The Beginning
The season 1 finale of Raised By Wolves ambiguously answers a couple of big theories this year but predictably leaves a lot unanswered for season 2. Lying on the ground, the episode itself begins with Marcus praying to Sol. Just then, a lander flies overhead and he scrambles up and follows in hot pursuit. Mother is now very pregnant, with a bulging belly and needing somewhere to rest and deliver the baby. The place chosen happens to be the same one from Mother’s visions. Resting up in a cave, Sue starts to run tests on the baby and realizes that the cellular growth is off the charts. While she marvels in this, Hunter stands outside and tells the other children that Mother’s child is divine. Paul becomes distracted though and chases after his mouse. This leads him to a strange wall full of drawings that seem to depict the journey Mother and Father have taken thus far. It’s here he starts to hear the voice of Sol. Elsewhere, Mother speaks to Father and reveals the truth about what she’s been up to. She mentions the hibernation pod and how information from Campion was downloaded into her to allow the baby to be born. Unable to listen to this uncomfortable story, Father’s conundrum is made worse when Mother mentions the human children were just a “test” before her real pregnancy. While contemplating what to do, Campion catches up to Paul and takes the mouse back to camp. Paul follows and tells Sue that Sol has been talking to him. Sol wants them to stay on this side of the planet and not go near the tropical zone. That evening, Mother heads out to the pit to try and find some answers. Only, when she’s there a strange humanoid being appears and tries to kill her. Moher manages to stop him but Father is not so sure they should stay given what’s just happened. Believing they’re being ignorant to the planet’s history, Father buries the body. While he does, he reveals that Hunter is going to delete all his memories thanks to Mother causing a lot of anger for him. Back at camp, things go from bad to worse as Paul suddenly awakens and holds a gun up at Sue. Sol has revealed the truth about his parents and he calls her Mary. As she apologises, Paul shoots Mary in the stomach and watches as she falls to the ground. Mother meanwhile heads deep underground and finds remnants of the visions she’s been experiencing. A severed head seems to point toward this alien creature being real while Mother’s bulging belly suddenly disappears. Instead, a strange flying parasitic snake leaves her mouth. This seems to be her “child” but also raises an alarming question around whether she was actually attacked by a parasite while in the hibernation pod. As Mother tries to walk away, Father approaches and tells her he wants to help. Mother is going to sacrifice herself and kill this parasite. In order to do so, they fly deep into the heart of the planet and into the core. As the androids fly down, they kill themselves in order to destroy this creature. Only, that doesn’t happen and they instead fly straight through to the other side and back up into space. Wait… what? Back at a campsite, Marcus arrives and guns down a group of civilians. As he grabs the earpiece, he hears that another swarm of humans will be incoming shortly. Elsewhere, one of the hibernation pods bursts and breaks, unleashing a huge snake-like creature into the world.
The Episode Review
So it seems now that Mother didn’t just randomly become pregnant. It seems like the snake-creature managed to plant a child inside her to feed from the inside out. This is quite common in the insect world with spiders paralyzing their prey to allow their young to feast from the inside. Interestingly, this also explains away some of the maternal instincts against cutting this out of her. However, the episode doesn’t do a lot else other than raise more questions. How on earth did this lander survive a trip straight through the core of the planet? They’re completely unharmed and it seems like Mother has died but Father is still alive. Of course, there’s been a lot of hints and Easter eggs along the way that the snakes have been here all along (skeletons, the random holes everywhere etc.) but no explanation surrounding Sol. Marcus was also very absent in this episode too which is a bit of a shame. Hopefully season 2 can shed some light on this but in terms of disappointing sci-fi this year, Raised By Wolves is definitely up there. It had some promise but Mother’s pregnancy and a litany of plot contrivances hold this back from being a more concise sci-fi offering.
