Lovecraft Country (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Sundown - full transcript

[bright tone]

[sweeping orchestration]

[artillery fire]

[men shouting]

[soldiers grunting]

♪ ♪

[artillery fire,
men shouting continues]

♪ ♪

- This is the story
of a boy and his dream.

But more than that,

it is the story
of an American boy



and a dream
that is truly American.

[soldiers shouting]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- What's the matter?
Where ya goin', Black boy?

- Black boy,
we're the welcoming committee.

- You'd better get outta here.

- No, Daddy.
- Go on.

It just makes it tougher
having you here.

[eerie music]

♪ ♪

[battlefield sounds fade]

- The year, 1928.

The time, spring.



If you were a young man,

your thoughts were undoubtedly
turning to those of love.

But if you were a young boy,

your thoughts
were of one thing...

baseball.

- [speaks in foreign language]

[dramatic musical sting]

[loud cracking]

[snarling, screeching]

[creature howls]

[triumphant music]

♪ ♪

- I got ya, kid.

[dramatic music]

- ♪ And hopin'
we'll meet again ♪

♪ Oh, life would be a dream ♪

♪ If I could take you up
in paradise ♪

- Just going over another bridge

named after
some dead slave owner.

Finally made it
to the promised land.

Hallelujah. Amen.

- Good riddance to old Jim Crow.

- ♪ If only all my precious
plans would come true ♪

♪ If you would let me
spend my whole life ♪

♪ Loving you ♪

singers: ♪ Life could be
a dream, sweetheart ♪

♪ Life could be a dream ♪

♪ If only all my precious
plans would come true ♪

♪ If you let me spend... ♪
[clattering]

[engine stuttering]
- ♪ Life could be a dream ♪

♪ Dream, dream, dream,
d-d-dream ♪

- Damn.

[overlapping chatter]

- I heard a noise before...

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- All right, folks,
this is our ride

into the next town.

Let's get our luggage
and load up.

♪ ♪

- Okay, ma'am,
just... here you go.

Very carefully, very carefully.

- Thank you.

♪ ♪

- Let me get those for you.

[crickets chirping]

- Tell me.

What's that book
you been readin' about?

- "A Princess of Mars"?
- Mm-hmm.

- It's about this man
named John Carter...

who goes from being a captain
in the army

of Northern Virginia
to becoming a Martian warlord.

- Huh.

- Starts with him
running from Apaches

and hiding in this magical cave,

which transports him
to the Red Planet.

That's when it starts
to get good.

- Hold on.

You said the hero
was a Confederate officer.

- Ex-Confederate.

- He fought for slavery.

You don't get to put
an "ex" in front of that.

- Stories are like people.

Loving them
doesn't make them perfect.

You just try and cherish 'em,

overlook their flaws.

- Yeah, but the flaws
are still there.

- Yeah, they are.

But I love pulp stories.
[chuckles]

I love that the heroes
get to go on adventures

in other worlds,

defy insurmountable odds,

defeat the monster,
save the day.

Little Negro boy
from the southside of Chicago

don't notoriously
to get to do that.

- Unless they join the army.

- I didn't join for adventure.
- Hmm.

- I joined
to get away from my father.

Which is the real funny part,
'cause he's also

now the reason
I'm coming back home.

- Is he sick?

- He's gone missing.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

[Etta James' "I Just Want
to Make Love to You"]

♪ ♪

[kids shouting playfully]

♪ ♪

- ♪ I don't want you ♪

♪ To be no slave ♪

♪ I don't want you ♪

♪ To work all day ♪

♪ But I want you ♪

♪ To be true ♪

♪ And I just
want to make love to you ♪

- What are you looking at,
George Freeman?

- My wife.

- And why you looking
at your wife?

You waiting for her
to fix you breakfast?

- I'm leaving tomorrow
on the guide trip.

- I'm aware.

- I'm looking at my wife because

I feel I've been spending
too much time on the road

and not enough time
in bed with her.

[both laughing]

- Why, George Freeman,
you got me blushing before God.

- If he's watching, I think
we should give him a show.

- What has gotten into you?

You're only gonna be gone
for a few days.

Used to be you couldn't wait
to go on some grand adventure.

You know, I could go.

Make the trip instead of you.

- You serious?

- Is that idea so crazy?
- No, no.

- Is it?
- No.

- You know,
I've written more than my share

of reviews for the guide.

- Arguably, the best ones.

- The best ones.
- Mm-hmm.

- And all of them
based on your notes.

- Oh. [chuckles]
- Now...

imagine how good they could get

if I could take notes on my own.

- Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

You know the road
is a dangerous place

for a woman traveling alone.

You know the shit
I deal with out there.

It's dangerous out there,
Hippolyta.

Where you going?

- My party starts at noon,

and those pecans in the kitchen

are not gonna turn
themselves into pies.

- Stay with me.
- [sighs]

[moans]

What are you doing?

[moans]

You know Dee is up.

You know these walls are thin.

[moans]

- I can't remember the last time

we made love
in the light of day.

I want to see my wife.

[both moaning]

[radio chatter]

[pencil scribbling]

[soft music]

♪ ♪

[Hippolyta moaning]

- Gross.

