The Collective
Episode 1 of Raised by Wolves Season 2 begins with atheist soldiers finding Mother (Lamia) smothered under a thin layer of leaves. They contemplate what to do with her, eventually settling on moving her to their colony. Some time has passed since the first season, where the finale saw Mother wrestle with pregnancy and eventually give birth to a nightmarish flying eel. If you may also recall, this was hinted at being responsible for Mother’s programming and computer virus woes. Anyway, Mother isn’t the only one found, as Father too is brought to HQ. As the colonists begin to do an autopsy on Mother, they soon realize that the android isn’t a service model and are quickly dealt with. Mother’s objective here is to find her children. 3000 miles from the tropical zone we catch up with a freezing Marcus, who shivers by the rock outposts while snow swirls around him. After being attacked by a ship and thwarting the threat, Marcus hijacks the bomber and heads for the Mothership, which is no longer in flight. Despite crash-landing in the acidic water, Marcus manages to make it to safety and proceeds on foot. Marcus soon comes across a cave and proceeds in, dropping to his knees and clutching his necklace upon seeing the familiar sigil of the sun up on the wall. It’s a sign from sol, and interestingly, this spot is precisely where sunlight filters through a gap in the cave. Marcus ventures out and sets to work trying to convert atheists into believers of Sol. Strapped with explosive devices on their chests, Marcus manages to save both Decima and Vrille from a nasty fate. He encourages them both to follow him, leading the pair away from the blast site (given one of their trio meets a rather sticky end just prior to this, exploding in front of them.) Meanwhile, Mother and Father both join together, and rejoice that their mission isn’t a failure. They’re soon joined by Campion who greets them both. The rest of the kids are here too, although when they ask about number 7, Mother lies and claims it died. Father’s confused look is an interesting tidbit to note. Father is apparently no longer angry toward Mother, especially if their chat soon after is anything to go by, but there are definite hostilities between them still. However he decides not to “rock the boat”, with Mother promising to do her best to make it up to him. Alongside their children, Mother and Father soon get into the swing of things, embracing this new socialist community. Each day the colonists are given a new task, with Father and the kids given the same role – collecting food. For Mother however, she’s told to report to Tarantula and see Marcella. Her job is to teach the children of the community, going under her Lamia name. She shows up with a whole bunch of eggs, encouraging them all to paint. When one among them paints a snake, Mother interprets it as scary. Interestingly, she’s challenged on this idea, with the boy claiming that all living things are beautiful. Meanwhile, Father’s jovial mood is met with disdainful looks and nasty comments from some in the community. Father shrugs it off, given how bountiful this new world is (“We’ve been less than an hour and nearly filled out bags!”) but does find a cave opening that intrigues and unnerves him. There are scratch marks up the wall and fractured remnants of what appears to be the skeletal remains of an android. Elsewhere, Marcus is determined to start anew. He intends to use his new companions to start a new order and convert every member of the colony, one at a time if need be. As the episode closes out, a flaming sigil of Sol is left outside Mother’s house.
The Episode Review
The worldbuilding and atmosphere in Raised by Wolves has always been the stand-out component of this series and the opening episode to season 2 proves as much. There’s a beautifully eerie tone hanging over large swathes of this, along with some excellent visual cues too. There’s a really nice ebb and flow to this episode, swinging back and forth between Mother and the colony as well as Marcus and his new followers. Given how season 1 ended, season 2 does appear to be back on track again with a really strong chapter full of strong themes and thought provoking ideas. The changed setting, with lush greens and beautiful rivers, is a bit of a far cry from the dusty desert of the first season and it does help a lot to give this a new colour palette and identity. With another episode released today, this certainly looks like a promising sign of things to come.
