Quick Recap

In last night’s episode titled ‘A History of Violence’, Atticus teams up with his father and Letitia to find Titus’ missing pages. Hippolyta, Dee and Tree join the trio and travel to a Boston museum where they locate Titus’ vault underneath a statue. Once inside they must pass through several harrowing obstacles.

Montrose is still grieving for his brother George. After reading through the book of bylaws George gave him, he burns the book, probably as a last ditch effort to protect his son. Elsewhere, Christina’s motive for coming to town is revealed when she pays a visit to Letitia at her boarding house. Unable to enter because of a spell on the door (remember the exorcism last week?), Christina reveals that it was she who gave Leti the money. She tells Letitia that she only wants to come in to find one thing: an orrery. Hippolyta, the new owner of the orrery, talks to her dad about the strange sailor system it depicts. She hypotheses that there may be two suns. I wonder if she’s right?

Leti confronts Atticus at the library about his encounter with Christina and his knowledge of the money. He confesses that he was unable to kill her because of a spell. He reveals that he is researching the possible location of one of only two sets of deciphered pages from the lost Book of Names. Atticus believes he can learn the language of Adam and start casting spells on his own. Leti tells him that Christina wanted Hiram’s orrery, possibly because it’s the key to finding his set of pages. They ask Montrose to help them find the vault and he reluctantly agrees to help them find it at a Boston museum.

Christina is picked up by the cops on the orders of Captain Lancaster. He’s part of a lodge and he’s also after the pages. The two seem to be old enemies. The captain has someone locked in his closet. Christina arrives home late and the moment she disappears, William appears and goes across the street to beat up the cops following her. Then he heads off for a “date”. Elsewhere, Ruby goes to Marshall Field and Company to finally apply for her dream job, but when she sees a black woman working at the counter, she leaves. Later she gives a lackluster performance where she meets William. Though they get off to a rocky start, they end up sleeping together.

Our trio heads to Boston with Hippolyta, Dee and Tree in tow. They find the hidden vault and our trio return after hours to break into the vault. Once inside they encounter every manner of obstacle, cryptic messages, several tunnels, a magical plank bridge. Leti bravely walks the plank, which is booby trapped. They manage to cross and reach a wall with pressable stones. Montrose figured out how to open it, remembering a passage from the book of bylaws that he read. They enter a chamber rapidly filling with water.

They journey deeper into the vault and waters continue to rise, making them increasingly more anxious. Tic confronts his dad on his knowledge about the order. Montrose tells them he burned the book. Leti finds a bloated body of her neighbor, then they find her elevator. Leti and Tic argue, she repeats some of what Christina said earlier. They find another wall, this one with an arm protruding from it. Tic sticks his arm in and it takes his blood and opens. A ladder falls from the ceiling. They find a grisly scene. Corpses around a table. One still clutching the papers, the corpse becomes a flesh and blood person, a two-spirited person, speaking the language of Adam. Tic somehow can understand her, Yahima, and they learn her sad story of betrayal at the hands of Titus.

Montrose takes the pages and the windows crack and the water rushes in. They swim to the elevator and narrowly avoid drowning. Once the elevator rises above the waterline, Yahima screams like a banshee. Tic knocks her out. They later discover that she’s been cursed to be a siren. They decide to teach her English so she can help them decipher the language of Adam. After Leti and Tic leave, Montrose kills Yahima.

My two cents

So, this episode wasn’t my favorite so far, but it is the most important. Not only is there a lodge right there in Chicago, but there are 34 lodges all together. There’s a good chance that Tic and friends might have to face some opposition from more than just Christina. Hiram’s orrery, now Hippolyta’s orrery, is more valuable than we first thought. As long as she has it, Tic and friends have an advantage over Christina and the Sons of Adam. And after that scene in the museum between Dee and Hippolyta, I’m convinced they both have a much bigger role to play in all this madness.

Tensions between Atticus and Letitia seem to be getting worse. *Rolls eyes* They should just say they love each other and be done with it. And once again, it’s up to Leti to save the day. They only went on this trip, because she pushed Montrose to help. Then, when they finally found the pages, only to immediately drop them in the water, it was Leti to rescue again. At this point, I’m convinced that she’s ultimately going to end up saving everybody.

I really felt for Ruby in this episode. At first glance, it seems kind of silly that she left without applying for the job. But the truth is, she’d already missed her chance and she knew it. This is way before things like affirmative action and equal opportunity employers existed. It’s difficult to believe that this used be the reality for black America. Then she hooked up with William. Who may or may not be a vampire. And what’s the deal with that brand on his chest? We’re four episodes deep and we’ve yet to see both Christina and William in the same room together even though they both claim to be close friends. Since we know that magic is a real thing, I think it’s fair to assume that one of them is simply disguised as the other with the help of some spell. But why though?

As usual they leave us with a question: Why did Montrose kill Yahima? We can assume it’s for the same reason he burned the bylaws. What is he so afraid of? From the beginning he’s been against his son getting involved with the Sons of Adam and magic in general, but what else does he know?

Here’s the trailer for episode 5.