Author: Trafficblast

Christina makes a point of telling the family that her need to kill Tic is nothing personal; it’s a necessary sacrifice in order for her to achieve immortality. It’s further reinforcement of what the show has depicted about Christina since the beginning: Despite her empathy for Ruby, and despite her understanding and identification with being a second class citizen, she still aspires to the power of white men, even at the cost of black bodies. It is a common criticism that third wave feminists lob at second wave feminists–that “feminist” advocacy too often refers to the rights and privileges of white women exclusively, rather than women of color.

We see Dee reading a newspaper, which reports that Emmett Till’s killers were found Not Guilty. This is unfortunately true. The two real-life murderers were Roy Bryant (the husband of the white woman who leveled the accusation at Till) and J.W. Milam, who was Bryant’s half-brother. An all-white jury found them Not Guilty, and in a subsequent interview with Look Magazine, they openly confessed to their crimes. In 2017, Carolyn Bryant recanted her testimony that Till had harassed or menaced her.

Hippolyta tells Dee that “Afua” taught her how to draw comics. This is a reference to Afua Richardson, a real-life African-Native-American artist who drew all of Dee’s artwork for the show (the comic book as well as the doodles in the Negro Travel Guide).

The rap song that plays while Tic and Leti are descending in the elevator is “Ready or Not” by Highland Park Collective, feat. Gizzle. They are, according to their self-description on Spotify, “a group made of East Coast raised, West Coast residing gentlemen that have been writing, producing and creating content for brands small and large for years.”

The song that everyone sings along to in the car is “Sh-Boom (Life Could Be A Dream)” by The Chords. This is also our first hint that “Ruby” isn’t actually Ruby. The original Ruby disliked this song and said in Episode 1 that it was “Sh-Boring.” But in this scene, she’s the one who’s leading the singalong.

In case you were confused, the reason why Leti survives the fall is because Christina (disguised as Ruby) restores the mark of Protection on her. Presumably, she was keeping her word to Ruby, who made her promise not to hurt her sister. Later, when Ji-Ah reads Christina’s mind, we see a brief memory of Christina reciting the incantation after Leti falls. There are some other cool scenes that flash by during this sequence as well. We see Tic teaching Dee how to train and care for the Shoggoth, which explains why it follows her in the episode’s final scene.

The Dumas quote that Tic uses in his letter to Montrose is a thesis for the entire series: “There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness.” One of the show’s common themes is confronting trauma, both immediate and generational, and by doing so, spinning it into something positive and redemptive. Leti is pregnant with a child that will benefit from Tic’s sacrifice, and Montrose has an opportunity to redeem himself as an abusive father by being a positive presence in little George’s life.

Tic dies in a pose that resembles Jesus’s martyrdom on the cross. It’s a common shorthand in Western literature and film that implies the character sacrificed himself for a greater good.

Lastly, we learn something that we theorized about in the prior episode: Dee was the mysterious figure in the hood with the metal arm, who gave Tic the “Lovecraft Country” book and pushed Tic back through the portal. We see Dee’s new robot arm in the show’s closing scene. Evidently, Hippolyta makes it for Dee after her original arm withers away from Captain Lancaster’s curse.