Lovecraft Country Episode 5 Review: “Strange Case”

Published September 16, 2020 · Updated September 16, 2020

Lovecraft Country Episode 5 Review

Listeners asked for a deeper, longer dive, so here it is. This week’s Shat on TV covers all the gore, glam, and “goddamn!” of Lovecraft Country Episode 5: Strange Case.

Ash educates us on Kafka’s “Metamorphosis,” a subject she actually taught at the college level. Not to be outdone, Gene unveils the truth behind “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” (with the help of listeners, of course.)

We round out the episode by celebrating ball culture, witnessing Ruby’s character development, debating stiletto sodomy, and considering an ulterior motive behind Atticus’ attack on Montrose.

Lovecraft Country Episode 5 Summary:
Owning to a spell cast by William, Ruby wakes up as a white woman and comes to enjoy a life of privilege she could only imagine before. Montrose tells Tic that he has taken care of Yahima, causing his son to nearly beat him to death. Leti tells Tic that she is terrified of his rage, but the two later reconcile and have sex. Montrose goes to Sammy’s apartment and has sex with him. As Tic works on deciphering the “Language of Adam”, Leti warns him that the use of magic is inherently evil and fears it will corrupt him. Under the name Hillary, Ruby gets a job as an associate manager at the department store. William tells her that she must perform a “favor” for him by planting a stone with runes written on it in Captain Lancaster’s office. While doing so, she discovers an imprisoned man who has been tortured in his office. Later, Ruby witnesses her white boss, Paul, humiliates and nearly sexually assaults a black employee, Tamara. Sammy attends a drag queen ball and dances with Montrose. After Christina tells Ruby to embrace power, she tortures Paul and rapes him with a stiletto shoe. Ruby confronts William and asks him what does do in the locked basement with Christina; he then shreds his skin to reveal that he is really Christina. As Tic works on the “Language of Adam”, he discovers something that causes him to call his former lover Ji-Ah, in South Korea to ask her “what are you?”

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