WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Chapelwaite Season 1, Episode 2, "Memento Mori," airing now on EPIX.

In Chapelwaite's premiere, the people of Preacher's Corners made it clear that while some of their animosity towards the Boone family is caused by Phillip and Stephen Boone's actions, the townspeople's cruelty also is rooted in racism. Because Honor, Loa and Tane are multiracial Asian children, they are treated as "other" by the townspeople, which further isolates them all. In "Memento Mori," the racism of the town and of the children's new classmates becomes even more overt, showing that in Preacher's Corners, humans can be just as horrific as any supernatural creature lurking in the outskirts.

In "Blood Calls Blood," one of Maya Boone's main reasons for asking Charles to move the family to Chapelwaite was her desire that her children attend school. However, in "Memento Mori," from their first day of class, Honor, Loa and Tane face obstacles that their white peers do not. First, Headmaster Henry Fish asks pointed questions about the Boone children's heritage and assumes that they have not been vaccinated for smallpox, when they actually have. The nature of the questions, particularly the ones about the children's birth, show that his interrogation is motivated more by racism than by animosity toward Phillip and Stephen Boone. If the Boone children were white, he would not have asked them these questions.

RELATED: Chapelwaite Creators Discuss Whaling & Adding Multiracial Children to Stephen King's Story

Loa and Honor Boone look apprehensively at the Boone family graves in Chapelwaite

After the children are finally allowed to attend class, it becomes clear that the education they received from Maya was more advanced than what the town's children received. Alice Burroughs, the minister's wife, calls upon Loa to label the Kingdom of Hawaii on a map on the chalkboard. Loa goes above and beyond the assignment and labels all of the islands on the board. In the background, you can hear her classmates' asking how she knows all of this. On her way back to her desk, Marcus, one of the boys in the class actually trips Loa. Tane leaps to her defense, and Alice seems to spring into action once Tane does, not when Marcus initially trips Loa. Another boy, Emory Spicer, destroys Loa’s necklace, which was originally her mother’s. While Alice does try to intervene, she does not appear to punish the boys in any way other than to tell them to "sit back down." Therefore, Chapelwaite shows that many of the people in town who consider themselves "good" are actually ineffectual at helping the Boone children and combating the racism within their town.

Loa, who is still in the throes of grief over her mother's death, is devastated by the loss of her necklace. While she is able to gather most of the shells, her main physical connection with her mother is in pieces. Loa already was the most resistant to the move to Chapelwaite, and her treatment at school further builds her resentment. She tells Tane of her plans to run away, but they are interrupted by Rebecca. While Rebecca tries to comfort them both, she does not really do much other than promise to talk with Alice the next day. Both Loa and Tane's silence in answer to Rebecca's questions shows that despite Tane's disagreement with Loa's plans to run, they still, at least in the moment, are a united front in regards to their treatment at school.

RELATED: Chapelwaite: Grief Is at the Center of the Boone Family's Rift

Loa, Honor and Tane Boone at the All Hallow's Eve celebration in Chapelwaite

Of the children, Honor has the most desire to fit in with Preacher's Corners, and both she and Tane excitedly wish to celebrate All Hallow's Eve in Preacher's Corners. Once there, the racism escalates, Honor, Loa and Tane are denied treats at one of the houses. Later, one of the boys from their school throws flour in their faces in a clearly racially motivated incident. While Able Stewart steps up to defend Honor, Loa and Tane after the flour incident, Honor shows that she can defend herself and her siblings just fine, landing a punch that knocks her attacker to the ground. Honor and Able bond a little in the aftermath, but Honor still is visibly heartbroken over their treatment.

While the Boone family mainly have had to face the horrors of the townspeople thus far, there is something or someone lurking in Chapelwaite that also could do them even more harm. Loa's shells disappear, and at first Loa believes that Tane took them. Once Tane denies taking them, Honor and Rebecca believe him, and Rebecca pledges to help Loa search. The disappearance of the shells highlights the growing rift in the family. While the children do not know who took the shells, a possible culprit is a shadowy figure who hovered over Loa's bed the night before, which shows that the supernatural horrors of Chapelwaite may prey upon the children's isolation and grief as well.

Thus, "Memento Mori" continues to build upon the Boone children's isolation in the face of Preacher's Corners' racism. While the Boone children are capable of defending themselves, they should not have to. These racist acts, both overt and covert, show that monstrosity comes from humanity as well in Chapelwaite. However, their introduction to Able Stewart has given them at least one friend in town, and the Boones will need all the friends that they can get to deal with their house's horrors as the supernatural beings lurking in the shadows begin to show themselves in the light.

To see how the Boone children continue to deal with the horrors, both supernatural and human, of their new home, new episodes of Chapelwaite drop each Sunday at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on EPIX.

KEEP READING: Chapelwaite Premiere's Most Significant Changes to Jerusalem's Lot