by Conan Simmons – October 12, 2020 – 6:56 am
Now I remember episode 7 where Hippolyta (Aunjanue Ellis) makes a big thing about driving to Kansas and Atticus (Jonathan Majors) makes a bigger thing about following her. They end up at an observatory that takes them into other dimensions and into the future. So how is that observatory now in Kentucky? Kansas and Kentucky don’t border each other, they have the whole state of Missouri in between them. This annoyed me throughout an otherwise outstanding episode.
In an attempt to save Diana (Jada Harris) from the curse that nearly killed her in last week’s episode, Atticus, Letitia (Jurnee Smollett) and Montrose (Michael Kenneth Williams) follow Hippolyta to the aforementioned observatory where she literally becomes a motherboard and the others jump back into the past, specifically 1921 Tulsa, Oklahoma.
There they must retrieve the Book of Names but are continuously divided over their witnessing the events of the Tulsa Massacre happening around them. This is a much more intimate portrayal of the events that were similarly covered in another HBO show, ‘Watchmen’. Giving names of the victims of the real life domestic terror incident is the most powerful moment on television this year.
The time traveling isn’t the only thing happening in this episode. Ruby (Wunmi Mosaku) and Christina (Abbey Lee) are reconciled after their argument and now working together even if it means sacrificing those closest to them.
The melodrama is at high pitch throughout even as it’s covered in science fiction/fantasy/horror. It makes the story more intense than usual, which really helps drive the emotional impact home when Montrose witnesses the people from his past fall victim all over again during the massacre.
Hippolyta mentions the portal opening into a multiverse. Though this does have basis in real world physics it is becoming a heavily used plot device, most notably in the Marvel movies and the upcoming DC comics film ‘The Flash’ which will feature multiple Batman’s from different realities. Could it be that Hippolyta and the others are already in an alternate reality? That could explain how the observatory moved from Kansas to Kentucky.