Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress

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George Santayana had irrational faith in reason - I have irrational faith in TV.

Showing posts with label Raised By Wolves. Show all posts

Thursday, March 17, 2022

Raised by Wolves Season 2 Finale: Behind the Open Door

An excellent Raised by Wolves Season 2 finale, which like all good finales to seasons in which the series isn't or shouldn't be concluded, raises far more questions than it answers.

[Yes, there will be spoilers ahead ... ]

First, Mother's disposal of the monstruos flying serpent happened so early in the episode, you had to know there was going to be more, much more.

Most of those questions and complications, on their way to being crises, revolve around Grandmother. The removal of her veil -- given to Mother to shield her emotions so that she can kill #7, her serpent offspring -- unleashes Grandmother's emotions, most of which are not good.

Indeed, the one ok emotion she displays is her flirtatious affection for Father. This gives him a chance to proclaim his devotion to Mother, and was fun to see.

Otherwise, she's sending the children on the way to devolve into ... those Creature from the Black Lagoon sea creatures, one of which took Tempest's baby and Hunter killed. So these creatures are apparently devolved humans, which again raises the question of how long ago did humans reach this planet, clearly well before the arrival of our current protagonists (or, for all we know, humankind evolved on this planet first, and came to Earth).

The answers to those questions will clearly require another season or more. Also needing answers are what will happen to Mother, and what will happen to Marcus? He was turned into something else at the end of this episode, and Mother is Grandmother's prisoner.

Obviously, I'm very much up for a third season, and I hope HBO Max makes it happen. I really enjoyed this second second -- on balance, more than the first -- and I'll conclude by saying I really like the opening song under the credits by Mariam Wallentin and Ben Frost ... "The door that finally opens ... " HBO Max, keep that door open!

Thursday, March 10, 2022

Raised by Wolves 2.7: Mothers and Babies

Probably the most the powerful episode -- 2.7 -- of Raised by Wolves up today on HBO Max. No, I'd say it is the most powerful. And its theme was mothers and babies. Which unfolded in three narratives.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

The less apocalyptic story was Tempest and her newborn. Last week, we saw it stolen by one of the acid-sea creatures. This week, we find out why: the sea creature was herself a new mother who had just lost her baby. When Tempest, Hunter, and Father confront the creature in a cave, she's nursing Tempest's baby. Father plans to kill it and take the baby back, but at the last minute Tempest says no. That moment says a lot about the monster/human dichotomy which animates (along with the android/human dichotomy) the entire series. Tempest realizes/senses that the monster is something more (or less or different) than a monster, if she could be nursing her baby. Father gets it, but Hunter doesn't, kills the monster/nursing mother, and takes back the baby -- which Tempest then rejects.

That scene, that story, would have been more than enough to be the centerpiece of this episode. But Raised by Wolves, not content with just one profundity, rolls out another. The flying serpent, which Mother gave birth to and tried to nurture, matures and eats the tree which Sue became or became part of last week. That tree went from a heartbeat to -- after being consumed by the flying serpent -- a Godzilla-level monster. Mother's lethal scream can't stop it -- in part because her maternal instinct likely reduced the strength of the scream, in part because ... who knows, including who knows the ratio of her maternal instant and the power of the mature serpent in accounting for why Mother's scream didn't work.

And there was a third mother/baby story, probably less profound than the other two, but still memorable and endearing. Vrill android, forsaken by her mother, determined to be part of the human community, does her best to help Campion evade the serpent. But, in the end, the girl android dies of wounds she sustains in the fight.

I'm looking forward to the second season finale next week. I know this penultimate episode will stay with me a long time.

Thursday, March 3, 2022

Raised by Wolves 2.6: Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction

Raised by Wolves 2.6 -- the 6th of 8 episodes of this second season -- was easily the most and least science fictional of any of the episodes in the first and second seasons so far. Which is saying a lot, since the whole series has been pushing the limits of science fiction into fantasy, from the beginning.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

Three major interludes which stretched the boundaries of the story tonight:

1. First, Sue turns into a tree. Really. The last time I saw a tree have such importance in a science fiction story were the Ents, in Lord of the Rings, which is generally regarded not as science fiction but fantasy. I will say that science in our off-screen real world here on Earth is uncovering all kinds of sentient-like qualities of trees -- see, for example, Beronda L. Montgomery's article -- so maybe what we saw in Raised by Wolves 2.6 is not too much of a stretch.