[screams]

Atticus! - Diana!

[both laughing]

♪ ♪

What's going on?

- Get over here.
- George, baby,

what's going on in there?
Is that Dee?

- She's fine.
She just got surprised, is all.

Your nephew is back.

- Oh, Tic's back!

- I wasn't scared.

- I know you weren't.
- You sounded scared to me.

Tic's back! Yes!

[heartwarming music]

♪ ♪

- Thank you for your business.

- Heading through that part
of the country

in a couple months.

I'll vet it then...
- Welcome home, Tic.

- Oh, the tip is solid.

My cousin bought smokes
from there just last week.

- I believe, but I still
have to triple-check.

A bad tip in the guidebook
gets someone killed.

- Okay, I got you.

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

- Ahh. Getting reacquainted
with old friends.

- Something like that.

- I'm surprised that one
caught your interest.

Horror is usually my thing.

- "On the Creation of Niggers."

- Now that's one of Lovecraft's
we don't hear mentioned often.

- Pops made me
memorize that poem

word for word after
he caught me reading this.

- Mm.

- Thought it might turn me
from the pulp trash

I borrow from here
to respectable literature.

- He's been missing
about two weeks.

- About? You're not sure.

- You know
how he can get on the sauce.

I... I didn't think anything of it

until his landlord dropped by
when he didn't pay rent.

I don't know where
he could've gone.

- I might have an idea.

He wrote me.

About my mama.

[suspenseful music]

- What, uh...
wh... wh-what'd he say?

- Said he found out where
her family came from.

Wanted me to come home
so I could go there with him.

- He's still obsessing
over her ancestry?

I thought he'd given
all that up when she passed.

- "I know that,
like your mother,

"you think
that you can forget the past.

"You can't.

"The past is a living thing.

"You own it... owe it.

"Now I have found something

"about your mother's
forebearers.

"You have a sacred...

secret legacy, a birthright
that's been kept from you."

- That's strange;
that doesn't really even

sound like your father.

- I haven't even gotten
to the strange part.

The place
he wants me to go with him...

It's in Lovecraft Country.

Letter says Mom's ancestors

are from Arkham, Massachusetts.

- Home of the corpse reanimator
and...

- And Herbert West.

- Lovecraft based it on Salem,
but that's not real.

- You sure?

- Let me see the letter.

That's a "D."
It's not Arkham with a "K."

It's Ardham with a "D".
That's a "D."

♪ ♪

- You know,
for someone who talked so much

about the importance
of being educated,

you'd think Pop would learn
how to write clearly.

- I'm gonna look
into this Ardham

and see if I can glean
any clues as to what this

"secret legacy"
Montrose is going on about.

- I-I'm serious. [laughs]

Don't delete that.

[Tierra Whack's "CLONES"]

♪ Everybody talkin'
like me now ♪

♪ Heard I'm who
they wanna be now ♪

♪ Westbound, eastbound ♪

♪ Everybody walkin'
like me now ♪

♪ Everybody talkin'
like me now ♪

- Come on! It won't stop.

- ♪ Westbound, eastbound ♪

♪ Everybody walkin'
like me now ♪

♪ Everybody talkin'
like me now ♪

- An adventure.

An opportunity to see the world.

Just sign.

- ♪ Heard I'm who
they wanna be now ♪

♪ Whack, whack,
damn she killer ♪

- We expect...

- ♪ I ain't never
seen no ceilin' ♪

♪ Call me God,
yeah, he kneelin' ♪

♪ Audio, I'm top billin' ♪

♪ All of my boys dope dealin' ♪

[train rumbling loudly]

- Hey, we closin' early
for the block party.

I said we're closin' early
for the block...

Holy shit. Tic, is that you?

Almost didn't recognize you
without them damn

Coke bottle glasses on.

You remember me, Tree.
- Yeah, I remember.

Listen, the guy
with the earrings, the owner...

He here?

- Sammy. He out back.

[laughs]

- [moans]

- Shit. Sorry.

- Oh, shit.

- You're Montrose's son, right?

I remember plenty of nights
you dragging him

off one of my barstools.

He hasn't been perched
on one in weeks.

- When's the last time
you saw him?

- 'Bout two weeks ago.

Left here with some white man.

- Was he a cop?
- Doubt it.

Looked like
one of Bill Haley's Comets.

Can't get the clothes he was
wearing on a pig's salary.

My guess, he's a lawyer.

Would explain
how he could afford the car.

- You saw what he was driving?

- Tree did.

Said it was a silver sedan.
Something Ford.

Shot off so fast,
it had to be expensive.

- ♪ I want a tall, skinny papa ♪

♪ I want a tall, skinny papa ♪

♪ I want a tall, skinny papa ♪

♪ I want a tall, skinny papa ♪

♪ I want a tall, skinny papa ♪

♪ That's all I'll ever need ♪

♪ ♪

♪ He's got to be all mine ♪

♪ Treat me fine,
walk the chalk line ♪

♪ And stay on my mind ♪

♪ He's got to be all right ♪

♪ Fight all night ♪

♪ Mama will do the rest ♪

♪ Now how 'bout that, Miss? ♪

♪ He's got to do
what he's told ♪

♪ And bring sweet mama
that gold ♪

♪ To satisfy my soul ♪

♪ ♪

Oh, yeah!

