“Believers of today have used a biotech tree to weaponize a serpent.”
–Lamia/Mother
The season finale of “Raised by Wolves” looms, so we’re reflecting on the episodes between our last reviews and whatever rough beast will slouch onto our screens March 17.
Titles: “Good Creatures,” “Control,” “King,” “The Tree,” “Feeding”
Cast and Crew
Directors: Sunu Gonera, Alex Gabassi, Lukas Ettlin
Writers: Julian Meiojas, Karen Campbell, Aaron Guzikowski
Amanda Collin as Mother / Lamia
Abubakar Salim as Father
Winta McGrath as Campion
James Harkness as Tamerlane
Niamh Algar as Sue
Jordan Loughran as Tempest
Felix Jamieson as Paul
Kim Engelbrecht as Decima
Morgan Santo as Vrille
Travis Fimmel as Marcus
Aasiya Shah as Holly
Ethan Hazzard as Hunter
Matias Varela as Lucius
Ivy Wong as Vita
Peter Christoffersen as Cleaver
Selina Jones as Grandmother
Bongo Mbutuma as Santos
Susan Danford as Justina
Loulou Taylor as Cassia
Litha Bam as Bartok
Garth Breytenbach as Den
Shoko Yoshimura as Mastema
Daniel Lasker as Furfur
Jenna Upton as Danjal
Jennifer Saayeng as Nerva
Michael Pennington as the Voice of the Trust
Premise
The remnants of humanity and several problematic androids attempt to settle Kepler-22b, while struggling with plot developments that would leave Lost‘s writers hugging themselves and rocking in corners.
Sufficiently advanced technology, indistinguishable from magic, allows this show to explore numerous mythic elements in the context of science fiction.
High Points
“King” includes a chilling encounter with Lamia, while Vrille engages in a massacre of precious surviving humans. In all fairness, she has lost face, and has reasons to be a little angry with the Mithraic.
The idea emerges that a signal creates the presence of Saul. Is it of alien or terrestrial origin? We have substantial evidence that humans have been here before. At present, we know neither its true origin nor its purpose.
Low Point
Several questions raised by the plot may be unanswered or may be oversights. The human settlers suddenly seem to know a good deal about the water-creatures which they’ve never seen or heard of until very recently.
The Scores:
Originality: 4/6
Acting: 5/6 The acting can be uneven, but the handling of dialogue is nuanced, especially in the handling of the androids.
Story: 5/6 The story moves in fascinating and unpredictable ways.
Production: 6/6
Effects: 5/6 The show lacks the budget of some others, but they do a great job of creating an alien-seeming world.
Emotional Response: 6/6 “Control” serves up a new body horror. “King” gives us the most disturbing episode to date.
And yes, I laughed when a certain android flipped the bird.
Overall: 5/6
In total, Raised by Wolves, “Good Creatures,” “Control,” “King,” “The Tree,” and “Feeding” receive a score of 36/42
Lingering Question
Try to imagine the cast of most other space franchises in this story: