Raised By Wolves Season 2 Episode 1 and 2 Review- The Serpent And The Garden Of Eden

The religious mysteries continue when Raised By Wolves Episodes 1 and 2 expand our horizons on Kepler 22b and new faces join the cast.

Science fiction and religion are entwined in some of the best works. Something about the spiritual intimacy of faith dovetails neatly with the expansive wonder of future telling. That is very true in HBO Max’s ambitious Raised By Wolves which aired the first two episodes of Season 2 today. The trippy dystopian world created by Aaron Guzikowski is rich in both elements. Visually stunning and brimming with mysticism, it is the kind of series that can be dissected and talked about endlessly. Fans have been waiting two long years for the second season. The wait was worth it.

After the cataclysmic events of Raised By Wolves Season 1, Lamia, previously known as Mother and Father, along with Sue and their six children, had been separated. Marcus’s entire Mithraic faction is gone, and he is vulnerable, but his faith remains strong.

In short order, Lamia and Father are found in the tropical zone by the atheist group and reunited with Sue and their children. In the process of restoring them, however, Lamia killed and injured several technicians before the massive biomechanical super computer calmed her. The creative creature is far creepier than any traditional AI. Lamia’s conversation with the computer was also heavily nuanced, with each AI speaking about emotion and logic equally. What this AI intends to do with Lamia and her family we don’t know yet, but there is dissension among some of the Atheists that spells trouble.

Meanwhile, Marcus has flown a damaged ship to the tropical zone and fully intends on flying it into the colony. He has become so entrenched in his belief in Sol he thinks he is almost immortal. Sol will protect him, and many of the events of Raised By Wolves Season 1 and 2 bolster that belief. He has survived things no one should have and continues to get “lucky” finding artifacts and shrines without looking.

Some of Travis Fimmel’s (Marcus) best work on Vikings was in the later episodes when he had visions and suffered from delusions. That same sense of mania is used well in Marcus. He is a devoted worshipper who is just this side of deranged. However, he also is charismatic and mesmerizing to those looking for an option away from the Collective. Marcus offers the heat of fevered hope in place of the clinical logic of the Collective’s ruling body, the Trust. When Collective prisoners Decima(Kim Engelbrecht) and her android Vrille(Morgan Santo) modeled after her daughter stumble into his path, Marcus finds disciples, and they find a second chance. It also sets up a thrilling Raised By Wolves Season 2 Episode 2 wrinkle that will change everything.

Life for Lamia, Father, Sue, and the children is easier than their desolate part of the planet but comes with a looming risk. The Trust has given them shelter and food and told everyone to leave them alone, but there is a looming threat here. Sue and Paul continue to be at odds, and Mother has taken all her maternal expectations and placed them on Campion. But, like most parents, she wants her child to be more than her. Lamia and Father eventually argue about pushing Campion too hard to be the future leader of the Trust if he doesn’t want it.

It’s a typical concern most parents feel. When to push. When to comfort, and how to temper our pride and expectations with their own dreams. The feeling something isn’t right in the tropical zone permeates every scene. Partly this is due to Lamia’s snake baby who isn’t dead and the rigid social structure of the colony. Although violence is not tolerated, there is plenty of open hostility that leads to an act of terrorism. Lamia, who had been tasked with teaching the children of the Collective, gets reassigned to punish the man who vandalized their home.

For a group that doesn’t believe in violence, their form of justice is barbaric. The lack of concern for human life is troubling. As Sue points out, the kind of people who survive the end of the world aren’t going to be the best. She really means that they aren’t going to be the most peaceful or selfless. That proves to be true when Lamia’s baby flies by the colony, and they send Father and the rest of the prisoners off to be human bombs. It’s an alarming turn that proves Sue and Mother are right to be worried.

After Campion tries to return the egg he stole earlier, he comes face to face with Seven. By the time Campion is found, he is unconscious but unharmed, and members of the colony who had shut out Father and his children were pulled into the acid ocean and killed. The Collective is now searching for the snake along with Mother, who thinks it is her responsibility. Although the massive snake killed Aethists, including a child, it is curious that it didn’t kill Father or the other children. It also looked at Campion with interest. Does Seven feel as if these are members of his family as well? It is also worth noting that Marcus thinks the snake could be the sword Sol wants him to master. Perhaps Marcus is overestimating his power and underestimating the bond Seven has with Campion and Lamia.

What are the toys and artifacts found everywhere?

Father found several toys, android parts, and ancient writing while foraging for food. Paul found an octagonal item covered in symbols that he believes relate to the Tree of Life. Additionally, on the outskirts of the Collective, Marcus found a shrine to Sol and more data cards. These things indicate something was in these spaces before the events of Raised By Wolves Season 1. Was this religious conflict reenacted there years before the war on Earth?

The cards Marcus has found are thought to be data cards that could be read if they have a key and a way to unlock them. They also need to find an undamaged card. What information they hold we don’t know, but Marcus is close to having what he needs to read them.

Marcus has changed since we last saw him. He is still a zealot, but that is tempered now by a desire to convert rather than kill. Next to the Collective, he now looks more reasonable, which makes him dangerous. What he offers to the disenfranchised are freedom and hope. It’s a potent cocktail that speaks of the truth about war. It is violent, bloody, and unfair. But, unfortunately, it also takes decisions away from people. When children are forced to fight for one group or another, their right to choose what they believe is destroyed. While this is true, I wonder what will happen when someone joins his group that doesn’t believe in Sol?

Paul’s toy has something inside. Paul thinks it holds the seeds to the Tree of Life. For him, it is further proof that Sol exists. Campion, as always, is in opposition. Either child could be the orphan born to lead everyone to the Tree of Life and the City of Peace. It could also be neither child and any one of the Mithraic children or Lamia’s snake baby Seven, depending on your definition of orphan.

Is it Sol or a signal from somewhere?

Sue has found evidence that whatever Marcus, Paul, Lamia, and Campion have all heard is just a signal. The tropical zone shields them from the signal. Why that is and who created the signal are still not known. Marcus still feels Sol’s presence which means the signal is probably only shielded inside the colony. Regardless of who sent the signal and why several things happen that can’t be explained away by a brainwashing signal. As Campion argues, no good God would ask for the death of a child. Although Paul still believes in the Mithraic beliefs, he remains more selfish than Campion, who is neither Aethist nor Mithraic. He is something in between that believes in a greater power that guides them, just not necessarily Sol.

Are they in the Garden of Eden in Raised By Wolves?

There is certainly a lot of evidence that this is the case. Lamia and Father would be Adam and Eve. Campion and Paul are parallels to Cain and Abel, who were the first children of Adam and Eve. The tropical zone is teeming with life next to the barren, lifeless land they previously lived on. Birds, plants, and trees all thrive here. The garden also comes with a serpent with a purpose and a knowledge we are only beginning to understand. We don’t know yet whether Seven is a sword or a harbinger of death.

By the end of the two episodes of Raised By Wolves Season 2, Marcus’ flock has grown to three, and he is on a collision course with Campion and Paul. Lamia is on the hunt for her baby while the rest of the Atheists actively search for him. There’s a lot to unpack, and danger swirls around Lamia, Father, Sue, and their children. Find all our Raised By Wolves coverage here.