Raised by Wolves: “King” Recap

One thing to note about this show is that one moment it can come together in a manner that makes sense and irons out everything in a way that people can follow, and in the next, it becomes a mess of storylines once again that tangle and twist together as things go horribly awry. It’s already been established that Mother had little to no faith in the Trust, especially after what happened to Paul, but thanks to Sue’s horrifying vision of Paul being covered by strange, fat slugs, she ventures to the shore with Campion to harvest a few of the creatures from one of the animals that comes from the acidic sea. Oddly enough, the slugs work as Paul is returned to health, during which Sue goes through a serious conversion from being an atheist to a religious-minded individual as she prays to Sol to heal her ‘son’. One can see that Sue has been undergoing a great deal of stress, both mental and emotional, throughout the show, but it would appear that her faith is now growing stronger as she embraces the idea of a higher power. 

In the meantime, Father’s tinkering was already seen to bring the ancient android back to life, but not much has come of it yet, except what was seen in the past episode, when the android was out and about. As of now, nothing is happening with the character, though it does appear to be more advanced than either Father or Mother as Tempest noted the android’s ability to detect the child growing in her womb. For Father, this new android proves to be a bit of a distraction, but whether it’s seen as positive or negative is unclear as of yet. What is becoming clearer throughout each episode is that Mother and Father aren’t exactly vibing as they used to, and it’s kind of clear that the gap between them is only going to grow unless they’re able to find common ground. 

Mother is still going about her way, trying her best to figure out her current situation, and yet still relying heavily on her own experiences and tactics, which are not even close to being sound, even if she does manage to get results now and then. The serpent she gave birth to in the first season has passed out of mind at this time it would appear, but everything else appears to be moving forward at this time, as Marcus and his people have their own concerns as they find the same type of structure that was found in the desert, a structure they attribute to the Mithraic faith. Unfortunately, when Marcus descends in an ancient device attached to a crank, he finds a desiccated creature that responds to the Romulus tooth that he took from one of his followers, forcing Marcus to fight and kill it. Unfortunately, that’s not where the threat ends since Vrill, who was thought to be dead, suddenly returns, killing nearly everyone that follows Marcus before confronting Decima, who took her face off in chunks. Vrill returns the favor before hanging her above the device that Marcus was lowered in, leaving her as a type of sign, or warning. 

Much has happened in the time since the first season rolled out, and it still feels as though there’s much yet to come, as the fate of those that are now without the Trust to take care of them are up in the air, while those that are vital to the story are still discovering the world around them. What they’re finding is that the world they’ve come to see as both deadly and difficult, if somewhat beautiful at times, is that they know very little, but there is a great deal that’s happened that is slowly but surely being revealed. Whatever dangers still lurk in the world that’s been discovered are slow to reveal themselves, but between the main characters, there have been quite a few discoveries that have ranged from positive to absolutely horrible. In the process there hasn’t been a great deal of positive change, nor has there been anything that’s clear and concise, unless one can call the scattered plot points concise. 

There have been moments in which the story has come to a head and has managed to push forward the narrative that continues to keep everything together. But for one reason or another, this show is still mired in its own strange web of intrigue, and while it’s not too hard to sort it all out, it’s the fact that one part of the story doesn’t appear to mesh with another, but when it’s all unraveled it reads like a brainstorming map that is far-reaching but requires too broad of a stroke at this time to gain the grasp of what the endgame might be. It’s tough to say, but it bears noting that season 2 is going to need a seriously impressive finale to pull everything together once again.