Raised by Wolves - 01: 02 - Pentagram

[ctg]

Spoiler: S01E02 - Pentagram

I loved that we got a really long section of last day events in the beginning of the episode. Seeing Mother soaring over a mega-city in the last one was just a hint of what was to come and honestly, we deserved finding out of how bad things had gotten in the cradle of the humanity.

To my mind, by the time Sol worshippers left Terra there was still a lot of things that could have helped humans to survive the end of days. I cannot think a single thing that says otherwise, and even if there were fleets of terrifying Necromancers making life difficult, the war was still going - with no clear winner in the sight - when they left Earth.

And from seeing medical androids still functioning and being on the side of real living humans, just strengthens the idea that humanity survived. We are difficult to destroy as Father said. But if the Ark mission was a glorious Hail Mary plan of the last of humanity, it failed.

The Ark and androids scout vessel were both destroyed, making Kebler 22b a new home for a splinter group of religious fanatics and androids that claim to be atheist. Thing is, both Father and Mother as asking a lot of faith from both Campion and other kids. The Mother feels that she needs to protect the kids from the old humanity. From the corruption of old ideas and the package of history that comes with it.

It's just we all have same DNA, a code that makes us humans, and in it is things that we cannot get rid of like for example the nature of violence. It is part of us. We are not Zen without being able to defend us from whatever Mother Nature throws at us. Being it natural events, or hostile species.

I feel this is the point where Father turned against Mother. It's clear that he understands the nature better than her. But frankly I don't get why they didn't figure out that the planet is alive and it has original species living in it?

Just look at those dragon bones. They are not fossilised. They are not part of stone. Instead, they look pretty fresh, just flesh stripped off their bones. What is interesting is that there are no mummies. No strips of flesh or skin hanging from anywhere. It is as if something had cleaned their bare, before they were laid to rest.

But the thing is, when the creatures attacked later on, Father said he wanted to study them if Mother had left any. He should have drawn more conclusions with his android brain. He should have understood that if there is one, there is another one.

 

[Dave]

Yes, this made explicit some of the more implicit nods and winks from the first episode. We now know that Mother is a a Necromancer, one of the androids used to fight the war, while Father is only a service android. It appears that the war was largely fought by androids. It makes it even more surprising that the Sol worshippers who visited them last episode never recognised her for what she was.

Maybe Earth is not completely trashed. Rats and dogs are surviving. It is clear in the opening title sequence that nuclear weapons are used. A suspension bridge collapses while a city burns. One particular shot appears to show a planetary or stellar explosion. Is it the destruction of Earth?

Someone mentioned in another thread that Campion is annoying. He is, but he is exactly how a 12-year-old child raised like that would be. He thinks he is special - he was the only child left alive - and he thinks he knows everything about the planet, since he is the only one who has been living there. He actually knows almost nothing. Everything he knows was taught to him by the androids. He has no idea about human nature. That is what the title of the series is about. By contrast, the new children have learnt much in their short lives; much that children shouldn't need to learn. It will be interesting to see this dynamic played out more.

I'm certain that the impostor Sol worshipper is going to become important, especially as his "son" is one of the children.

I agree with @ctg regarding the native wildlife. They didn't explain why it has suddenly started to visit them, but the fact that they never considered this would happen, and built protective fencing or weapons (rock throwers) seems odd. It doesn't seem that they relied upon Mother either, as that looks like the first time she has had to act. I think the attacks could be because the climate is changing; possibly there is a climatic cycle that is longer than 12 years. Alternatively, the animals could have been disturbed by the crash of the Heaven ship.

This is very carefully plotted and everything has a meaning. I rate it very highly.

 

[ctg]

One particular shot appears to show a planetary or stellar explosion. Is it the destruction of Earth?

I have not noticed that, but the thing is, it takes a lot to explode a planet. Nukes wouldn't do it. It would cause the apocalypse, but not the destruction. And even though they have energy based weapons, it would need huge amounts of energy to do it. So, I guess it's a story element that we have to take for a face value and assume it happened.

