Seven
Episode 2 of Raised by Wolves Season 2 starts with Mother’s children debating over who left the sigil on the ground. Mother refuses to use violence though, shrugging off the suggestion of using guns and reinforcing that she’s a peaceful android now. Mother’s dedication to this cause is soon challenged by the colony. She’s given a new task away from teaching the kids. Instead, she’s granted the role of “Punisher”, complete with a menacing mask and metal suit to boot. She’s given the unenviable task of hurting Tamerlane, who happens to be the culprit for leaving the Sol symbol outside her house. It’s something Mother’s not particularly happy about, but does so with minimum fuss. Back home, Mother finds Father and admits to what she’s done. However, Father is preoccupied himself, having found more pieces from the cave. As suspected, these happen to be fragments of an android and according to Father, are also radioactive. Anyway, Mother decides to keep what she’s done a secret from the kids, especially Campion whom she’s hoping will become a leader there in the future. A battered and bruised Tamerlane soon shows up at Mother’s house that night, expressing an apology on behalf of the Trust. While Father is all smiles, claiming there’s justice in the colony, Campion and the other kids exchange worried glances. Tamerlane’s beating causes him to grow disillusioned with the colony and following his beating, decides to join Marcus instead. A cheeky “come with us, if you want to live” line is thrown in for good measure here! Seeing the swift justice brought against Tamerlane scares Campion so much he shows Mother the artifact Paul found out in the wilderness. He also shows an egg he found, but Mother encourages him to take it back to its mother. When Campion heads back to the tree, he’s stalked by that strange eel Mother gave birth to. It’s monstrously big, much larger than when we left it and the two exchange a prolonged, uncomfortable look. Mother does eventually show up, with her forcing the eel to leave. Mother’s stomach begins to leak white liquid, the same place where the eel suckled on her originally. As the eel flies into the colony, it dives into the acidic ocean and with it, latches onto a military station and drags it into the water. With 9 casualties (one of which a child) and a very worried colony, the Trust brief everyone the following day. They’ve decided to launch a mass-hunting trip to find the monster and kill it. But will Mother be able to do that? Given the creature is technically her own child? We shall see! For now, she tasks Sue with sealing up her wounds and decides to go after the creature and kill it herself, armed with a monstrously large gun for company. Given her history, Mother deduces that she can do far more damage on her own away from the colony. Father however, decides to use the Mithraic captives as bait in his own campaign. While this is going on, Marcus decides to sabotage the colony. Tamerlane offers himself up to disrupt the tank heading out, while Marcus joins him as they kill the soldiers inside. All except a guy called Santos, who Marcus tries to talk around. Unfortunately he tries to shoot Marcus, leading him to think quickly and shoot first. Marcus isn’t happy, wanting to convert not kill these souls, but takes the time to praise Santos for Sol as the soldier passes away. When Decima catches wind of what the soldiers were hunting (the monstrous Biotech eel) she sees it as a sign, and believes she needs to hunt this herself. Vrille meanwhile, is injured in the ensuing skirmish and runs into Campion who agrees to take her home. As the episode closes out, Mother stumbles upon the shed skin of the eel and makes up her mind. This monstrous eel is a killer of children and as such, deserves death. She burns the skin and continues on.
The Episode Review
The second episode of Raised by Wolves starts to tighten the screw a little on the developing themes, with that distinct faith VS science discourse returning here. It’s nicely sprinkled throughout the episode too, with the show doing well to show the faith of Mother and Father tested while Marcus continues his crusade of recruiting followers of Sol. This sets up a nice dynamic for the episodes ahead, with the threat of the flying eel adding an extra dimension of threat and an extra layer of depth in the form of motherhood. This links back to the first episode’s question about how all living things deserve love – so why should this eel be any different? It’s certainly an intriguing idea and one I’m sure this show will explore more in the episodes to come. At the end of the episode it appears that Mother has made her choice and decided to do what’s right by the colony but is that really what she believes? Quite how this will play out in the grand scheme of things however, remains to be seen. The ending to the episode sets things up nicely for next week’s follow-up, which is scheduled to drop with one episode at a time rather than last season’s continuous double-bill.
