Raised By Wolves Episode 5 Infected Memory-Review And Recap- Theories Leading To The Back Half Of The Season

Things just keep getting weirder on raised By Wolves Episode 5, and we love every trippy moment of the gorgeous mindbender.

HBO Max’s Raised By Wolves has succeeded where other ambitious sci-fi stories have failed because it focuses squarely on the emotions and story leaving mysteries to unfold. All the best movies and series do this. The secrets are there to enhance not replace the unfolding story. Worldbuilding and character development are more important than gotchas and slick effects. That being said there is plenty of very cool imagery and big-budget effects. Raised By Wolves Episode 5 took a deep dive down one of the biggest rabbit holes we have ever seen and we happily don’t see the bottom coming any time soon. Here are all the most exciting theories to prepare you for the rest of the season.

Now That Marcus/Caleb is In Charge What Will That Mean?

Marcus/Caleb is an Atheist. Something is altering him fundamentally, though. He is hearing voices and having visions. He jokes with Sue that he doesn’t remember being Caleb. He’s teasing her, but with what we know he is experiencing, it easily could foreshadow what is to come. A bloody hallucination uncomfortably coinciding with sex with Sue leads me to believe whatever is communicating with everyone on the planet is manipulating people. Marcus holds the scalpel Mother made in Episode 4 even though he has never seen it. It’s not a coincidence. Now that he is in charge, his mental status will become a major problem. Let’s hope whatever/whoever is talking to him realizes he is a good guy. If the lifeform is alien or AI, no human would be a ‘good guy”.

Who Is The Rapist?

In the wreckage of the Ark Marcus and the others find a survivor. It is a man who was convicted of raping women in cryosleep during transport. Marcus lobbies to keep the man alive and use him as a shield moving forward. He also has an unhealthy interest in his nightly prayers. The prisoner is covered in an unremovable metal helmet that hides his identity.

I understand the technology behind the mobile prison system, but it seems very convenient that we can’t see his face. He will be someone important. How he survived when no one else did is a big question. He may be the one who raped Tempest which will further complicate things. There appears to be no limit to the kind of behavior tinkering possible in this future so what if it is Campion Sturgis who has been hypnotized into Mithraism and this violent streak is the result? Something is going to great lengths to help Mother remember what happened and how she felt about her creator. What if it’s all tied together. If Campion Sturgis is inside that mask Mother will have a crisis of scientific faith on her hands.

Who Is Campion Sturgis?

Campion is the leader of the rebellion and a brilliant scientist. In a flashback from Raised By Wolves Episode 5, Mother’s origin story from killer to protector is revealed. Campion disabled and reprogrammed Mother to be the protector of the last of humanity. He grew fond of Mother and she of him. Cosmos Jarvis(Campion Sturgis) is a fantastic actor you have seen in Peaky Blinders and Hunter Killer. There is a level of depth to his portrayal that speaks to more than just survival but also compassion. Assuming we can trust the memory shown Mother, he is both her friend and her de facto father. The memories could be warped, however, either by a malignant being or corruption.

Who Took The Transponders?

Whoever took the transponders is only seen shrouded in clothing. They appear to be the same size and shape as a small adult human or adolescent child. They are clever and resourceful enough to set traps and find shelter from the elements. The move roughly like humans, only faster and with more extraordinary jumping ability. Its enhanced dexterity could mean it is from a previous race native to the planet. It could also be an alien race that landed there first. One final possibility is humans from Earth somehow landed there sometime in the past and have adapted to their environment. Some could have evolved into the humanoid we saw in the skeletal home and others into the bony creatures like Tempest killed.

Whoever they are, they carry cards with them that look like a child’s flashcards or playing cards. They have different symbols on them, but we don’t know what they mean yet, only that they are important enough for the person to grab them from Marcus before escaping from their home. The person who took the transponders and lives in the skeleton is intelligent and watching Campion’s settlement.

Who Or What Is Tally?

Tally has shown herself multiple times to multiple people. She does exist but maybe not in the form we have seen. Tally could be a projection of a sentient being on the planet guiding and influencing the survivors. She could be the agile humanoid we saw in the skeletal structure. The child is able to look directly at Mother when weaponized so she can’t be alive. Tally could not be the same age as several years have passed. If she somehow survived all these years she would be bigger, stronger, and possibly scarred. That might be the reason for the face covering. Tally comes to Mother and Father when they need to take action or find something. In effect she is the informational villager in any RPG.

Mother needed to be jacked into the holopod again to remember where she came from. Either Mother is being reprogrammed back into her Necromancer state or she is being encouraged to deepen her faith in science and reject Mithra. Either is possible. There might be a sentient lifeform on Kepler 22-b that can control minds. It is the voice Marcus heard and the manifestation of Tally.

Another possibility is a ghost in the machine type entity that infected the Ark and is now affecting Mother. It lives in the simpod and influences those plugged in. It explains what the rapist heard. If he isn’t mentally ill and actually heard something telling him to rape the women it would explain how that’s possible. Something is aware of the past, present, and can see what is happening in real-time no matter how far away. Omniscient through Godlike powers or surveillance we don’t know yet? We do know whatever it is, they are concerned for Mother, Father, and the children. I am inclined to believe Campion Sturgis managed to insert a virus personality into the Ark.

Who Will The Prophet Be?

Campion and Paul are obviously being set up as Romulus and Remus in this new world. They are both orphans, and both seem mature and kind beyond their years. They both are strong contenders, but Marcus is also an orphan and is undoubtedly becoming more spiritual. The person that lives in the skeleton is also a possibility as no parent appeared to love with them, and a final option would be Tempest’s unborn child. This is a dangerous world, so Tempest and her rapist could die pretty easily in the weeks to come. We know Tempest is pregnant, what if she is pregnant with twins?

Is Lamia A Mother Or A Monster?

The Greek legend of Lamia tells of a beautiful woman who was loved by Zeus. All of Lamia’s children were killed by Zeus’s wife Hera in a jealous rage. That caused her to become a terrifying child hunter and eater. Curiously Zeus gave her the ability to remove her eyes as a way to get relief when Hera took her ability to sleep and escape her grief. As Mother remembers more and more of her past, she may have to confront a great deal of personal killing. She wasn’t above killing children before.

A more historical accounting of this story details a Libyan Queen from the first century BC who ordered the slaughter of her enemy’s children. Her horrific behavior made her once beautiful face look as ugly on the outside as she was on the inside. We all saw what she did to the robot baby during her reprogramming. If she ever changed her mind about which side she served, Sol help us all. She is continuing to change emotionally as years pass and as she jacks into the simpod. She isn’t a believer of Sol but as Father points out she sure acts like she has found religion. Religion plays an important role in Raised By Wolves Episode 5. Whether it is another Garden of Eden or Paradise Lost remains to be seen.

I final possibility and for the love of all that’s holy, I hope it’s wrong, what if this entire thing is a simulation? If Mother’s final test was not getting her eyes back as she remembers, but an ongoing simulation meant to determine if survival was possible. It would certainly explain why only twelve embryos were sent when that isn’t even close to a via gene pool. Ambrose, Marcus, all of them are projections of larger program wargaming itself to conclusions. We will have to wait until next week. Catch up on all our raised By Wolves Coverage here.