2. Next, Tempest's baby taken by that sea humanoid creature. The birthing scene itself was powerful, incredible. But real. And then ... to have that horror-show of a creature take the baby from Tempest -- that, in itself, was one of the most horror-story scenes in this science fiction series. The last time I saw a monster like that was in Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954).

3. The further development of the Mother-like android now dubbed grandmother was a good step forward in the android anthropology which is the heart of the series. Of course Father loves her -- there's too much of Mother in her for Father not to. The big question now is to what extent does this new android have a mind of her own? Clearly, Mother and Father do, vis-a-vis each other. So ... we'll just have to see. And, presumably we'll also find out when in human history the android was brought to this planet, if indeed she was brought there.

See you back here next week.

Thursday, February 24, 2022

Raised by Wolves 2.5: Science Fiction and Horror

A jam-packed episode 2.5 of Raised by Wolves on HBO Max, with enough profound and provocative gambits to comprise half a season or more.

Here are my favorites, in no particular order, because they all are excellent:

[Spoilers of course follow ... ]

The face on the Frankenstein-like, Mother-like android that Father has brought back to life. It's behind a veil. He's interrupted before he gets a chance to see it. And the kids don't quite get a chance to see it, either. This means that its identity must be pretty important.
The leeches that save Paul. They comes to Sue in vision. Later, she gets more words from a formless voice. The words of Sol? That's what Paul thinks. Sue doesn't know or care, as long they help her and Paul and those she cares about survive.
Vrille coming back to life. Actually, she was never dead. I said last week that I'd miss her character. Well, she certainly made a provocative reappearance, killing everyone in Marcus' group except Marcus and Holly.
Marcus being brought back to town, formerly under the Trust's control, now under Mother's, has plenty of possibilities. His seeing Sue again will be fun to see.
That creepy being that we first see coming out of the acid sea, and later another as an old monster coming back to life, underlines along with Vrille's new face that Raised by Wolves is as much a horror as a science fiction tale. Works for me,

It looks like there will only be six episodes to this second season -- though you never know with Wikipedia or IMDb listings of episodes in seasons, which sometimes can be incomplete. There's a lot left to be resolved or even explained a little in the fascinating stories this season. I'll be back here next week with my thoughts on the sixth and perhaps final episode of this second season.

Friday, February 18, 2022

Raised by Wolves 2.4: Kinds of Sentience and Conflicts

A really superb and pivotal Raised by Wolves 2.4, in which every kind of sentience is pitted against one another. Since most of the sentience is one kind or another of artificial intelligence, usually embodied in some kind of android, the contests and their outcomes provide one of the best explorations of the power and limitations of programmed android intelligence in any television series. Isaac Asimov would have loved this. I wonder if he would have agreed that this was a far better example of such exploration of android intelligence than we've at least seen so far in the Foundation series on Apple TV+.

[Spoilers follow ... ]

Mother is the victor in every contest. She triumphs over Marcus, whose superhuman powers come from Mother's eyes. Mother easily repossesses them, and reclaims the awesome power that lets her then triumph over the Trust. It will be instructive to see how Mother's devotion to care for her children compares with the Trust's professed devotion to serve humanity.

But Mother may have a rival. The Frankenstein-like android brought back to life by Father may well have powers comparable to Mother's. How will Father's "creation" use them? Which side will she choose, or will she comprise her own side, and how will she then fare in implementing her choice?

Meanwhile. there's a beautiful and instructive more minor android vs human story with Vrille, though it's not really minor. The mentality of even a child android is impossible to predict and therefore effectively program.

I'll miss her character and I'll be back here next week with more.

Thursday, February 10, 2022

Raised by Wolves 2.3: Marcus and the Android Skeleton

A fascinating and important Raised by Wolves 2.3 today on HBO Max, in which Marcus beats Father in a fight, and Father works on bringing an android skeleton back to life (or tries to).

Other important and fascinating things happened too. But those were the two most important and fascinating.

Marcus beats Father in a fight. Campion later asks Father how that could happen? Father either doesn't know, or doesn't want to discuss this with Campion. Later, we see Father, still not completely recovered from his thrashing by Marcus, rather easily beat a brute of an industrial android. So Father, even hurt, is a pretty formidable opponent in a fight. How, then, did Marcus, a human, prevail over Father?

My best guess, at this point, is that Marcus himself has some sort of android essence. He certainly doesn't look like Father or Mother. But do we really know what's inside him? Did we get any clues to this in Season One? Perhaps Marcus is some sort of what we would today call a bionic human -- a human being invested with some sort of powerful non-organic materials.