Yes!

There you go!

♪ He's gotta be tall ♪
all: Tall!

- Tall! all: Tall!

- He's gotta be tall! all: Tall!

- Tall! all: Tall!

- ♪ I want a tall, skinny papa ♪

♪ That's all I'll ever need ♪

♪ ♪

Whoo!

[cheers and applause]

Thank you, thank you.

All right, all right,
I think I got time

for one more before Slick Willie

comes up with his guitar.

Now, what y'all want to hear?
[overlapping chatter]

Come on, y'all don't really
like that lily-white shit

they play on the radio now,
do you?

♪ Life could be a dream ♪

Sh'boom, sh'bored.

Now, let me hear something
that'll wake me up.

- "Whole Lotta Shakin'"!

- Is that Letitia?

- Ruby, it's your sister.

- Thank you, Floyd. I have eyes.

[cheers and applause]

A little bit
of blues it is, then.

- Leti, get up there
and sing with her.

All: Leti, Leti!

- Now, now.

I'm sure my sister's tired

from traveling in
from wherever it is

she just magically
appeared from.

All: Leti, Leti, Leti, Leti!

[crowd chanting]

[cheers and applause]

- Y'all are gonna
have to bear with us.

We haven't sang together
since our church days.

- Sure is no secret
that those days are long gone.

[laughter]

- All right.

"Whole Lotta Shakin'."

♪ 21 drums
and an old bass horn ♪

♪ And somebody beating
on a ding-dong ♪

♪ ♪

Come on, now.

♪ ♪

♪ Come on over, baby,

♪ A whole lotta shakin'
going on ♪

- Who's that?
- [laughs]

- ♪ Come on over, baby ♪

♪ Baby, you can't go wrong ♪

♪ Ain't nobody fakin' ♪

♪ Whole lotta shakin' going on ♪

♪ ♪

- ♪ Come on over, baby, hey! ♪

♪ A whole lotta kickin'
in the barn ♪

♪ Come on over, baby ♪

♪ We got the bull by the horn ♪

♪ Everything is kickin' ♪

♪ Whole lotta shakin' going on ♪

[laughs] - All right, now.

♪ Bakin' and makin' it shake ♪

♪ Door and the floor
and the gate ♪

both: ♪ Bakin' it
and makin' it shake ♪

- ♪ Cake and pie on the plate ♪

both: ♪ Shakin' and shakin'
and shakin' the place ♪

♪ Come on over, baby, come on ♪

♪ We done found that ding-dong ♪

[crowd shrieking happily]

♪ ♪

♪ Come on over, baby ♪

♪ Whole lotta shakin' going on ♪

♪ Come on over, baby ♪

♪ Baby, you can't go wrong ♪

♪ Ain't nobody fakin' ♪

♪ Whole lotta shakin' going on ♪

[cheers and applause]

- All right! All right, now!

Thanks, fellas.

That was fun.

Yeah! [laughs]

♪ ♪

- ♪ We gonna ride, ride, ride
all night long ♪

- Dress that short,

should be wearing
some stockings.

- It's too hot for all that.

- You can't even
afford stockings?

- Who said I can't afford 'em?

- You don't need to say it;
I know you only here

'cause you need money.

And don't think just 'cause
you got up and sang with me

that you're getting
any of these tips.

- I don't need a handout, Ruby,

just a place to stay
for a while.

- There it is.

- Who's that?

- Who, Tic?

- That's Tic?

Skinny, glasses kid who was too
smart for his own good, Tic?

- Yeah, he's grown up.

More than I can say for you.

I'm over at the boarding house
on McCarthy.

- Oh, that place is a shithole.

What happened to the room
on Linden?

- Mama's funeral happened.

- Ruby...
- There's nothing to read

into me bringing it up.

It's just facts.

You can stay two nights.

- And what job am I supposed
to find in two days?

- You can get a job
up on the Northside.

- I'm not cleaning house.
- So what then?

You think you're gonna go
downtown get a job

in one of those
department stores?

- Yes, I do.

- You think it's that easy, huh?

- Yes, I do.

- You know
I've been applying for years.

- Well, if I get the job,

it'll be enough money
for both of us to move.

- You know, I'm fine where I am.

- We could have our own rooms
for once.

Hell, our own house, maybe.

There's a lot
of colored folks pioneering

into all-white neighborhoods
these days.

- Then maybe you should ask
one them to put you up.

Or go to Marvin's.

Two nights, Leti.

That's it.

♪ ♪

- Your knees still acting up?

- It's a blessing
they're doing anything at all

after two shattered kneecaps.

And now Hippolyta got this
crazy idea

to go out on the road.

I can't imagine
what would happen

if those crackers had caught her

outside of Anna instead of me.

- That's why you publish
the guidebook, right?

Keep us Negros safe.

- [laughs]

- Dee do this?

- Kid's got imagination
like you.

Terrifying, ain't they?

[dramatic music]

- Tell me where
I can find Ardham.

- Well, now, that's gonna be
a little tricky.

The last mention
of it in any census

that I can find
is over two centuries ago...

which puts it somewhere around
Devon County, Massachusetts.

