Raised by Wolves Discussion: “Happiness”

Having just reviewed most of the season to its penultimate episode, I’m going to post some comments and open a discussion on the second-season finale. The freshest SF series currently on television explores some ancient ideas.

Premise and Plot

Lamia/mother uses Grandmother’s veil to dampen her caregiving program so that she can defeat the serpent. She succeeds, but she doesn’t want to give up the veil, and a cult has started to develop, honouring her as some kind of deity. Grandmother, meanwhile, has her own agenda.

Lucius takes his revenge in decidedly Biblical fashion.

Tempest’s child undergoes Lovecraftian developments.

The children encounter the Tree of Life, and the personal growth that Campion experiences may be a very different thing than he imagines.

Comments

This episode delivers what this show does so well: complex characters, mythic and theological references, and uncertain and uncomfortable developments. We have a variety of religious, political, and cultural ideas manifesting among the survivors. The parallels among android self-reprogramming, evolution, and Campion’s calluses, are obvious without seeming trite.

The notion of knowledge becoming dangerous carries familiar implications. How does one pacify a population? With bread and circuses, of course or, in this case, bread, celebrations, and videogames.

Clever writers have given humanity a future as uncertain as our present.

2 replies on “Raised by Wolves Discussion: “Happiness””

  1. The bits near the end seem to suggest that maybe Sue isn’t as gone as it would seem on the surface. But this is a rather blood thirsty show, so who knows.

    I kind of want to see what’s going on back on Earth. I’m thinking the planet wasn’t quite as doomed as we’ve been led to believe. Add in a massive population collapse (due to war and famine) and some magic tech tooling around and who knows?

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