We see women who put others before themselves-perhaps to a fault-take no mess, and are the backbone of their homes and community. Other words like strength arrive more easily.

Shrink usually isn’t a word that comes to mind when we think of Black women. In it, we witnessed Hippolyta’s journey morph from a dogged search to uncover the truth to a trip of actualization, one where she named herself as she saw fit, and in many ways, unshrunk herself. Lovecraft’s first six episodes were mystifying in their own ways, but “I Am” sucked the breath from many of the Black women watching, myself included. Did Hippolyta get her answers? Yes, she did, and returned with so much more. This endeavor forced her to recreate her husband’s fatal trip. Hippolyta knew the story surrounding her husband’s death was a lie, thus she sought her own answers. Conversely, you recognize bullshit the same way, and Hippolyta was no different. It’s simple and to the point: you know the truth when you hear it. My husband and I share a phrase in our household when it comes to stories. Instead, when Atticus returned to Chicago with his uncle’s body, he concocted a story to better fit the world they lived in: Uncle George had been killed by a sheriff in a sundown town. Hippolyta’s husband’s death was a casualty of magic, a detail Atticus didn’t find necessary to share with Hippolyta. Hippolyta, played by the astounding Aunjanue Ellis, was the aunt of Lovecraft’s hero Atticus and mourned her husband, who was killed early in the series. Titled “I Am,” episode 7 focused on a side character, a middle-aged Black woman named Hippolyta. Each episode was creative and unique, fulfilling the audience in ways it hadn’t imagined. Every week I watched the cast maneuver the structures upholding that hate as best they could, with whatever tools were available, as the central plot unfurled. As one Twitter user pointed out, the show contained ancient talismans, universe-bending spells, and hundred-eyed monsters, and still its scariest moments came from portrayals of vitriolic hate against African Americans. The show-set much in the 1950’s-expertly blended fantasy, science fiction, and horror while inserting the real-life atrocities of history and American racism. Somewhere over the summer, I was glued to my television, eagerly awaiting the next episode of the popular Lovecraft Country series on HBO.

The Falling Star by Imani Josey