- Devon County.

- You goin' after him.

- I'm gonna need a car.

- Woody still running?

- Woody'll outlast us all.

That's the only thing
I am sure of,

other than that
I'm going with you.

- Uncle George,
with them knees...

- I was heading out
on a guide trip anyway.

Devon County will be
a good addition.

- You might not be so sure
about that...

after you look at this.

Devon County?

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

[train rumbling]

♪ ♪

[gears clicking]

[light whirring]

[low buzzing]

[jazz music]

♪ ♪

[train rumbling]

[train rattling]

[line trilling]

- Where can I direct your call?

- 555-438...

520...

3093...

2915.

- South Korea?

- Yes.

[line trilling]

- [speaks Korean]

Tic?

Is that you?

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

You went home.

♪ ♪

You shouldn't have.

[Leti grunting]

- You just gonna stand there,
Tic, or you gonna help me?

- Leti Lewis.
- [laughs]

Now, only my friends
get to call me that.

We still friends?

- Well, considering
you were the only female member

of the Southside Futurists
Science Fiction Club.

- I was. [laughs] I was.

I heard you were
down in Florida hiding out.

How was it?

- Segregated.

- Mm.
- And you, where you been?

- Mm, I've been
a little bit everywhere.

- Doing?

- Everything.

- Y'all ready to go?

- Wait, you coming with us?

- Part way.

Marvin's working for

the Springfield
African American these days.

He's gonna look
into that mysterious town

of Ardham for us.

- Why, thank you, baby.
Are we checklist-ready?

- Yep.

- All right,
mattress and blankets.

- Check and check.

- Spare tire and jack.

- Check.
- Flares and first-aid kit.

- Double check.
- Reading materials.

- I got that covered.
- Very well.

I think the travel checklist
is complete.

- Anything we're forgetting?

- Oh, no,
I think that's everything.

- I think
there's something missing.

- You don't
have to do this every time.

- Oh, that's right,
Dee's travel comic.

- That's what's missing

because I've been waiting
patiently to see

what happens to Panther Man.

- Mm-hmm.

Boop.

- "Orithyia Blue"?

Oh, pumpkin,
you decided to change it.

- It's no big deal, Ma.

I will see you
when you get back, Pop.

- You will, baby. Mmm.

- Oh, and the atlas is in Woody.

- Yes.

Thank you, baby. - Be safe.

- Good evening.

[laughter]

I, um... I find myself
not for the first time

in, um...

the position
of a kind of Jeremiah.

For example, I don't disagree
with Mr. Burford

that the, um...

The inequality suffered
by the American Negro

population of the United States

has hindered the American dream.

Indeed, it has.

I quarrel with some other
things he has to say.

The other, deeper element

of a certain awkwardness I feel

has to do with, um...

it has to one's point of view;
I had to put it that way.

One's, uh, one's sense,
one's system of reality.

It would seem to me
the proposition

before the House,
when I put it that way,

is the American dream

at the expense
of the American Negro,

or the American dream
is at the expense

of the American Negro...

is a question hideously loaded,

and that one's response
to that question

or one's reaction
to that question,

has to depend on, in effect,

on where you find yourself
in the world,

what your sense of reality is,

what your system of reality is.

That is,
it depends on assumptions

which we hold so deeply

as to be scarcely aware of them.

A white South African
or a Mississippi sharecropper

or a Mississippi sheriff

or a Frenchman
driven out of Algeria,

all have, at bottom,

a system of reality which
compels them to, for example,

in the case of the French
exile from Algeria,

to defend French reasons
from having ruled Algeria.

The Mississippi
or the Alabama sheriff,

who really does believe,
when he's facing

a Negro boy or girl,
that this woman, this man,

this child must be insane
to attack the system

to which he owes
his entire identity.

And on the other hand...

- There's a diner called Lydia's

I got a tip on near here.

Won't take us too far off course

to have lunch there.

What do you say to a detour?

- Where is it?
- Simmonsville.

- You know what that area
be populated by

on Diana's atlas?

- What?
- Buncha trolls

who pick their teeth
with unwary motorists.

- Funny. I need to add
some entries to the guide.

I'm on a deadline.

- Aren't you the publisher?

- Exactly, which is why I know

how much of a hard-ass I can be.

[camera shutter clicks]

- Well, not that either of you
asked my opinion,

but I could use a hot meal.

- You heard the girl.

- Since this girl's
not allowed to drive,

I'm picking the radio station.

- ♪ Yes, you upsets me, baby ♪

♪ Yes, I'm telling you people ♪

♪ She's something fine
that you really ought to see ♪

- Let's take this next right.

What you doing, girl?

- I'm turning up B.B.

- ♪ Man, she knocks me
out the way... ♪

- What you know about B.B.?
- That's my music.

- ♪ You upsets me, baby ♪
- Her music.

- [Leti singing along]
♪ Yes, you upsets me, baby ♪

[dogs barking]

♪ Like being hit
by a falling tree ♪

- ♪ Woman, woman,
what you do to me ♪

[music slows and distorts]

♪ ♪

[train bell ringing]
- ♪ You upsets me ♪

♪ Well, you upsets me, baby ♪

- Now, we're looking
for a red-brick building.

