Sept 8,2020
By Dray Breezy
This article contains many spoilers. If you have not watched this episode stop here!!
Or here…
You need to work on your listening skills…but carry on.
This episode begins with Montrose having a full on drunken nervous breakdown. He is recollecting George’s ruminations about Tic’s true paternal lineage and having visions experiencing his brother’s death over and over in his head. We also hear the past homophobic insults that Montrose heard from his father as a young boy. I must say at first I thought these comments were rather insignificant but the question of Montrose sexuality becomes louder as the episode progresses. Montrose has attained a copy of the Ancient Order of the Dawn bylaws and precepts from George. He is reading a passage that quotes, “Adam named.Eve fucked. God brought forth Monsters. Monsters devoured. God smites Eve.” He takes the book and burns it indoors in his rubbish can.
The next scene is a fully fashionable Christina driveing her silver Maybach with Rihanna’s “Bitch Better have my Money” playing in the background. She is driving quite recklessly, I am under the assumption that she has the same invulnerability spell as her father. She is racing to Leti’s house, she approaches the door and Leti greets her with the coldest welcome. Leti is about 1.5 seconds from putting the Mike Tyson beatdown on our blonde haired sorceress. Christina confidently tries to enter the home she funded for Leti but is blocked by a spell. The blood magic of the voodoo lady from the previous episode continues to protect the house, making Christina’s entry impossible. The boost of confidence Leti gets from the effects of this magic are palpable. Christina asks Leti how she evicted Hiram (racist ghost from last episode) and Leti connects the dots that the money she received wasn’t from her deceased mother, it was from Christina.
This scene introduces a interesting dynamic. Leti is trying to protect Atticus from whatever plans Christina has hatched. Christina knows this and comes at her from a feminist angle stating, ” Don’t let the men fool you into thinking it’s all about them.” She knows Leti is an empowered woman that values her agency and so far Tic has been been trying too hard to coddle and protect her. Christina is trying to use sexism in her favor to win Leti’s trust. Fortunately Leti ain’t falling for that shit. Christina confesses that she concocted the scheme for Leti to buy the house so she could get Hiram’s Orrery, which happens to be the solar system model that Hippolyta confiscated during the party in the last episode. Leti says she doesn’t have it and kicks Christina off her porch.
The next scene confirms the orrery is in Hippolyta/George’s book shop and she is trying to figure out how to repair it. The orrery and Hiram’s magic are connected in some way.
Leti immediately goes to confront Tic about trying to pubicly kill Christina. She berates him for knowing that Christina was responsible for the inheritance…in a public library. We get an amazing conflict between the couple arguing about how to move forward with defeating a lodge of witches and wizards and a little boy that just wants peace and quiet in the library. It’s so adorable and one of the best scenes of this show so far.
Tic has continued his research, it’s amazing seeing these black intellectual characters in this genre, and wants to find Hiram’s research in order to start his own magical counter defense. They also believe that Tic’s ancestor Titus Braithwhite has some magical knowledge stored in a hidden vault. All of these spells were written in the language of Adam and that’s what Tic needs to learn to decipher the spells and create his own. But first they must recruit Tic’s father for help.
Tic and Leti find Montrose at the local popular bar. Montrose is very hesistant to help but it’s clear he knows a good amount of information about who and what Tic and Leti are trying to fight. He slips up the information that there are actually 35 lodges! The Braithwhite are only one coven of many. I’m beginning to think Ryan Murphy co-wrote this episode. After much difficulty Montrose agrees to help. That requires a trip to Boston because ,surprise, Montrose knows where Titus vault is located.
The next scene we get a glimpse into the political battles of the competing lodges. One of the lodges has heavily infiltrated law enforcement, this way the same lodge that arrested Leti in the last episode. Christina meets their leader. She is playing a cunning game, the head of the lodge is unaware that she funded the house, and she appeals to his racism by being offended that black people have moved into Hiram’s house. She tells him she is after the orrery and he is visibly upset because the orrery is property of his lodge. The argument gets heated and Christina leaves.
The next scene features Leti, Hippolyta, her daughter, Montrose, and some random vagabond headed to Boston. Being that Leti, Montrose, and Tic are planning to illegally break into the museum this family trip is about to get awkward.
I’ll discuss the subplot with Ruby and Hippolyta at the conclusion of this synopsis.
The group arrives at the museum in Boston and split off to do some reconnaissance. They are trying to find the entrance to Titus vault. Montrose has a connection with one of the gaurds of the museum and the gaurd is allowing unfettered private access. The random guest from Chicago implies to Tic that his father is gay, and that’s the reason he knows the guard and spends so much time at the bar. It clearly shakes Tic to the core, but it explains alot of the subtle messaging we’ve been getting throughout the show. The guard has agreed to let the trio sneak in at night when the museum is closed because Tic believes he has found the vault.
Next scene we have Sam beating the crap out of some competing lodge members because the were following Christina.
We are taken back to the museum where our trio have found the entrance to the vault. We then enter a series of scenes straight out of Indiana Jones. The group is in an underground series of tombs and tunnels, they have to trust their intuition to lead them in the right direction. The trio complete a series of obstacles which finally gains them entry to the vault. The vault looks like a pirate ship. Inside they encounter a reanimated hermaphrodite Native American corpse that has been brought to life from some type of magic that Titus has placed on her. Centuries ago she was tricked into helping Titus decipher the language of Adam. When she realized he was a evil and fucked up person, she quit helping him. He imprisons her for eternity.
For some reason only Titus can understand the language she is speaking (arwak), he tries to explain their cause to her but she doesn’t trust him and declines to help. Frustrated, the group takes Titus scrolls from his desk, the windows of the undergound shatter, and water begins to cascading in the room. The trio, plus one, just barely escape before drowning.
The Native American woman joins them but when she tries to speak only a sharp, debilitating scream escapes. Tic knocks her out to stop the piercing noise. After they return to Montrose home they figure out that Titus has put a spell on the woman to make sure she can’t share her secrets with anyone outside the now destroyed room.
Ruby has a subplot that picks up this episode. In addition to her being a great blues singer, she has been vying for a position at Marshall and Fields, a high end retail store. When she finally gathers the courage to apply, she notices that they have just hired another colored woman. This is devastating because Ruby knows that there can only be one. Later that night, she drunkenly performs at the popular bar and is charmed by a certain familiar gentleman, Samuel. The audience knows he has been sent to Christina to seduce Ruby and he does his job perfectly. They go back to her place and hook up.
Hippolyta also has a growing subplot. There is a beautiful scene with her and her daughter in the Boston Planetarium. Dee sees a comet and Hippolyta explains to her that she was responsible for naming that comet but she didn’t get the credit because she was black. Throughout this episode, especially during the subplots with Ruby and Hippoyta, the director is highlighting the ways in which racism dims and bitters brilliant black minds. Both Ruby and Dee are extraordinarily qualified for the positions they deserve but are rejected purely based on race.
Throughout the episode Hippolyta is piecing together the truth behind George’s death, she knows she has to do her own investigation because she can’t trust Tic or Montrose and we end the episode with her driving to Ardham to figure out the truth.
This episode brought back the similar and style of pacing of the first two episodes. The suggestion that Tic may soon be practicing magic of his own is incredibly exciting. This is turning into a black ass Lord of the rings and I’m here for it.