Lovecraft Country Season 1, Episode 2: Whitey’s on the Moon Recap

Whitey’s on the Moon, starts out exuberant. Atticus, Lettie and George have moved into the luxurious manor, filled with fancy clothes and life seems good. But it’s A bell rings, signaling lunch which is being served on the veranda. The blond man, William, escorts them and explains that Tic’s father has left to go see a lawyer in Boston. It’s not clear when he’ll be back. The house has no telephone lines.

William further explains that the house was once built by Titus Braithwhite, though it’s now owned by his descendant, Samuel Braithwhite. Titus was killed in an unfortunate accident that caused a fire and killed nearly everyone in the house in 1833. Later, George recalls that Atticus’s mother had an ancestor named Hanna, who escaped her master’s house after fire. He suspects Titus (who was known to be very “kind” to his slaves) impregnated her, which explains Atticus’s link to this place.

Atticus and George agree that it’s weird that they seem to want to keep them at this house. Strangely, Lettie and George both have no recollection of what happened the night before, though Atticus remembers. They agree to act low key while they investigate what’s going on. They find their car has been fixed up, and William says he did it.

In the town nearby, everyone dresses in rustic clothes. They hear a sharp whistle and see two dogs that are barking ferociously. The woman handler explains that the dogs are to scare off bears from the forest. But George notices the stone foundation in the silo-ed building where the dogs are kept, and he suspects there is a dungeon underneath.

As it gets late and they venture into the woods, they are attacked by two more of the vampyric creatures that attacked them the night before. However, a blond woman (later identified as Christina Braithwhite, the daughter of Samuel Braithwhite), blows a whistle that scares them off. The three are escorted back to the manor. Again, Lettie and George can’t remember the encounter, but Atticus can. Back at the manor, George finds a book entitled the “Order of the Ancient Dawn“, which turns out to be a book of bylaws for the satanic cult that Samuel runs here.

Atticus is taken down to the manor’s laboratory, where Samuel Braithwhite is engaging in surgery to have a piece of his insides removed. Samuel explains that once upon a time in the dawn of creation, there was an elegant hierarchy of things. Then, Eve (with the whole first sin and the expulsion from the Garden of Paradise) was the one who brought upon entropy and death. The Order of the Ancient Dawn strives to return the world to the state it was in at the dawn of creation. Samuel wants to return to that paradise, though Christina is skeptical of some of his ideas.

Christina tells Atticus that she is a friend, but Atticus doesn’t believe her. She mentions that she got him out of trouble in Simmonsville and the night before. Atticus demands that she give the others their memories back, and she does. However, after this conversation, she enacts a spell that locks Atticus, Lettie and George in their rooms. In their rooms, they each imagine interactions with people:

Lettie imagines Atticus. She and imaginary Tic talk and get physical. However, when she tells him to stop, a snake appears and she has to attack him with a knife.

Atticus imagines a female Korean soldier, Ji-Ah, he once knew. Ji-Ah attacks him, but Atticus tells her that he doesn’t want to hurt her. When she doesn’t stop, he’s forced to kill her.

George imagines a woman, Dora, even though he knows it’s not real and that she’s dead. Still, they dance together until she fades away.

It’s then revealed that there’s a room full of men watching these interactions and chatting about it. After the visions, they are released from their rooms. George and Atticus are invited to dinner. George reminds Atticus and Lettie that these people are just trying to get into their heads.

At dinner, Samuel addresses the group of men. They are each served a piece of the organ that Samuel had removed during the surgery. George interrupts the dinner to say that he’s read their bylaws and knows what’s going on. George says based on their bylaws that they have to listen to the descendants of Titus Braithwhite. He suspects Atticus is the closest descendant, so Atticus orders the men to leave and he orders Samuel to release his father. The men leave as instructed, but Samuel warns Atticus that he’s only interested in Atticus because he has a need for him.

The three of them rush to the dungeon to free Atticus’s father, Montrose. They’re stopped by the woman dog handler, but Lettie attacks her with a shovel. They see Montrose’s flask there and a tunnel out that he has dug. They find Montrose in the forest where the tunnel ends. They steal Christina’s silver car to escape, but are stopped by an invisible wall.

Christina and William appear, and Lettie is shot and dies. George is shot, too.

However, after Atticus returns to the lodge, Lettie is suddenly healed. Christina explains that George will be healed, too, once Atticus participates in their ceremony. Christina explains that her father believes he has the power to open the door to the Garden of Eden. Samuel needs Atticus’s blood (as a direct Braithwhite descendant) to power the spell. Christina also implies that she feels the Order is sexist, which she resents. She slips a ring to Atticus that she puts on Atticus’s finger.

Montrose and George talk as George lies in bed. George mentions how he thinks Montrose needs to show Atticus that he loves him. When Montrose gets angry, George brings up how Atticus might not really be Montrose’s son, which Montrose does not want to discuss.

Elsewhere, the ceremony plays out, and a recording of Gil Scott-Heron reciting a poem called Whitey’s on the Moon plays in the background.

Samuel chants an incantation as Atticus screams in pain. A portal begins to open and greenery sprouts from the ground around him. Suddenly, a counteracting force emerges from the ring. Samuel is confused about what is happening. In the portal, Atticus sees a vision of Hanna, the pregnant slave. The greenery begins to die out and suddenly all the people in the room, including Samuel, are turned to ash. (Christina is not there because it is men only.) The manor begins to collapse. Atticus sees a vision of Hanna running out of the manor with flames burning all around. Atticus runs out just as the entire place turns to dust.

With relief, Atticus sees that Lettie, Montrose and George have escaped.

Go back to the Lovecraft Country: Episode Guide

Or, compare this with the book version by reading the Summary & Synopsis of Matt Ruff’s Lovecraft Country.