Should be on the left-hand side,

far end of town.

- ♪ What you do to me ♪

- That must be it.

♪ ♪

All right.

- Didn't you say
it was called Lydia's?

- It's in the right place.

Don't judge a book by its cover.

- Book can't refuse you service.

- Or spit in your water glass.

- Good afternoon.

We were just driving by,
thought we'd stop in

and have some lunch.

We'll seat ourselves, then.

[grunts]

Yes, that's what we'll do.
Thank you.

Menu, please?

What's good here? - Uh... uh...

- Why don't we just start
with some coffees?

- Looks like the Simmonsville
Dinette isn't making the guide.

- Yeah, okay,
but we're here now.

- Doesn't mean we have to stay.

- Get back in the car,
we're, what,

two, three hours from Marvin's?

- We're here, damnit.
We have every right to be.

We're citizens.

You're a veteran for God's sake.

Our money spends just as good
as everyone else's.

[low ominous notes]

- I gotta visit
the ladies' room.

- Biscuits and gravy
did smell pretty damn good.

Think I'll order that...

if the waiter ever comes back.

- There's three of them.

Just sat down.

I swear I didn't serve them,

not after what you did
to Ms. Lydia.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- Uncle George?
- Hmm?

- Remind me why
the White House is white.

- War of 1812.

British soldiers put
the executive branch to torch,

and later,
when the slaves rebuilt it,

they had to paint
the walls white

to cover up the...
Both: Burn marks.

[siren wailing]

- Get your ass up!
We gotta get the fuck

outta here now!

- Come on, come on, George.
Come on!

Out. [tires squealing]

[intense music]

- Let me drive.

- Get your ass in the car!

- Come on, come on,
come on, come on.

[siren wailing]

[gunshot]

[gunshot]

[bullets ricocheting]

[tires screech]

[horn blares]

[gunshots]

- Keep it steady!
- We're being shot at!

How the hell am I supposed
to keep it steady?

- [groans]
- [yells]

♪ ♪

- They're gaining on us!

- Take this left up ahead.

- Slow down,
or Woody will spin out.

- Oh, just shut up
and let me drive.

[tires screech]

- Damnit, girl,
you're gonna crash us.

- My name's not "girl."
It's Letitia fucking Lewis!

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Go, get on up there!

Get up on these sons of bitches!

[glass shatters]

- Leti.
- I see it.

- [yells]
- Shit.

[engine revs]

- Hit it!

♪ ♪

- [screams]

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- Go.

Go, Leti, go!

[laughter] Stop.

- And the way
those white boys went flying.

- It was surreal.
- Reminds me of a scene

out of a Bradbury novel.

[laughter]

- Wait, what actually happened
that caused the crash?

- Your sister's
precision driving.

They couldn't keep up.

- She did save the day.

- Wait, wait, now, now, now.
Say that again one more time.

Did I hear that right?
Who saved your asses?

- Letitia fucking Lewis.

- [laughs]

- It's getting late, Marvin.

Why don't you tell us what you
discovered about our next stop?

- Well, I heard a few tales
about Devon County before,

but once I started
really digging in,

it just kept getting
stranger and stranger.

You see,
the county seat, Bideford,

is named after a town in England

where they had
one of the last witch trials.

They hung a woman
for fornicating with the devil

who appeared to her
as a Negro man.

- Y-you're saying that Bideford

was founded by witches?

- No, the witch hunters,

and they don't like
outsiders at all.

I found more than a few stories
in our morgue

about travelers being attacked
in the surrounding woods.

By what? - Grizzles, wolves.

Who knows?

There's been a bunch
of missing person stories, too,

some of which might be due
to the current sheriff.

- Eustice Hunt.

Ex-Marine.

This is his NAACP
complaint file.

- It's only a third of it.

Between the wild animals
and this guy,

I don't know
who I'd rather run into.

- Hmm.

- What about Ardham?

It was settled around
the same time as Bideford.

Local histories
don't say by who.

- That's what you dug up?

- Yeah, I even tried calling
the county record of deeds

to get the property records.

No one answered.

But from what
I could pull together...

Should be somewhere
right around here.

- That right there
is the middle of nowhere

with no guide stops.

What do you want to do?

- We need to go to the registry.

Maps of the property line
should clearly delineate

a route in Ardham.

[ominous music]

- Now,
this is just the first issue,

but the plan is
she'll be called to repair

faulty telescopes

or malfunctioning computers
on different planets.

And guess what.

She zips from planet to planet
in her trusted

Buick space wagon named Stoney.

[chuckles]

Pop?

Pop, are you there?
- Ye... yes, I'm... yes.

It all sounds great,

but, honey, I gotta go.

I-I don't want to run up
Mr. Baptiste's bill.

Now, put your mother
back on the phone.

- All right, Pop.

Mom.

- I was just headed to the roof.

Such a clear night,
I might finally

get to see Cassiopeia.

- Mm-hmm.

Well, I-I don't want
to keep you.

But, honey, I was...

I was thinking.

Maybe for the next guide trip,

what do you say you and I,
we go together?

[heartfelt music]

♪ ♪

- I'd like that.

