Raised By Wolves Season 2 Episode 6 The Tree Review-Pandora’s Box Has Been Opened

Things are rapidly changing on Kepler 22b and most of those changes aren’t good in a harrowing Raised By Wolves Season 2 Episode 6 that reminds us that curiosity often kills the cat.

HBO Max’s bizarre, enigmatic sci-fi hit is as bonkers as ever. Raised By Wolves isn’t worried about taking risks and subverting expectations. As strange as things get, there is always a direct line that reveals itself just when we think there’s nothing but chaos. That’s the beauty of the series. It’s unabashed weirdness that knows exactly what it is and where it is going. Raised By Wolves Season 2 Episode 6 is a perfect example of that.

Humans are a messy, flawed species. Emotions, more often than not, get in the way. They make us make rash decisions, act irresponsibly, and behave erratically. But, they also are the source of some of our greatest strengths. Love can conquer all. Laughter can change our body chemistry, and perseverance can give us courage when we desperately need it. Unfortunately, those same human follies look like they are also the source of the planet’s biggest mysteries. We are our own worst enemy, and Sue, Marcus, and Paul played right into its hands, whatever “it” is.

Sol, the Signal, some alien lifeform lying dormant for ages, it hardly matters what you call the mystical force guiding many on the planet. The end result is, Pandoras Box has been opened, and nothing will ever be the same. Sue’s desperate prayers were answered after nearly losing Paul in the last episode. That profound experience has changed her and aligned her once more with Marcus. He is fevered and irrational in his devotion. She takes a more scientific approach that is even more dangerous. With her keen mind, curiosity outweighs her need to be cautious. The families reunion is cut short, and it may mean the end for everyone.

Sue’s new belief leads her to take risks she probably shouldn’t. She stole the hexagon box from the Trust’s vault, and she and Paul tried to open it. Simultaneously Seven writhes and howls in panic. Why he is so agitated, we don’t know yet, but it raises some significant questions. Is Seven friend or foe, and what is he trying to tell everyone? Campion has always felt a fondness for the serpent, but those feelings were tested when Seven shoved him hard against the gate. He could have been badly injured, which doesn’t escape Mother, who screams at him before apologizing for her anger. For an android that is supposedly devoid of these sorts of irrational outbursts, she seems to have just as many as her human charges.

Parents love their children. They should always love them unconditionally, but they should be honest in their view of their strengths and weaknesses. Mother is struggling with that right now. She fails to see that Campion is precocious and wise beyond his years, but he is also still a child. The remaining settlement will not want to be led by a child, and forcing him into power before he is ready is a recipe for failure. For all her altruistic desire to make humans happy and productive, she doesn’t understand political dynamics.

There is a lot of wisdom bandied around in Raised By Wolves Season 2 Episode 6. Some of it comes from humans, some from artificial lifeforms, and some from the mouths of children. Sue councils Mother about not turning Marcus into a martyr when ironically, she seems to have become one herself. While everyone was worried about Marcus, Sue should have been the one they watched. Campion, Paul, and Mother are all manipulated by Sue indirectly.

Their collective experience is what faith is. It isn’t strictly learned or easily defined. It can sometimes be religious but just as easily be spiritual or even scientifically based. Sue’s faith isn’t only Mithraic. Her God is a signal that gave her the knowledge to save Paul. She freely admits Sol probably isn’t the same sun deity that Marcus worships. However, that doesn’t stop her from believing that they might be the same thing.

Nothing is as it seems on Kepler-22b. Some things which appear dangerous are helpful while wolves in sheep’s clothing lurk under every rock. Grandmother could be their savior or their doom; there is no way of knowing. She is driving a bigger wedge between Mother and Father, though. Mother’s child Seven threatens Father’s confidence, and Mother is concerned and jealous of Grandmother. The veiled android is vulnerable to Mother but has valuable knowledge. Both are considered offspring by their parents, and both could either be keys to enlightenment or doom.

We know that Campion now knows he didn’t see Sol, but Grandmother. She saved him in the last episode. We also know it knows ancient Mithraic and Kepler 22b’s history. It also seems to be protective of human life. Most importantly, we know Grandmother knows something about what happened on the planet and isn’t eager to have it happen again. Tempest’s baby worries her for some reason. As strong as her desire to protect life, this birth may put things in motion that have already happened before. One more important thing to note is Grandmother initially thinks she and Father are partners. Neither seems immune from jealousy as human as Mother and Father are becoming. What happens when Mother feels replaced by Grandmother?

Are we trapped in our cycles? Is this where Raised By Wolves is headed? Tempest feels trapped by her pregnancy and the responsibility of motherhood. That’s why she wondered off to deliver her baby by herself. She intended to leave the newborn without ever forming a bond. In the gorgeously shot, primal scene that speaks of womanhood and nature, the pain and beauty of birth are undercut by the shocking attack by the acid sea creature. Tempest tries to protect her baby, but the creature takes it and inserts it into his chest. What did the acid sea creature want with Tempest’s baby? Is the baby safe in its chest in a twist, or did he take the baby as sustenance? Is it possible these acid creatures were human once and are trying to help?

Curiously the last adult true Mithraic Lucius is the one that inherently understands the danger they are all in. He condemns Marcus for his self-righteous attitude. His faith stems from overconfidence, while Lucius is quieter in his belief. Mother stops Father’s promise to let Lucius execute Marcus, but he is allowed to leave the encampment and go free. Mother lets him leave despite not allowing him to kill Marcus because he isn’t a threat to them. After Mother goes to Lucius searching for Sue and Paul, he hands her the data card Marcus was hiding. Lucius gives it to Mother because he doesn’t want them to suffer the same fate as whatever is on the card. The enemy of my enemy and all that. We know that is too late, however.

The seed inside of the box has been released. Sue’s Mithraic song opened it and when she held it, the seed implanted inside her. She is nowhere to be found the next day, but there is now a massive alien tree where she was digging. Is she now the pulsating tree? Marcus seems to understand he is looking at something meaningful even if he doesn’t know it is Sue. Is this the end of Niamh Algar’s Sue? Has Sue become something more than she was? Like the Father Trees in Orson Scott Card’s Speaker For The Dead, does this new lifeform allow for continued life on the planet?

No other series out there right now is as visually arresting as Raised By Wolves. Every scene is organic yet industrial and bathed in subtext. Philosophical questions are asked but seldom answered, and all signs point toward a technological Eden that is the beginning of the end. Find all our Raised By Wolves coverage here.

Stray Musings:

• What was the specific message on that card, and who made it?
• The inside of the fruit the tree produces looks like a brain. Is this a nod to the dangers of knowledge?
• I strongly feel the acid creatures were once humans who have evolved into this new being. It might have been an attempt to genetically modify their bodies to thrive on the planet.
• Where is Vrille? She was strangely absent.