Raised by Wolves has blown past its season two midpoint today with its sixth episode and it might be the trippiest of the series yet. A power shift continues this week as Marcus (Travis Fimmel) is captured, Sue (Niamh Algar) has gone full-blown religious, and a new mother is soon to give birth. The show has been great at exploring what it means to be human, but in this latest episode, its focus is more about opening ancient secrets up by those who have no understanding of what they are. If you loved shows like Lost, you’re going to dig the mysteries presented here.
This episode opens with Sue following the voice in her head and snatching up a relic that was found by the colony. She prayed for her son Paul to be healed and the voice told her how to do so in the last episode so now she’s fully religious. It has some kind of importance, but when you’re hearing orders in your head you don’t stop to ask questions, I guess. Sue, Marcus, and Paul end up reuniting this week and it might be the most frustrating thing if, you’re like me, have grown to hate all three of them and their choices.
Raised by Wolves seems to be cool with Sue and Paul forgetting that Marcus has gotten people killed, been proven to make bad decisions, and is clearly a bit of a nut. He’s a loose cannon and by the end of this episode, we learn his decisions affect another innocent person and yet again he cares not for them. He’s on his own mission of selfish ego and superiority. His ability to eat whatever alien fruit pops up continues as well and the title of the episode is “The Tree” is incredibly apt. Here’s to hoping we find out what the tree really is at some point.
Other plots include Mother (Amanda Collin) pushing Campion (Winta McGrath) to grow into his role as leader, Tempest (Jordan Loughran) preparing to give birth, and new information coming to light about Father’s (Abubakar Salim) android experiment. Mother continues to be the more intriguing character as she tries, and fails, to keep the colony afloat. This episode also does a good job being economical when it comes to Campion coming to a revelation and new info surrounding Father’s android coming to light.
Photograph by Courtesy of HBO Max
If you enjoy hard sci-fi, you’re really going to love the scene involving Mother and Father analyzing the android. In a scene utilizing futuristic hologram-controlled computers, Father and Mother begin to understand this ancient android once served humans. Very little is detailed — best to keep it mysterious until a big reveal is in order — but the costuming and special effects continue to be excellent for all androids involved.
That said, this android, along with the other artifacts and their importance, seems to be tied deeply to each other. Once we do get the full explanation it’ll likely be quite satisfying since there are some major revelations to be had as far as the ancient human race and how all these artifact technologies work.
The artifacts unfortunately tend to reveal themselves at opportune times to serve the plot. There is a super convenient development surrounding the artifact Sue stole which is tied to a random act by her. Given the mysteriousness of the artifacts, Raised by Wolves can get away with it to a point, but for the artifact to open simply because Sue sings a lullaby seems a bit much. One could liken the key to open the artifact being a mother soothing her son, which ties into the motherly themes, but it’s never explained as such.
Then there is the Tempest plot, which is incredibly drawn out and frustrating to watch. She doesn’t want to have her baby, nor even see it, and at one point runs off seemingly to ditch the baby after giving birth. It’s unclear why she thought running off by herself is the right call when she didn’t want it at all. Maybe she wants to kill it? It’s never obvious.
This leads to an excruciatingly long sequence as she attempts to give birth by herself next to the sea of acid. Multiple close-up shots of Tempest gritting her teeth, drooling in agony and eventually pushing the baby out take place, but it continues on from there as she holds the baby as well. It’s unclear what they were going for with this sequence since it never seems to say much and instead repeats basic things like her pain and her fear. Loughran is certainly doing her best, but with no dialogue and a limited shot selection, it goes nowhere.
To wrap that entire sequence up, one of the most bizarre things happens in the show to date, as one of the acid-swimming alien mermaids shows up and takes the baby. Again, why did Tempest go to the edge of the acid sea when she knew these monsters were dragging people in?
There may be some connection to this beast and the android — we see a mermaid when Father is looking at data from it — but it’s conveyed more so that the baby’s screams drew it to the shore. Either way, the show gives viewers very little to understand what happened. To add insult to injury, Tempest is heartbroken by the kidnapping even though she was entirely against even looking at the baby earlier in the episode.
Raised by Wolves season two episode six offers intriguing sci-fi nuggets to draw your interest and discuss with your friend, but very few answers. That said, it still continues to titillate as it seems to be moving towards major answers. That’ll keep most of us going to get us through parts of the show that don’t quite work like the birthing sequence, but here’s to some major relationship about the planet’s history soon. In any case, Raised by Wolves continues to be one of the weirdest sci-fi shows ever made.
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