Good night, George Freeman.

- Good night.

♪ ♪

- So how long
is your little visit

supposed to last this time?

- I'll be home in a few weeks.
I'll pull my own weight.

Do some cooking, some cleaning...

- What did you do with the money

that I sent to you in D.C.
two months ago?

- I saved it, Marvin.

It's what I used
to get the bus to Ruby.

- Not all of it, you didn't.
I'm not stupid, Letitia.

- Fine. All right, I used it

to bail some friends
out of jail,

but it's not what you think.

- It never is with you!

- We were protesting
the school...

- It doesn't matter
what you were doing!

- The work I'm doing
is saving lives, Marvin!

- You told me you needed money

because you needed to come home.

And I thought
I gave you the money

so you could come home
for Mama's funeral.

How could you miss your
own Mama's funeral, Letitia?

- Hell. Y'all gonna continue
to throw that in my face.

- Absolutely! It's our mama!
- You and Ruby

want to act
like she's a goddamn saint.

I'm sick and tired of it.

- Now, you watch your mouth
in my house

talking about our mama!

- But you know what?
I can understand

you wanting
to think that about her

because you didn't
have to live with her!

- Hey, I went to Chicago
every summer.

- Oh, every summer!
You got to come down here...

- [sighs]

- Ruby and I
didn't have that option.

- Well, you say that
like it was my fault.

- It's not sounding good.

- Don't give me a fucking
lecture about Mama.

- I've heard worse.

[arguing continues]

Been a part of worse.

- We're impossible?
- Yes.

- Pops tell you what happened
last time I was home?

- No.

- Reporter came by.

Wanted to interview me
on what it was like

to be a Negro soldier.

Pops lost it.

Said it was bad enough
I was throwing my life away

for a country that hates me.

Now, I was gonna go
inspire others

to make the same stupid mistake.

I decided to give as good
as I got for once.

Still see the cracks
in the plaster

where we slammed into the wall.

- Just because he didn't agree
with the decision

doesn't mean he didn't care.

- [scoffs] He never wrote me.

Not one letter
till he needed help.

- Your first year in Korea,
he'd come by for dinner

almost every night.

Wouldn't ask about you,

but he'd wait for me
to volunteer the information.

If I didn't,
he wouldn't go home.

He'd stay till 10:00,
11:00, midnight,

if that's what it took,
waiting for me

to bring up the subject of you.

Drove Hippolyta crazy.

- Course it did.

Just another example
of how hardheaded he was.

- Montrose has done
the best he can.

He didn't have it easy
with our father.

- Why are you
always defending him?

You grew up in the same house.
You came out just fine.

- Your pops was...

- Was what?

What?

- He was younger.

He was smaller.
He took the brunt of it.

I should've protected him more.
I always regret that.

- I was younger and smaller,
too.

- You ain't do shit
to protect me.

You regret that?

[glass breaks]

- God damn it!
Look at what you made me do!

- Atticus.

It's family business.
- Let go of my arm.

You're hurting me.
- It's not ours.

- Go! I don't want you
in my house another night!

[door slams]

[thunder rumbling]

- [sighs]

[thunder booming]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

- We done passed
this area ten times now.

- Map at the registry said
there's a bridge

over the river to Ardham...

- I know what it says.
- It exists.

We just gotta find
the road to it.

- We've been driving
these woods all day.

There's no damn road.

Letitia,
you done seen something?

- Nah, I ain't seen...
- Stop the car.

Stop the car.
I'll get out and look.

- So you can look for a road
that none of us

has stopped all damn day?

- Maybe it's grown over.
You ever think of that?

Maybe that's why we missed it.
Just pull over.

Shit. Shit!

What are you doing?

- Helping you look.

Been thinking
about what my brother said.

I don't think we want to be
out here after dark.

- I know.

[sighs]

Just we come all this way.

- [sighs] This isn't giving up.

We're gonna find your father.

Just not today.

[branches rustling]

What was that?

- It's a shoggoth.

- What?

- It's a monster from one
of Lovecraft's stories.

- And what do they look like?

- Massive bubble blob
with hundreds of eyes.

- Oh, well,
that's not scary at all.

We can outrun a blob.

- Uncle George can't.
[both laughing]

- He cannot.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- You in the car, get out.

And everybody come round
to the back of the vehicle.

- It's all right.

- Who are you?

- George Freeman, sir.
This here is my nephew Atticus

and his friend Letitia.

- Where y'all from?
- Chicago, sir.

- You're a long way from home.

- Oh,
we're just passing through,

taking a little bathroom break,
sir, is all.

- Any of you all know
what a sundown town is?

- Yes, sir. We do.

- Well,
this is a sundown county.

If I had found you
pissing in my woods

like animals after dark,

it would've been my sworn duty

to hang every single one of you
from them trees.

- It's not sundown yet.

- Sunset is at 7:09 today.

That's seven minutes from now.

- Then we'll be
out of the county in six.

- Now, that's impossible
heading south

on the road you're currently on,

unless you were to speed.

And if you were to speed,
I'd have to pull you over.

- Then we'll head north.

- That might work.

Why don't you give it a try?

- We will, sir.

