Freedom allows Green and her collaborators to show their stunning command of the energy and spirit the story's blending of science fiction and horror requires. It means that every slice of the audience, from monster movie lovers to Dan Brown-style conspiracy thriller nuts and Indiana Jones fans, will find something to enjoy here.

There are a few minor growing pains in the first half of the first season of “Lovecraft Country”—a tin line of dialogue here, a thin supporting performance there—but nothing that holds the show back from excellence overall. If it’s not on the absolute top tier of what’s on TV in 2020, it’s not far behind at all, and I suspect the first season of this show is going to be one of the year’s great conversation starters.

Occasional missteps in pacing are a minor issue in the scheme of the series, which makes such powerful use of its excellent acting, smart scripts and vibrant visuals, it smooths over a few shaky moments. ... Like Peele's "Get Out," they use the building blocks of fantasy and horror to lure the viewer into to a story more profound and revealing. "Lovecraft" is that kind of story, both insightful and just plain scary.

The series is set in the Jim Crow era, and adequately addresses the racism and violence waged on African Americans – but it does so in a way that adds to the story, rather than rehashing trauma for our entertainment. Each character, each story, each line serves a purpose that helps to build a world of mystery, magic and Lovecraftian lore.

Even though it has a continuous story arc the show goes through tonal shifts, moving from Indiana Jones to grindhouse to bump-in-the-night scares, so that it almost feels like an anthology. But the dark, disturbing cloud of racism is ever present and seeps into every corner of the show like a wraith. Except this monster’s real.

Green has shown a gift for making the worst of our nation’s history into the staging ground for a conversation about the totality of its present. That’s on offer here, as well, but will become clearer as and if “Lovecraft Country” figures out the kind of show it wants to be. Surreality is a way to arrive at a deeper meaning, perhaps, but it requires crisply drawn characters to bring us through.

That's Lovecraft Country: A mélange of spectacular special effects, nerdy obsession, and crippling racial animus, all wrapped up in a tumbling free-form narrative that doesn't make much sense.

This show is a trip! The acting is amazing and the production value is top notch. Excited to see where it goes every week HBO does it again

Disappointing. A show that showed so much promise in it's opening episodes turns into a rambling mess the further it goes on.

The writing is compelling and the reinvention of the story is imaginative and fun. The acting is pretty awful however, and over the top.

Does every show these days have to be about racism. Hate to break it to the loony liberals but this is not the 1950’s and 1960’s when there really was unlike today systemic racism .

To keep it short. 90% of the show - Racism is bad. Racism is really bad. Don't you know that racism is bad? We just want you to understand that racism is bad. Because, you know, racism is bad. You sure you won't forget that racism is bad? Good. Because is so bad, like, really bad. 5% of the show - bad writing 5% of the show - some Lovecraftian "horror" Another case of activism > good story