“Raised by wolves” debuts its first three episodes in bloody, beautiful fashion with little to nitpick at

By: Keaton Marcus

Legendary science fiction director Ridley Scott has teamed up with HBO Max for the largely anticipated Raised by Wolves, originally set to premiere on TNT before moving elsewhere. The little delay hasn’t effected the quality, at least for the first three episodes. All three are completely batshit crazy, but they’re propelled by a soundtrack filled with dread, visuals brimming with beauty, and another compelling dive into creepy android territory.

The first episode kicks off in a near-deserted universe where humans are close to extinction, with only thousands left. Two androids carrying 12 human embryos crash land onto a desolate planet called Keplar 22-b. We get introduced to the two robots, dubbed Father (Abubakar Salim) and Mother (Niamh Algar). The female one is decidedly more powerful, and is referred to as “The Necromancer”…The male is more of a docile friend. Anyways, we skip ahead in time to when the surviving embryos are now children, mostly focusing on Campion (Winta McGrath). However, all the children but one die of a mysterious disease, and that one is Campion, who surprisingly survived.

Then the trio get some unwelcome company, some surviving humans, who come looking for others. Led by Marcus (Travis Fimmel), the group encounter Father, Mother and Campion, and are offered a place to stay. Then the tension begins to rise as Marcus and the others attempt to smuggle Campion off the planet, and back to their ship dubbed “Heaven’s Ark.” Of course, Mother get’s, well…angry, and kills every human except for Marcus, who narrowly escapes. That’s a thing I must warn future viewers about, Scott, once again, does NOT shy away from bloody violence, pumping this thing with explosive, stylish gore…much like his newer Alien movies.

As the series progresses into episode two, we begin to discover more and more about Marcus’ past. The next episode opens to the Battle of Boston, as Mithraic and atheist forces clash in the city. Marcus appears to be a Mithraic soldier, and he’s trudging through the rubble with another woman, violence all around them. They find a medical droid, who says it will be able to transform their faces so they can sneak on to the Heaven’s Ark. That’s right, the two are atheists, and they’ve found two Mithraics who are roughly the same size and shape that they are. After the bandages come off, their faces emerge as Marcus and Sue. Then, of course, they must kill the real two people as they travel to real Marcus and Sue’s home, shooting them both on the spot.

This is by far Scott’s most complex work, for better or for worse. The two discover that they have a son, named Paul (Felix Jamieson). As the fake family replace the real one on the ship, we go back to the present timeline. Mother, after slaughtering everyone on the Ark, evaporating them into bloody blasts, brings back several children for Campion, as if to stop him from leaving. The rest of the episode plays with its characters in gorgeous fashion, bringing deeper character development, especially to Campion and Mother as the former has increasingly little trust in the latter. Creatures, who the family hasn’t encountered in all their twelve years on the planet, suddenly emerge and attack in the climax of episode two. Mother easily destroys them with her ear-piercing screams, and that’s how it all ends.

In episode three, things just get crazier for our main characters. It’s dubbed “Virtual Faith”, and begins with Campion continuing to suspect horrible things of Mother. But are his suspicions accurate? When the Mithraic children Mother brought back at the end of episode one fall ill, he feels his accusations are confirmed. Mother and Father continue to warn the children not to go outside, as the creatures will surely kill them. To scare them into submission, the female android tells them the “Three Little Pigs.” Campion, still determined to escape, convinces the other children to run away from the two robots, but his attempts were short lived, as Father easily finds them.

Back with Marcus, other humans have come to rescue the struggling atheist living in a Mithraic world. When Mother goes after the surviving humans, they manage to hide underground, and send one of their androids (played by Awissi and Ingvild Lakou) to be a sacrificial lamb. Marcus once again encounters Sue, his “wife”, even though they’re really Caleb and mary, atheists that assumed the identities of a Mithraic captain and his wife. As we check in with Campion, the nightmarish creatures attack him, but he’s saved by Father at the last minute. Good timing, Mr. Android.

My explanation only scratches the surface of what Ridley Scott, who directed the first two episodes, is trying to accomplish here. Otherwise, we’ve got all the delightful world-building, gorgeous visuals and odd androids that fans should have come to expect from a Scott series. Episode four will premiere on HBO Max next week, and so far, I’m quite excited on where this high-concept show will go next.

Should you Binge, Browse, or Skip?

Despite the timelines getting a little in-cohesive, Ridley Scott’s imaginative new show is filled to the top with religious, ethereal imagery, solid performances, and all the cool androids we’d come to expect. The violence may not be for everyone, though. I would say…BINGE IT

TV Review: Raised by Wolves - Season 1

“Raised by wolves” debuts its first three episodes in bloody, beautiful fashion with little to nitpick at

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