Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
The second episode of Apple TV+’s new haunted fairytale series “The Changeling,” finally brings the show’s title into focus. Based on Victor LaValle’s novel of the same name, “The Changeling,” gets its name from European fairytales about children that’ve been stolen by fairies and replaced by inhuman creatures that only look like the children.
At the end of the premiere, Apollo (Lakeith Stanfield) and Emma (Clark Backo) have just given birth to a baby boy, Brian, named after Apollo’s father who vanished from his life when Apollo was only four. The baby appears to be healthy, but the traumatic birth on a subway car coupled with being named after a specter whose absence haunts Apollo’s life does not bode well for this baby.
Plus, there’s Apollo not heeding a witch’s warning to Emma not to cut a red string off her wrist if Emma wants her three wishes to come true. Things were looking up for the happily married new parents, even after Apollo cut the string off Emma’s wrist. But shortly after Brian’s birth, things take a turn.
This episode begins just like the first, with LaValle narrating, “tell me your life’s voyage, and I’ll tell you who you are.” The focus has shifted from Apollo to Emma, who is six months postpartum. She’s a shell of herself: frazzled hair, nervous, paranoid, walking unconcerned into oncoming traffic. Emma’s off to a rundown building where she tells a woman that Cal sent her there and in exchange receives a bag of chains. Her sister (Amirah Vann) is scared by her behavior but Emma won’t provide answers.
A few months earlier, Emma and Apollo look just about as tired as any new parents as Emma’s sister and Apollo’s mother Lillian come over to help. Emma…
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