- Is it legal
to make a U-turn here?

- Aren't you a smart one?

Now, ordinarily,
I would consider

a U-turn a violation.

But if you ask me real nice,

I might just
let it go this time.

- Please.

- Oh,
you can do better than that.

Say, "pretty please,

will you let this smart nigger
make a U-turn here?"

- Pretty please,
will you let this smart nigger

make a U-turn here?

- All right.

Just this one time,
since you asked so nicely.

[engine revving]

- How far, Uncle George?

- We got 2 1/2 kilometers
to the county line.

- Can we make that?
- Wait, wait, I...

Wait, I'm sorry... we...

[stammers] 3.
We gotta pass the train tracks.

- What time is it?

- It's, uh, it's 7... 7:05.

- Can we make it
in four minutes?

- We have to.

[dark, suspenseful music]

- Here he comes!
- Shit.

[engine chugs]

♪ ♪

- Can you go faster?
- No, we can't go faster.

He gonna pull us over.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

[engine revving]

- He's speedin' up.
- What's he doin'?

- I don't know!

[engine revving]

- Crazy bastard!
- Son of a bitch!

He's comin' again!

- Hold on.

Leti, get the gun.

[gun clicking]

- We got a minute.

[dark music]

♪ ♪

- [murmuring under breath]

[dark, suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- There's the tracks!

- Atticus, watch your speed!

- How much time left?

- 30 seconds.

[engine revving]

♪ ♪

10 seconds!

- Come on! Come on!

♪ ♪

- Ah!
- Hell.

Hell. Hell.

- Yeah.
- Okay, Tic.

- Ha ha!

- We did it. Whoo!

[ominous music]

- Oh, shit.

♪ ♪

[rifles click]

♪ ♪

- I knew they'd strike again
tonight.

- You said they'd be Gypsies,
Sheriff.

- Oh, they're travelers,
that's for sure.

- Unless the car's stolen.

- [laughing]
That's a fair point, Talbert.

How 'bout that? Hmm?

You really from Illinois?

- This is a misunderstanding.

I don't know who you all were
lyin' in wait for...

- Get 'em on the ground!

- Aah!

- [grunts]

- Let me just finish
the rest for you.

When I ask you about a burglary
in Bideford last night

or two others
in Bucks Mill last week,

you're gonna say to me,
"What burglaries, Sheriff?

We're just passin' through."

[officers chuckling]

- Sheriff Hunt. [rifles cocking]

- My uncle's right.

This is just a misunderstanding.

We're not burglars
or car thieves.

You're more than welcome
to check the car

for stolen goods if you like.

- Dalton, tell me I didn't just
hear that.

Did this nigger give me
permission to search his car?

- I believe he did, Sheriff.

- This one thinks he's smart.

Then tell me,
if you're just passin' through,

why do you know my name?

[rifle cocks]

- [yelling] Answer me!
- Answer, boy!

- Please, please...
[overlapping pleading]

[chittering, rustling]

- What was that?

- All right,
keep your guns on 'em...

It's probably just wolves.

[snarling, chittering]

- That don't sound like fuckin'
wolves, Sheriff.

[thud]

[chittering]

[rustling, shrieking]

[crickets chirping]

[roaring] - Aah!

- Jesus...

[loud gibbering, gunshots]

- Run!

[gibbering, gunfire continue]

- Aah!

- Run!

- Aah!

[gibbering, snarling continue]

- Go! Run! Run! Go!

[creature shrieks]

- There!
We need to get out in the open!

Aah!

- Get up!

- I'm comin' down!

[snarling, gibbering continue]

[roar]

[gunshot] - Aah!

- Go, go, go!

Wait! Where's Uncle George?

- Get in here!

[thudding, gibbering continue]

- It's coming to your right!

[gunshot]

[distant shouting]

[gunshot]

[gibbering, shrieking]

[gunshots,
voices grow more distant]

- [whimpering]

- Aah!

[gunshots]

[loud screech, chittering]

- Sheriff, come on! Come o...
Open this fucking door!

[pounding on door]

- Open this fucking door!
Stay back!

[gunshot blast] - Aah!

- Get back! Get back!

Close the fuckin' door.

Close the fucking door.
[door slams]

- You...
- What?

- Get the fucking table!

[tense music]

- [panting, groaning]

♪ ♪

[soft growling]

[branch cracks, chittering]

[distant gibbering, screeching]

- He might be okay.

Hell, Tic, you can't...

- I gotta go get him!

- Hey! Wait!

- Shit!

- I'm not risking you leading
those things back here,

you understand?

- What, you gonna shoot me, hmm?

Gunshot'll bring them things
right to ya.

[panting]

[twigs crack]

- Sheriff,
there's someone comin'.

There's someone comin'.

- Uncle George!
- Open the door!

Come on!

- Get this shit out the way!

- What are you doing? No!

- Uncle George?

- Come on!

- Quick! Close the door!

- Are you all right?

- Depends on your definition
of all right.

- I thought you were right
behind us.

- I got knocked down and stayed
down till the coast was clear.

- Aren't you a lucky nigger?

Those things got four of my men.

- What are those things?
They tore that man's head off!

- They're monsters!
- Monsters don't fuckin' exist!

