance. But I thought the rest of the supporting characters were really forgettable, whether it be the generic White female villain, or the supporting female cast that don't really have much to do, none of them were that interesting and the Majors, Smollet and Williams are carrying the show on their backs. 

Story 

The story does some really good things, the show feels very brutal especially when it focuses on its racial tension that is here in force. But I also liked somewhat how this subject matter was well handled and was blended with Horror and Sci-Fi to make this show have a more unique feeling and more unique storytelling options then other shows that deal with racial inequality. But this show overreaches so heavily, it tries to do so much that it becomes hard to follow and over the top taking away from some of the great acting and great visuals. Elements of the story weren't necessary and it felt like they were just filling time because certain characters had to return later on in the season, which I also wasn't a huge fan of the ending of the season either. 

Script 

The script has some really good and powerful dramatic moments, there is real emotion there and you actually will feel emotion towards elements of the show. But then there are some overly confusing things and clearly parts of the plot that the writers took less time and less effort with and it is very clear what those are. 

Style 

The style has a huge budget behind it, you can tell HBO are looking for a Game Of Thrones replacement and there is no doubt that visually this show is brilliant and really impressive and add to the quality of the show. But the pacing is off, there are just too many episodes and too many story arcs that don't matter and could have been left on the cutting room floor which would have made the show much better. 

Overall

Overall, this is an average first season of this show. I feel like there is so much potential here and if there is a second season then that could be much better but as it stands the first season just isn't worth the time put into it. 

Rating - 5/10