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Raised by Wolves: HBO Max gets a sci-fi show

YangusKhan

does the Underpants Dance
(He/Him/His)
Raised by Wolves is an HBO Max exclusive created by Aaron Guzikowski, who apparently wrote the screenplay for the movie Prisoners (never saw it). The first 2 episodes are also directed by Ridley Scott. I watched the first episode and it's a weird show. I'm definitely intrigued to see where the heck it's even gonna go because a lot happens in the first episode.

The premise is that 2 androids called Mother and Father on a colony ship land on an unknown planet after a world war makes Earth uninhabitable, in an attempt to raise human children and start a new colony. But uh, it turns into some pretty horrifying stuff (the first episode has some pretty brutal exploding humans if that's gonna bother you). At first I thought the show was created by Ridley Scott on account of how that dude feels about androids (he doesn't seem to like them much).
 
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Patrick

Magic-User
(He/Him)
My new internet provider is giving me a year of HBO Max for some reason. I’m looking forward to checking this out when I get everything set up.
 

YangusKhan

does the Underpants Dance
(He/Him/His)
So I've now watched all 3 available episodes and I'd say I'm hooked. There's some interesting themes developing, and the meat of the show comes from what caused the war on Earth.

The conflict came as a religious war between between the Atheists and the Mithraics. Both sides developed technology to fight each other and the Mithraics started to gain an upper hand, but it seems eventually they caused Earth to be uninhabitable. So the Mithraics sent out ark ships filled with families to colonize other planets. And an Atheist set up a ship with embryos and 2 androids to start their own colony (what happened to the person who started this is unknown so far), with Mother capable of providing some kind of nourishment to raise the embryos into babies.

There's one thematic thread I'm picking up on which has to do with "switching sides" kind of. We found out that Mother is actually a reprogrammed Necromancer android of the Mithraics, and another major character is Caleb and his wife Mary (which uh, check out those names!), who are Atheists that undergo plastic surgery to become high-ranking Mithraics in order to escape from Earth.

My long term prediction: the main character kid Campion is gonna end up starting a new religion that's an awful lot like Christianity.
 
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John

(he/him)
I've got a Roku, so only get regular HBO as a Hulu add-on, not this Max stuff. Some day the lawyers will be done bickering and I'll check this out.
 
I literally just got Xfinity (I know; I know) so my internet could be fast enough for the seemingly poorly-optimized HBO Max app on the PS4... not even because Max content specifically appealed. I'm a mark! Maybe I'll check this out.
 

Patrick

Magic-User
(He/Him)
Wow, the first episode went in some unexpected directions. I’m interested in seeing more, but there are still a lot of open ended questions.
 

Patrick

Magic-User
(He/Him)
I just finished the finale. The show drags a little and makes some odd decisions, but toward the end of the season it feels like it’s building toward something. But, instead, it just has a bunch of bad twists. The weird creatures are devolved humans (duh) there’s an atheist arc on the planet (seems like an obvious choice) Mother gives birth to a flying snake monster (just weird).

The actors who play Mother & Father are great, butI don’t think I’d watch another season.
 

YangusKhan

does the Underpants Dance
(He/Him/His)
At first I was hoping this would be a miniseries, but eventually I realized that the slow pace probably meant it was intended for multiple seasons.

This is one of the weirdest sci-fi shows I've ever seen. The directions the plot keeps going in are odd and mostly not what I expect at all. I'll second what Patrick said that the actors for Mother and Father are stellar and really elevate the whole thing; with how weird some of the plot choices are I can easily imagine a scenario where the show has less-talented actors and it falling completely flat.

In the end I liked a lot of little touches: the medical robot Mother found had such an offbeat design; Father telling knock-knock jokes; the rapist with a metal cage on his head. I'm gonna watch the next season, but unfortunately I wouldn't call this is a "killer app" for HBO Max.
 
Watched the first episode last week and will watch one more today. Cool-looking show but why are robots designed to sound like robots? We exist in a world with robot servants all around us; in our phones. They already feel pretty personable and it is not the distant future.
 

YangusKhan

does the Underpants Dance
(He/Him/His)
Hey so this show is back on HBO Max with season 2. It's still pretty odd! But they're definitely pushing things forward and it really helps that this season has a change of scenery. (is that a spoiler? I don't think so...)
 
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