The Mother
Episode 4 of The Baby starts with Bobbi leaving with the baby, stopping at a coffee shop before continuing on to her mother’s place. Mrs Eaves and Tasha race after her, eventually catching up under a tree outside, where they’re snapping pics and eating food. Bobbi starts choking on some food, but thankfully she survives, courtesy of Tasha arriving and breaking this up. Bobbi eventually leaves, deciding to see their mother after calling Tasha cruel. When their car inexplicably breaks down soon after, Mrs Eaves realizes that the baby is trying to keep them there. So regrettably they head in to Jupiter House, which is the cult-like children’s home that Tasha’s mother is in charge of. There are clear tensions between Bobbi and Tasha though, although the latter does stand up for her sister when the kids put her on the spot. When Bobbi is quizzed over the subject of having kids, Tasha changes the subject. While this is going on, Tasha is shown into Barbara’s workshop and has a look around. However, her mother, Barbara, appears and questions just why she’s arrived. Tasha doesn’t really answer, but their vague dialogue does go some way to help frame how estranged their relationship is. When Tasha heads off into her room, all that stress and tension echoes across to the baby, as he begins crying. “What do you want?” Tasha says, exasperated. Eventually we do find out, in a round-about way, when Mrs Eaves serves as a vessel between Tasha and the baby that night. Under the flickering flames of the bonfire, Mrs Eaves holds out the baby and claims that he wants to show Tasha the truth. After this, we witness a montage through time as all those grisly deaths for mothers’ past sets the bloody trail for this current moment. And during all that time, Mrs Eaves has been there on the periphery, watching all of this transpire.
The Episode Review
The Baby returns with a slower chapter this time, refocusing the show’s attention to the idea of motherhood and, in particular, estranged relationships between mother and child. This much is especially evident here, as The Baby manages to depict deeply woven issues between Tasha and her mum. There’s also the subject of Bobbi too and, in particular, her relationship with Tasha. The whole story is set up nicely to take advantage of Tasha’s desperation and seeing Jupiter house and how Barbara is raising those children works well in the context of the show’s main themes. We’re also not told outright why Tasha and her mum don’t get on, which is nice given we don’t have a big exposition dump to contend with. It’s fair to say though that everything here is left on a tantalizing cliffhanger ready for next week’s follow-up.
