Raised by Wolves (2020)
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Raised by Wolves Review
Raised by Wolves is a science fiction television series that premiered on HBO Max in late 2020. The series isn’t all that great unfortunately.
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“Our creator was real. A human.
It doesn’t require any faith to believe in him“
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And it pains me to say that as this is Ridley Scott we’re talking about, but the show just isn’t particularly strong, though the first two episodes that he directed were clearly better than others. It follows two androids who are tasked with raising human children on Kepler-22b after the Earth was destroyed by a great war. As the burgeoning colony of humans threatens to be torn apart by religious differences, the androids learn that controlling the beliefs of humans is a treacherous and difficult task.
I liked the premise behind this project and it does explore some interesting themes, in particular those revolving around androids. Yes, both Mother and Father are terrific, very well realized and acted characters and their scenes were uniformly strong. But all the other characters simply were forgettable and there wasn’t a lot going in there to make me fully invested.
Yes, I was quite bored with Raised by Wolves. Some storylines were interesting, but for the most part the show was too repetitive and way too dark in its cinematography. I dislike this dark look to genre entertainment today and here it bothered me per usual, though I have to commend the VFX team for making some stupendous creatures here. Also, some of the imagery is quite memorable.
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The first and the last episode were clearly the best ones as they started and ended this story on a very intriguing, competent note. But everything that came in between unfortunately wasn’t great, but it was just passable. Again, the series did not have the most interesting action scenes and its tone was all over the place as it never quite settled on whether or not it is a cerebral SF series or a populist SF show for a wider audience.
Overall, I liked some episodes in Raised by Wolves and the central characters, but most of the show simply wasn’t particularly investing. It was actually a major disappointment for me as I’d expected much more from Scott and from this strong premise. The series is okay, but it lacked heart in its proceedings, thus making it difficult for audiences to care about it in a more personal manner.
Worst Episodes: Raised by Wolves and The Beginning.
Best Episodes: Faces and Mass.