- It doesn't matter
what they are!

We need to fight 'em!
All right? We need weapons!

[clattering, thudding]

[roaring, chittering,
screeching]

- Listen to 'em.

"Children of the night...
what music they make."

- What is he muttering on about?

- It's a quote from "Dracula."

- None of them attacked me,

and all I had
is this flashlight.

- You think those things
are like vampires.

- If I'm right,
and the light hurts them,

it'll also explain why
we been drivin' in the woods

all day and didn't encounter
one until the sun went down.

- So we just need to survive
till sunup.

- Yes.

- And find more light till then.

- Yes.
- And there's flares in Woody.

- And the headlights
would help too.

- Where's the car from here?
Where's the car from here!

- A quarter mile through
the woods behind the cabin.

- I'll go.
I'll make a run for it.

- No! No, you don't.

You're too smart
for your own good.

You might get the idea
in your head

to leave us behind.

[panting] She goes.

- Not a chance in hell.
[cocks shotgun]

- Leti.
- I am not asking.

- Fuck you!
- No, I can... I can go!

I can go, I can do it.
I can do it, Tic.

I was all-star track
in high school, remember?

Plus, I know you say you don't
need those glasses

to drive at night,
but I really don't think

this is the time to test it!

- All right.

You run as fast as you can.
No lookin' back.

You hear gunshots,
you don't come back.

You drive for help.

- [murmuring]

I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death.

- Leti. Leti, you hear me?

- Yes, I fucking hear you.
I'm terrified!

You don't even seem scared.

Where they teach you that...
In the army?

- I'm not scared 'cause fear's
not gonna save us right now.

You are.

Come on. Come on.

Go, run, run, run!

[gibbering, shrieking]

- And I'll take that flashlight

just in case
your theory is correct.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- [panting, grunting]

[loud snarling]

- [grunts, coughing]

- Where the fuck is she?

- Atticus. Atticus.

- [continues coughing, snarling]

- Sheriff, you okay?

- What happens when you get
bitten by a vampire?

- [continues gagging, snarling]

- Aah!

- [whimpering, panting]

[loud snarling]

[screams]

[galloping footsteps]
- Come on, come on, come on!

[engine struggles]

- [snarling]

- What the fuck?

- You... you need to shoot him.

- [loud snarling]

- Shoot the motherfucker!

- Come on, come on...
[engine struggling]

[creature roars]

- Aah!

[creature shrieks]

- Oh! Oh!

Oh...

[exhales]

[thud, roar]

- Aah!

- I'll shoot him!
- Shoot him!

- Shut up!

Aah!

- Aah!

- [snarls]

- [screaming]

[bulb pops, creature shrieks]

- [snarling]

- Get the gun!

Shoot him!

[gunshot]

[roars]

[car horn honking]

- [roaring, snarling]

- Whoa...

[exhales]

Uncle George? Uncle George?

Uncle George!

[distant gibbering, roaring]

- They're coming!

Get him into the headlights!

[gibbering, screeching
gets closer]

- Son of a bitch! Aah!

[shrieking, gibbering]

- Oh, shit!
- Come on.

[suspenseful music]

- Oh, shit!

Yah!

- [shouts]

[screeching, roaring continue]

[intense musical buildup]

[piercing tone shrieking]

[monster sounds fade]

[eerie music]

♪ ♪

[intense orchestration]

♪ ♪

- We've been expecting you,
Mr. Freeman.

Welcome home.

♪ ♪

[Nina Simone's "Sinnerman"]

♪ ♪

- ♪ Oh, Sinnerman,
where ya gonna run to ♪

♪ Sinnerman,
where ya gonna run to ♪

♪ Sinnerman, where ya gonna
run to all on that day ♪

♪ I run to the rock,
please hide me ♪

♪ I run to the rock,
please hide me ♪

♪ I run to the rock ♪

♪ Please hide me
all on that day ♪

♪ The rock cried out,
I can't hide you ♪

♪ The rock cried out ♪

♪ I can't hide you ♪

♪ The rock cried out,
I ain't gonna hide you ♪

♪ All on that day ♪

♪ I said, rock,
what's the matter with you ♪

♪ Rock, can't you see
I need you ♪

♪ Rock, devil was waitin'
all on that day ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Power ♪

♪ Power, I cried power ♪

♪ I cried power ♪

♪ I cried power ♪

♪ I cried power ♪

children: Bad Robot.

[bright tone]

Dinner will be served
in 15 minutes.

Don't mind the others.

Just because they don't want
you here,

doesn't mean
you're not supposed to be.

♪ (INTENSE MUSIC PLAYS) ♪

The secret birthright
Pop wrote about is real.

CHRISTINA BRAITHWHITE:
Our destiny's not decided by
our families.

You just have to seize it.

I thought the world was one way
and I found out it isn't...

and it terrifies me.

(SCREAMS)

I thought I had everything
I wanted...

only to discover power
like I've never known before.

♪ You cannot escape it ♪

WOMAN: It's a rat race
to the finish

and it's winner takes all.

LETITIA LEWIS: We gotta face
this new world head on

and stake our claim in it.

It's our story.

This birthright belongs to
our family.

♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