'Raised by Wolves' Episode 6 Review: Mother's love proves to be her undoing during a Mithraic attack
Spoilers for 'Raised by Wolves' Season 1 Episode 6 - 'Lost Paradise'
Ever since Mother (Amanda Collin) crashed the Mithraic ark and stole her pick of its children, what's left of the Mithraic have been on a collision course with her and the settlement. It was always going to end in tragedy, but like every good tragedy, it's a story filled with just enough what-ifs for a happier outcome that make the actual result all the more tragic. The story is far from over, however, as the voice in Marcus' (Travis Fimmel) head keeps Mother alive for just a little longer. The status quo has been completely turned on its head, however, and the status quo of 'Raised by Wolves' will be a very different one going forward.
In this episode, as Mother dives deep into the simulation to indulge her loving and lustful feelings for her creator, Campion Sturges (Cosmo Jarvis), we see the strange suburban soap opera parallel continue to play out with Father (Abubakar Salim) and the children of the settlement. Mother is lying to her family, cheating on her "husband", and spending less and less time with her children -- all because, for the first time, she's found someone who treats her as more than just a machine for raising children, who sees her for who she truly is or at least, who she truly wants to be. It's a heartachingly beautiful story made tragic by the fact that none of it is real -- a fact emphasized by a hypnotically bizarre sex scene that mirrors the bloody hallucinations Marcus had the last episode. The whiteness of the androids' blood takes on a whole new meaning in this scene, though it's perhaps best not to dwell too much on that.
We start to see the darker side of child Campion (Winta McGrath) come to the fore, here, as his attempts to convert those around him to vegetarianism faces betrayal from Paul (Felix Jamieson), someone Campion feels extra angry towards after Paul effortlessly proves he's smarter than Campion. Campion is quickly developing into a real Prophet for the ages, as his spirituality grows alongside his belief that everyone should follow his way of thinking, and that his beliefs make him superior to all those around him. Campion has gone from the protagonist to root for the child to watch out for and his home life has just lost any stability it ever had.
It's hard to know who to root for in the conflict between the Mithraic and the androids' settlement. On the one hand, Mother is definitely off the deep end, a dangerous threat to all of human existence who kidnapped children after slaying their people and the surviving Mithraic have every right to want to take their children back. On the other hand, Father is such a sympathetic character, doing his best by his children despite being way in over his head. He is exactly the kind of character that decades of film and television have taught us to root for -- the underdog with a heart of gold.
If you're looking for someone to hate in all of this, the show is more than happy to provide, as Hunter (Ethan Hazzard) has proven time and time again to be one of the pettiest, cruelest, and most devious characters on the show, and it's him who is responsible for Father's death. Yes, Father was always going to die in this scenario, as Marcus' strange voice seems to see no need in preventing his death, but Hunter goes out of his way to make sure that the only being that had shown him kindness was taken out. Logically, Hunter's decision makes sense, given his position, but it's played off as a cowardly, traitorous act. As far as the settlement's children are concerned, Father's death is Hunter's fault, and they're going to hold that against him as the story moves forward.
The show could easily have ended here. Ignoring the mysteries of Tally's (Grace Li) ghost, the stranger who stole the tracking devices, and the prophecy, this could have been a simple story about androids trying to raise an atheist family in the looming shadow of sympathetic Mithraic action heroes -- a straightforward but compelling tragedy. Thematically, it brings Mother and Father's story to a close as they're both brought low by love. Father, by defending his children, and Mother by her distractions from Campion and her trust in her children losing her eyes. However, a last-minute call for mercy from the voice in Marcus' head shows that 'Raised by Wolves' is far from over, and that there's a lot more going on to the story than the raising of anti-religious children in a post-apocalyptic world. Where the story goes from here is anyone's guess and the next episode of 'Raised by Wolves' can't get here fast enough.
'Raised by Wolves' will return on September 24 on HBO Max.