He actually knows almost nothing. Everything he knows was taught to him by the androids. He has no idea about human nature.

Exactly. I could not have said it better, but in other words, someone should slap some sense into him, because what he is doing is rebellious. Mother and Father has always been his parents. He knows that they are androids, but so what, are the humans really that much better?

I agree with @ctg regarding the native wildlife. They didn't explain why it has suddenly started to visit them, but the fact that they never considered this would happen, and built protective fencing or weapons (rock throwers) seems odd. It doesn't seem that they relied upon Mother either, as that looks like the first time she has had to act. I think the attacks could be because the climate is changing; possibly there is a climatic cycle that is longer than 12 years. Alternatively, the animals could have been disturbed by the crash of the Heaven ship.

I think the crash is the cause. It makes logically sense that they would have been driven out from their holes to find out what crashed on their planet. But it would also mean that they are intelligent.

 

[REBerg]

I'm being picky, but enough with the Banshee act, already.
It seemed like an impressive hyper-sonic weapon when Mother was under fire from multiple enemies, but why use it while just flying through the skies? If these seemingly targetless screams are meant to intimidate, they also serve as a warning to seek cover.
Beyond that, they tend to make Mother look like an out-of-control nut job. Good thing she stows her eyes when off-duty to avoid friendly fire casualties.
That said, Mother was wise to keep her original eyeballs available. Apparently, she can control the focus of her weapon well enough to vaporize an alien critter piggybacking on a child without leaving a mark on the kid. Nice, ah, shooting?
New theory on Marcus' survival: Mother sensed that he was not one of the faithful and thus, not an enemy. More likely explanation, Travis Fimmel is a known name playing a lead character and unlikely to be sent to Valhalla early in the series.
I liked the fact that they resurrected Father. Someone needs to keep an eye on Mother. Maybe he'll be less likely to pick a fight with her.
I see more plot and conflict options, now that that they've revealed other human survivors on the planet.

 

[ctg]

It seemed like an impressive hyper-sonic weapon when Mother was under fire from multiple enemies, but why use it while just flying through the skies? If these seemingly targetless screams are meant to intimidate, they also serve as a warning to seek cover.

I think those screams are part of the programming, and if she did them intentionally, it was to scare the survivors to never come close them again. The humans logically assumed the worse.

That said, Mother was wise to keep her original eyeballs available. Apparently, she can control the focus of her weapon well enough to vaporize an alien critter piggybacking on a child without leaving a mark on the kid. Nice, ah, shooting?

Yeah, about that, the sound weapons are not really that accurate. So I left that veil under the artistic license. Thing is, I have tried, but I cannot understand how eyes can disable a sonic weapon?

 

[REBerg]

I cannot understand how eyes can disable a sonic weapon?

Safety interlock? No see, no shoot? Rendered faulty by emotional developments unforeseen in her programming?

 

[ctg]

Safety interlock?

I guess it's some sort of safety measure. The actual weapon would still be in her, plus her ability to turn to that bronzed creature would be still function.

 

[REBerg]

I guess it's some sort of safety measure. The actual weapon would still be in her, plus her ability to turn to that bronzed creature would be still function.

The bronzing thing is seems to be self-repairing armor. The ability to fly also comes in handy.
I haven't noticed if she has any of her superpowers without her OEM eyes.

 

[ctg]

I haven't noticed if she has any of her superpowers without her OEM eyes.

She's much faster and stronger than average humans.

 

[Dave]

It is clear in the opening title sequence that nuclear weapons are used. A suspension bridge collapses while a city burns. One particular shot appears to show a planetary or stellar explosion. Is it the destruction of Earth?

I have not noticed that, but the thing is, it takes a lot to explode a planet. Nukes wouldn't do it. It would cause the apocalypse, but not the destruction. And even though they have energy based weapons, it would need huge amounts of energy to do it. So, I guess it's a story element that we have to take for a face value and assume it happened.

