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Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
“I’m not the one who wants, I’m the one who serves.” Raised by Wolves‘s sixth episode is titled “Lost Paradise,” written by Don Joh and directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan.
Some minor spoilers ahead for those who have not yet seen this episode or the previous episodes of the series. If you have not done so, get to that now, then return to this article!
A great episode of HBO Max’s newest science fiction series delves into the theme of recovery. In the plot here, Marcus (Travis Fimmel) and Sue Drusus (Niamh Algar) attempt to rescue their son Paul (Felix Jamieson) and the rest of the surviving Mithraic children of the Ark of Heaven from the clutches of Mother (Amanda Collin) and Father (Abubakar Salim); Tempest (Jordan Loughran) has recovered from her suicide attempt; Vita (Ivy Wong) discovers a doll one possessed by Tally (Grace Li), who supposedly died but may have lived; and Hunter (Ethan Hazzard) finds evidence that the Mithraic adults have survived.
Marcus, Sue, and the Mithraic survivors come across a piece of the Ark of Heaven which functioned as a simulation pod for the humans, although they discovered Mother had been using the simulation somehow. Marcus uses this machine as a means to destroy Mother, however, this fails and people are killed. Meanwhile, Sue heads to the androids’ compound and rescues Paul, leaving her team members’ lives behind to die and Lucius (Matias Varela) fleeing in a different direction.
Tempest vows to Mother that she will not try to put her and her unborn baby’s lives at risk, although she further discusses her trauma with her sexual abuse. She says, “What I see really happened, and every time I close my eyes, it feels like it’s happening to me again. Vita has seemingly been playing with an unseen Tally, going so far as to draw in Mother and Tempest’s living quarters. Mother assumes that the drawings — that is, of herself and her creator Campion Sturges (Cosmo Jarvis) — were of Father’s doing and that he had been spying on her spending time in the simulation. Vita plays hide and seek with Tally, nearly putting her life at risk when the Mithraic arrive to shoot at Father. When Marcus and the Mithraic watch the children from afar, they leave behind a canister of freshly opened food. Hunter spots this on the ground while looking for firewood, then later tells Holly (Aasiya Shah) what he found, and they discuss whether to keep this a secret from the androids.
Campion (Winta McGrath) tells Paul that he believes everything has a soul, including Mother, Father, and even trees. The Drusus son disagrees, to which Campion says, “You can disagree and still be friends.” He and Mother later show Paul a puzzle that is to be solved, which the boy solves in a faster time than Campion took to complete it before. Campion realizes he has to compete with other children, and his new friend Paul is no exception. Paul later constructs a mechanism to be used on the Kepler-22b alien creatures, then goes on to credit Campion to discover the fungi in the compound’s pits. Campion hits Paul and initially refuses to apologize. When this matter is brought to Mother’s attention, she tells her human son that violence against humans is bad and is only good when against animals.
In the simulation, Mother reunites with Sturges, who tells her that by developing human qualities (desire and happiness), she is not malfunctioning. She tells him death won’t make her happy, and that she hopes to protect the children and the colonies that she’s established with Father. Her creator says:
No matter how hard you work to keep [the children] safe, in the end, they will always destroy themselves over and over again. They have no future. They are antiques chained to time. Their lives are only dying, but you…you are eternal, pure as the expanse of space.
He and Mother make love in the simulation, but all this comes to an end when it is disrupted by the humans’ determined attack on her.
When Paul is recovered by his parents, he is urged to return to Mother and the children as a means to take the android’s sack of eyes. He runs off, and she follows suit, only to be caught in another trap; but Marcus is prevented from decapitating her when the god Sol speaks to him.
The episode is full of good cinematography and develops its characters well. Mother performs great in her scenes with Sturges and the child who was probably named after her creator, and Marcus, Sue, and Father are second here. Father makes another dad joke (that is, about a door being not a door when ajar) while proving to the family that he is not a joke as a dad.
“Lost Paradise” is an allusive title to John Milton’s poem, “Paradise Lost.” In regards to his father’s death, Lucius discusses Marcus the fact that his father spared the life of an atheist girl, the act of which is against their Mithraic religion. Marcus forgives this, knowing he was once an atheist before undergoing plastic surgery. Tempest strums on an instrument the tune of the song “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” the lyrics of which may be directed at the planet in which this story takes place or Mother herself, who says, “The lesson doesn’t work if the answer is given prior to the work.” Suffice it to say, we will be learning soon enough, and it will all pay off in the end…or it won’t.
What do you think of the series? Have you seen the show yet? Let us know! For more science-fiction, drama, HBO Max, and Raised by Wolves-related news and reviews follow The Cinema Spot on Twitter (@TheCinemaSpot) and Instagram (@thecinemaspot_).
Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
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