Season Finale Of LCC

Published October 20, 2020 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hi y’all. First and foremost, thank you for your time and efforts in creating the podcast, especially when explaining the historical references in Lovecraft County. I am so glad that you all didn’t give up and actually made it to the finale, despite all the negative reviews. I have been mulling over Diana’s seemingly surprising turn as a murderer at the end of the episode and wanted to point out her journey to get to that murderous mind set.

Even though D’s story didn’t really get much focus until towards the end of the season, let’s look at the season’s events through her eyes. Her father went on his last road trip and was murdered; only explanation given was a (white) sherrif killed him. Her mother thought George’s death was suspicious and took her to the burnt remains of the house where her comic book survived the fire. Her best friend was horrifically murdered by white men and she attempted to attend the funeral, only to be tracked down by Lancaster (another white police sherrif) and was asked about magic. She stormed angerly into the lodge with questions and subsequently became haunted then cursed by the two Uncle Tom’s Cabin characters, all the while asking adults if they see them too and is never believed.

By the time she recovers from the curse, she has experienced sadness, confusion, anger, fear and isolation, to name a few. She then fully releases her rage on her mother for leaving her and not being there during the most difficult part of her life to date. The rage is further fueled when she learns that the curse (aka magic) is to blame for her deformed arm and she cannot draw anymore. The final nail in (Christina’s) coffin came when she saw the newspaper headline indicating Emitt’s murders were acquited and would not be held accountable.

Now, outlining all these events, I fully understand that when D gets told of Christina’s part in all of this and why they are going on the road trip, she absolutely blames her as the reason for all her misery, including her father’s death. So when she comes across a pinned Christina underneath the rubble, taking matters into her own hands, so to speak, is an outlet for her rage and therefore D kills her with the robot arm that replaced her cursed one. This new robot arm was definitely empowering because it reflected how she overcame the crippling effects of magic. But using that power to kill Christina was extremely unnerving for few reasons: 1) the obvious being a child commiting murder; 2) she lost her childhood innocence and grew up immediately from the viewer’s perspective and 3) the foreshadowing of her continuing to follow such a destructive path.

Lastly, her story also points out that while practically every other character has been able to kick ass (or murder) throughout the season, she is the only one who really didn’t get a chance to physically take it out on anyone (maybe spitting on the sherrif counts here?). This is the season’s way of showing us how all that trauma pushed her to the edge, and murdering is where she fell off the cliff, in essence leaving her childhood behind. Part of the show’s point here is that many black children have to grow up very quickly in this society, and while not all turn to murder when they have past negative experiences, Diana’s trauma should not discounted either and helps explains her mindset when trying to understand that final scene. I hope that my thoughts might align with what the writers intended, or perhaps this interpretation aligns with others understanding of the show too!

Catch you all on the next shappy hour,

Susan from Maryland (aka suzmabru)

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