I agree with you, and also your other post that I cannot now find that it looks more like an air-burst which would not destroy the planet. However I have now read the October 2020 edition of SFX Magazine, and in the article within that, the show runner and, creator, Adam Guzikowski says that that is exactly what it is meant to be showing.

I guess this isn't a big spoiler if you have seen episodes 1 and 2 already, and so okay to place here, but look away now if you don't want to read minor spoilers on his ideas for the background to the show published in that magazine. Some parts about technology may be spoilers though, so I will cover those over:
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Basically the idea is that this religion, Mithralism, becomes very influential about 100 years from now. It is actually a real religion. It was competing with Christianity for a while back in Roman times. The idea is that it has a resurgence and discovered within these scriptures are these kind of encrypted schematics for certain technologies....

So, they start to build these amazing pieces of technology, among them is this type of android called the Necromancer. A Holy War breaks out and the opposition to the Necromancers is nuclear... ...and basically the Earth is destroyed.

The Mithralists build a ship called the Ark of Heaven, that can take them off world to the one place where they can start again, Kepler-22b. Unbeknown to them, an atheist manages to reprogram one of the Necromancers and a service android to be caregivers and send them with frozen embryos to the planet. Because they're in a tiny craft with no life support, they get there much quicker than humans.

Having arrived on the planet, the droids, Mother and Father - defrost their cargo and start to raise their family.....

He then goes on into more detail about the plot of the pilot episode, but I think you will agree that much of that still isn't completely clear, even after the first 5 episodes.

 

[ctg]

I agree with you, and also your other post that I cannot now find that it looks more like an air-burst which would not destroy the planet.

Maybe the trailer artist got the brief wrongly or maybe he even refused the alter the sequence, claiming that it would look like it. It's just from what we've seen, nothing suggests that it happened so. Honestly, there is a tale from earlier cosmic history, where Earth is depicted to get smashed with planetoids and yet, it's still here. A moon smashing now to planet, would be the end for the civilisation and it would be a bigger energy release than a thousand atom bombs.

Frankly, look at the surface of our companion, and count the numbers of the craters. There's so many of them that it's honestly easier to skip then count and some of them are humongous. You have to wonder what caused them? Thing is, we have detected lava tubes and the treasures (water) they contain. Yet, the Moon itself is a dead. Nothing but aliens live there in their bases.

So, I guess, - we the audience - are in disagreement with the creators from what we've seen and if they want to make it different then they need to provide some proof.

 

[ctg]

 

[svalbard]

I agree with you, and also your other post that I cannot now find that it looks more like an air-burst which would not destroy the planet. However I have now read the October 2020 edition of SFX Magazine, and in the article within that, the show runner and, creator, Adam Guzikowski says that that is exactly what it is meant to be showing.

I guess this isn't a big spoiler if you have seen episodes 1 and 2 already, and so okay to place here, but look away now if you don't want to read minor spoilers on his ideas for the background to the show published in that magazine. Some parts about technology may be spoilers though, so I will cover those over:
.
.
.
.
.
.



He then goes on into more detail about the plot of the pilot episode, but I think you will agree that much of that still isn't completely clear, even after the first 5 episodes.

Thanks for that post Dave. I was wondering about Mithras and Sol and how it survived. I was aware of it as cult back in Roman times and one that was worshipped by military of that time. It is a nice and original plot point.

On the children. They have being in stasis for 13 years so they are much older than Campion. In a certain way they are similar in that both have being isolated. Campion on the Keplar and the children on the Ark. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

 

[Dave]

I'm glad you are liking this series, but you will find out, as we did, that it doesn't live up to the great promise of these first two episodes. Some of this mythology and world-building is simply never ever properly explained (and I hate it that you need to read something elsewhere to understand a TV programme or film). There were inconsistencies in the plot, but most of all, this wonderful 'hard science' beginning was thrown away, and it just became a fantasy by the end. I still find it a great shame.

On the children, the differences between them were not as stark as I had expected them to be, largely because of the point you make, so that, at least was covered.