by Conan Simmons – October 5, 2020 – 5:07 am
The funeral of Emmett Till opens this, one of the more horrifying episodes. The heat of the day makes the stench of death too much to bear for many funeral goers, including Diana Freeman (Jada Harris). She promptly makes a quiet exit sending everyone into a slight panic as they begin to search for her.
Diana has the unfortunate fate of being stopped by Captain Lancaster (Mac Brandt). Using magic he curses her into seeing visions of two very creepy girls who, dancing with macabre delight, follow her relentlessly for most of the episode.
Meanwhile, Leti (Jurnee Smollett) meets with Ji-Ah (Jamie Chung) just arrived from Korea and looking to help Atticus (Jonathan Majors) out of love. Of course, this causes a rift between Tic and Leti. Tic goes on to reconcile with Montrose (Michael Kenneth Williams) and together they attempt to cast a magic spell Atticus learned from Christina (Abbey Lee).
Christina Braithwhite is having her own romantic disagreements with Ruby (Wunmi Mosaku). In what is undoubtedly the most controversial moment of the series, and most likely most controversial moment in television all year, Christina admits to Ruby that she really doesn’t care about the death of Emmett Till. However, in an attempt to feel empathy Christina hires a couple of thugs to murder her in the same manner of Emmett Till’s death.
I get what the idea behind this scene is, trying to make white people understand what it feels like when it happens to you. The problem is it is undermined by the fact that Christina is clearly playing it out in a sort of S&M game as opposed to it being an actual hate crime. The thugs are merely committing a crime in exchange for money instead of pure racist hate. The fakeness of the situation is palpable. The scene will most assuredly divide fans.
Other than that one letdown the rest of the episode was very enjoyable. The creepy girls dancing after Diana is pure unsettling horror that will have you looking over your shoulder. And the final sequence brings us right back into Cthulu chaos complete with a meme worthy blood splattering scene.