Not Alone
Face/Off
Episode 2 of Raised By Wolves begins in Boston 2145. Screams pierce the air as numerous androids float ominously by, destroying everything in their wake. A man calls out for Mary and together they help free a burning android. It turns out this android is actually a doctor. After fixing it up, they allow this robot to do facial surgery in a bid to gain a lucrative position onboard the arc. It’s a painful procedure, one that sees both of them transformed. This man (Caleb) is now Marcus and holds his partner, promising her that things will be okay. As they arrive at their house, they both learn they have a son and slip into into their roles. Those roles including boarding the arc and leaving Earth behind.
Lies
Back on Kepler 22-B, Mother hums ominously as she starts replacing her broken parts with that of the soldiers she fried last episode. Only, that’s not all. She also reactivates Father and confirms to him they have new children that have arrived from Heaven. This seems to be a very different Father to the one we remember. He doesn’t crack jokes and instead looks at her with contempt. As he quizzes her over what happened, Mother distorts the story and makes him believe he lost control. After an awkward few minutes, Father heads back inside and greets Campion. After some introductions, he confirms that Mother deactivated her. Only, Campion is obviously cautious given Mother has turned into a “necromancer”. Not long after, they sit together and Mother lays down the law – including no religion allowed. Once they’ve acclimatized she tells them they’ll move to tropical pastures to build an atheistic settlement.
Have Faith
While the kids work on the farm and get accustomed, Father and Campion appear to be working together. “Have faith”, Father says when Campion starts to grow impatient. Ordinarily this would be a simple throwaway line but here, in this constant war between religion and atheism, it’s actually a pretty significant bit of dialogue. The irony of an android telling Campion to have faith after Mother specifically forbids religion (which obviously is a form of faith) is just a tad bit ironic. Back inside, Campion gets taking to his fellow Earthlings. After some pleasantries, Hunter lays out the truth. Mother is a Necromancer and built for mass extermination. These androids do not feel feelings and if they did, they wouldn’t be useful. As they start praying, Campion keeps watch.
The Attack
Not long after, Mother encourages Campion to give the mouse back to Paul. In the morning, the androids put the kids to work. When Paul boasts about his intellect, it gets Father thinking. Given his comedic programming, Father calls him over and shows off his repertoire of jokes. Sadly they don’t go down too well. We’ve seen hints that this world is inhabited by dangerous creatures before but now we get our real taste of it. Snarling wails can be heard throughout and it turns out the necklaces have been keeping them all safe this time. Father eventually manages to find them but it’s not enough to stop the attack. After blasting these creatures into oblivion, the duo realize that they aren’t alone and don’t actually know that much about this region. With the threat thwarted for now, Marcus finds himself hanging on for dear life after being knocked down by the creatures. However, he’s saved by Knights who appear to have survived the Ark crash. Bundling him onto a stretcher, they take off.
The Episode Review
This episode really serves to flesh out the world and add more characterisation to our androids. On top of that, the bubbling tensions felt in Boston during the war work well to show the post apocalyptic state of the world. It also allows for more intriguing narrative work surrounding religion VS atheism to play out. The idea of faith is a strong one and it can be felt right the way through this episode. I’d imagine this is going to be a running theme throughout the series from the looks of things. So far so good though and Raised By Wolves continues to impress with episode 2.
