Lovecraft Country: Everything you need to know about Montrose Freeman

Here’s everything you need to know about Lovecraft Country’s Montrose.

Warning! Spoilers for Lovecraft Country episode 4 follow below.

HBO’s Lovecraft Country is full of unique characters with their own strengths, weaknesses, and special quirks. And because of that, it’s worth breaking down and analyzing all of the show’s main characters to understand more about them.

In the last character profile, we looked at the character Letitia Lewis, played by Jurnee Smollett. The long-time friend of Atticus has sure developed a closer relationship with him over the course of four episodes. But what about Atticus’ dad, Montrose? There’s so much to this complex character that we have to break down, especially after watching episode 4, “A History of Violence.”

Read on below to learn more about the character Michael K. Williams portrays in Lovecraft Country, Montrose Freeman

Montrose Freeman Lovecraft Country character profile

Montrose Freeman: Introduction and overview

Montrose Freeman is the father of Atticus Freeman, husband to his late wife Dora, and youngest brother to George. Montrose is a complicated, strong-headed, hard-headed, and vicious man struggling to maintain a relationship with his son while keeping his own secret at bay. Montrose got kidnapped by the Braithwhite family and his son Atticus came to find him after he allegedly wrote a strange letter to him. Montrose kept dangerous secrets from his son in an effort to protect him, but will his secrets finally get the best of him after what he did at the ending of last week’s episode? Can we even trust him?

Relationships

Montrose is the oldest brother to George Freeman. Montrose was married to Dora Freeman (Erica Tazel) and had a son named Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors). Dora was married to Montrose for many years and used to hang out with George and Montrose all the time. Montrose and George grew up with an abusive father. Back in episode 2, George told the story of how Montrose would make welcome signs for the Negro baseball players during the summer, and Montrose confessed their father would hit him badly for doing that. George was protective over Montrose but he didn’t see it that way.

The question lies about what really happened between George and Dora that makes him wonder if Montrose is really Atticus’ father. Montrose seemed to say they resolved that issue a long time ago. And in a tender moment, we saw Montrose loved his brother and held him until his very last breath in episode 2.

Montrose also has a sister-in-law named Hippolyta (Aunjanue Ellis), and he is trying to cover up the real truth about his brother’s death from her. (But she doesn’t buy the story.)

Montrose and Tic have a very tense relationship. Montrose struggles to channel his love for Atticus in a way that doesn’t recreate his own past experiences. He would try to toughen Atticus up a bit so no one would take advantage of him, but it only causes him to resent his father more. Montrose didn’t think Atticus going to the army was a good idea. Atticus wanted to learn more about his mother’s life but Montrose wanted him to leave it alone. There are a lot of secrets Montrose has been hiding from Atticus. All George wanted for Montrose was to show Atticus he loved him before it was too late. George said Montrose would come to his house for dinner at times and check to see what Atticus was doing in the war. But, deep down, Montrose knows Atticus is a good man despite himself and knows his mother would be proud of him.

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Motives

Montrose’s plan was to find out the truth about his wife’s past and the life she barely could remember. But we learned that was all part of the Braithwhite’s plan to get Atticus to their house. Montrose’s ultimate goal is to ensure that Atticus is safe despite keeping secrets for his son’s benefit. He wants a better relationship with his son, and he does not want Atticus involved in the magic but he continues to help them because he knows his son won’t stop until he discovers the truth.

In episode 4, Montrose seemed to have an ulterior motive in killing the two-spirit indigenous person named Yahima (Monique Candelaria) who was discovered in Titus Braithwhite’s tomb. Did he know how to use the magic that Atticus is trying to learn? And what was the purpose of killing her?

Strengths and weaknesses

Montrose is closed off about his feelings and emotions. After losing his brother, Montrose decides to get drunk and drinks his sorrows away, burning the Order of the Ancient Dawn bylaws George gave him before he died. Montrose tried to give Atticus advice about his relationship with Leti, explaining the really a sign of love referencing back to his relationship with Dora. Montrose is trying to take some interest in his son’s life and show that he cares about him; Montrose cares about his son and will do anything to protect him. They both are stubborn and believe what they are doing is right. He is willing to help find the Book of Names because he knows Atticus will never stop searching for the truth. Montrose has a good heart when he wants to and does what best for his family.

Montrose’s future

As we saw in last week’s episode, Montrose killed Yahima, the woman they found in the museum who could have helped Atticus figure out the lost pages of the Book of Names. Now, the question is in the air, why did Montrose do it, and how is this all connected to the Book of Names? Also, Tree (Deron J. Powell) mentioned to Atticus about Sammy (Jon Hudson Odom), the bartender at the local club, and his close relationship with Montrose. Although the show has not confirmed this information, we have to wait and see how this develops. Montrose still deals with issues from his childhood via the abuse of alcohol. Hopefully, we can see Montrose forgive himself and his father in order to build a better relationship with Atticus.

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