Lovecraft Country: 10 Hidden References You Missed In Episode 1

Lovecraft Country premiered on HBO last week to instant acclaim and it’s easy to see why. Based on the 2017 novel by Matt Ruff, the series provides an unflinching view of ’50s Jim Crow America through the lens of Atticus ‘Tic’ Freeman, a Korean War veteran in search of his father in a country that is segregated, hostile, and sometimes alien. But the most alien things about it come in the form of its many and wonderful references to science-fiction and fantasy.

The first episode brims with references obvious and not to books, films, and music of other eras. The opening scene alone crams in several references to epic stories of sci-fi’s yesteryear. Here are ten hidden references you missed in the first episode of Lovecraft Country.

10 War of the Worlds

That opening scene! What an opening! Anyways, Lovecraft Country begins by throwing down an impressive gauntlet born from the very active imagination of Atticus Freeman.

A black and white World War I trench war gradually cedes to a full-color battle between men and Martians as the iconic Tripods from H.G. Wells’ classic novel War of the Worlds (and many, many adaptations) stalk through the night. The Tripods are but one of many references in this single scene (!) but they’re likely to be the most recognizable — at least to genre fans.

9 A Princess of Mars

Another major sci-fi reference in the opening scene isn’t immediately obvious. When Tic wakes up from his fantastic dream, he’s got a copy of Edgar Rice Burroughs A Princess of Mars in his lap. For fans of the book and its not quite successful film adaptations, the strange red woman in the opening scene might make more sense.

Princess Dejah Thoris descends from a beam from an otherwise unrelated flying saucer down to the battlefield. It’s a brief scene but one with a lot of portents. Actress Jamie Chung plays her and also voices the woman Tic can’t quite speak to in South Korea.

8 The Jackie Robinson Story

Not quite sci-fi but a classic ’50s all the same, the 1950 biopic The Jackie Robinson Story and the immortal legacy of Robinson himself provide the opening scene with one of its craziest images. The pioneering slugger confidently wanders into the visual collision of sci-fi and fantasy to effortlessly splat an Old One (more on that monster in a minute) into green goo with his signature baseball bat. After that, he reassures Tic that he’s got everything handled before the dream abruptly ends.

Clearly, Tic idolizes Jackie Robinson as a hero, and his appearance in his dream is strange given the context, but not entirely unexpected. He is the brave hero Tic imagines himself to be, in strange new worlds.

7 The Call of Cthulu

The monster Jackie Robinson slays in the opening moments of the series is the signature monster from the Lovecraftian mythos the series is based on. Cthulu ranks today as one of the most recognizable and horrific monsters of horror and fantasy literature, and the epicenter of the twisted legendarium of H.P. Lovecraft.

These ancient massive squid-like beasts also feature prominently in other movies and stories, notably Hellboy, where it goes by the name Ogdru Jahad. More than likely, they will continue to be a foreboding presence in Lovecraft Country.

6 The Count of Monte Cristo

Another book that avid reader Tic encounters in the first episode is the 19th century classic The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas. The book actually belongs to Tic’s father, Montrose, whose mysterious disappearance sets Tic off on the strange, dark journey of the series.

The Count of Monte Cristo might be a clue to Montrose’s fate; it’s the story of a man who is tricked and imprisoned for years who, upon escape, embarks on an elaborate quest for revenge. It also rests at the center of the divide between father and son, with the father admiring of literary works and Tic loving ‘pulp’ like the sci-fi stories mentioned above.

5 Gordon Parks

The hidden references in the first episode of Lovecraft Country aren’t limited to strictly science-fiction and fantasy literature. The episode, written by Misha Green and directed by Yann Demange pops with vivid colors and images that often call back specifically to iconic art and photography.

During the montage in the middle of the episode, the show directly references the photography of Gordon Parks. Parks focused on the strange dissonance of ’50s Americana, contrasted with the obvious racial segregation and division of the era.

4 James Baldwin

During that same montage, the pilot episode makes its most daring and thoughtful departure from the norms of a typical hour of episodic television. While Tic, Leti (portrayed by a fantastic Jurnee Smollett from Birds of Prey), and Tic’s uncle George make their way across segregated America, the words of acclaimed African-American author, lecturer, and activist James Baldwin narrate the scene.

His voice echoes from a decade in the future for the characters, as he debates Willam F. Buckley over race relations in America, providing commentary on what we see and questioning, as Baldwin does, the meaning of reality.

3 Static

George’s daughter Diana Freeman shows enormous artistic promise as she writes, draws, and assembles her own comic books. This awesome little aspect of her character provides one of the show’s most subtle Easter Eggs. One of the characters in one of her many handmade comics bears a striking similarity to the superhero Static.

While it’s hard to say if it was intentional, it’s worth noting Static is the most well-known character of Milestone Comics, the ’90s imprint focusing on African-American characters and issues, co-created by Dwayne McDuffie and Denys Cowan. Static is probably best known for his animated series Static Shock that aired from 2000 to 2004.

2 Shoggoths

In addition to the Cthulu-like creature from the opening scene, Lovecraft Country features another classic Lovecraft monster in its gory finale. The vampire-like shoggoths don’t like light and don’t like people all that much, judging from the big bites they took out of several of the racist cops who were about to lynch Tic and company.

The monsters first appeared in At The Mountains of Madness, a landmark novel that has long been a white whale for many filmmakers, most notably Guillermo del Toro. It’s more than likely that these creatures will make more appearances, as the sheriff they bit escaped after turning into one of the creatures.

1 Arkham

Most people likely think of Batman when they hear the name Arkham, and while it’s not what Lovecraft intended, the reference works much the same way in the dark, monstrous stories of the Dark Knight as it does in Lovecraft Country.

Arkham is a reference to the fictional town in New England where H.P. Lovecraft’s bizarre supernatural stories take place. Basically, Arkham is the eponymous Lovecraft Country. The mysterious and hard to find town becomes the goal of the main characters as they drive across the Rust Belt in search of Tic’s missing father Montrose.

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