Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Young Lillian has a secret. The fourth episode of Apple TV+’s horror-fairytale “The Changeling” begins with Apollo’s (LaKeith Stanfield) mother Lillian (Alexis Louder) dragging a red suitcase across a dock to the water in the same year that Apollo’s father vanished when Apollo was just 4 years old. Why young Lillian is on that dock and what’s in the suitcase remains to be seen. But as “The Changeling” novel author Victor LaValle narrates, each tale told on those waters informs the next.
In the present, Apollo and his friend Patrice (Malcolm Barrett) have agreed to meet William (Samuel T. Herring), a member of Apollo’s new grief therapy group, who has offered to pay $70,000 for Apollo’s rare autographed copy of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” They meet on the same dock where young Lillian stood over 30 years before. Just before, Patrice informs Apollo that there’s a tribute page on Facebook for Apollo’s son Brian, who was, presumably, murdered by Apollo’s wife Emma (Clark Backo), who has been missing ever since. The tribute page is tracking Apollo’s movements, which makes Apollo aware that, though he originally feared witches were behind his series of tragedies, social media might be an even greater foe.
The clumsy, nerdy app developer William brings Apollo and Patrice onto a boat tied to the dock in order to give them the check for the book. He shares with them that his wife has left him and taken his two daughters with her. The book is a last-ditch effort to win back her love, he says. Patrice is unmoved and finds William creepy, but Apollo has compassion for a fellow dad who would do anything to get his family back.
Back at his apartment, still…
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