Meanwhile, Father later discovers that some of his white fuel -- what serves in effect for him and Mother as blood -- can begin to animate the android skeleton. This now raises what could be a pivotal, crucial question of what that android will be when it comes to "life"? (Surely we'll see that happen, with any luck not too further in the future of this season.)

The title for this excellent episode is "Good Creatures". I assume that name pertains at very least to the flying serpent. At this point, I'd say the serpent being an herbivore is not as important as Marcus vs. Father, or Father and the android skeleton. But the presumably good serpent (after all, it may not be good, even though it is an herbivore) could have further, increased importance as the season progresses, just another reason I'm very much looking forward to the ensuing episodes.

Friday, February 4, 2022

Raised by Wolves 2.1-2: A Viking Out in Space, with Androids

Raised by Wolves was back for a second season on HBO Max yesterday, with two sharp episodes that advanced the narrative in all kinds of intriguing and important ways.

Travis Fimmel was superb, as he was in the first season as the sun god prophet Marcus. The actor has a unique way of expressing emotions, which (of course) first became clear to me in Fimmel's memorable performance as Ragnar in Vikings. In Raised by Wolves, we see it again as Marcus almost seeming to channel Ragnar expresses his fury and disappointment about having to kill an atheist whom Marcus would much rather have converted to his spiritual perspective. And it worked so well -- if you think about it, Ragnar versus the Christian world is much like Marcus versus the godless world out there on that distant planet.

The unfolding story in the atheistic center was multi-layered and fascinating as well. Mother's beloved Campion doesn't see life and his world the same way as his android "mother" on a growing number of crucial issues. He doesn't see the world the same way as Paul, Marcus' adopted son, does either, but the two make a good team. And Mother (well played by Amanda Collin) and Father (well played by Abubakar Salim) don't see eye to eye, as well -- ranging from mother and father differences that we recognize in humans here on Earth (Father tells Mother she needs to treat Campion like an adult) to much more serious life and death situations.

The science fictional elements are vivid, ranging from life in the robotic center to the flying snake that seems reminiscent of Dune. In fact, the whole desert part of the Wolves story reminds of Dune, with nice frightening new ingredients like the acid water. Good thing Raised by Wolves is on in winter, when I'm not likely to want to jump in any nearby ocean for a swim.

I'll be reviewing every episode of this excellent new season of this powerful series, and I'll see you back here next week.

Friday, October 2, 2020

Podcast Review of Raised by Wolves 6-10

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 148, in which I review episodes six to ten of Raised by Wolves.

Further listening:

podcast review of Raised by Wolves 1-3

podcast review of Raised by Wolves 4-5

Raised by Wolves Season One Finale: The Serpent

A powerful, even stunning, season one finale for Raised by Wolves on HBO Max last night.

[spoilers follow]

The big reveal is that Mother and I and everyone was wrong about how her baby came to be, and what it in fact was. The virtual sex she had with her creator apparently didn't inseminate her via triggering some kind of organic material she already had insider her. Whatever it was that got her pregnant presumably came from this extraterrestrial Kepler world. I say "apparently" and "presumably" because I suppose it's still possible that this hellish serpent she delivered was indeed something that her creator embedded in her back on Earth, and this "baby" is indeed the future of humanity. But at this point it looks as if that entire virtual, remembered conversation and activity with her builder was just a piece of masterful misdirection.

Other than all of that, which was game-changing, the season finale had a variety of good touches, ranging from Father's jealousy to whatever was going on with Paul. Again, presumably, I'd say that the voices he heard in his head came not from Sol (of course not) but that ship that we saw hovering in the atmosphere. No doubt that ship will have a major role in the second season (and great that Raised by Wolves has already been renewed.

Another provocative element is the devolution of the beings on Kepler-22B. I've been thinking ever since we first saw one of those beings early on that there was a human-like quality to its head. A Neanderthal skull was also revealed in the finale -- works for me, Neanderthals were the centerpiece of my first novel, The Silk Code -- and that skull also raises the possibility that there was a connection between Kepler-22 and Earth in the distant past, if parallel evolution isn't the explanation for Neanderthals appearing on these two worlds, so very distant from each other.

Lots of fascinating issues left hanging. Good set-up for the second season!

Friday, September 25, 2020

Raised by Wolves 1.8-9: Frankenstein and Motherhood

The story brought vividly home in Raised by Wolves 1.8 and 1.9, that androids can bear biological children, a hybrid of some sort of android and human, lifts this series into territory not even explored in a series as sophisticated as Westworld. Of course, Westworld takes place on Earth, with a science a lot earlier in its development than what we see in Raised by Wolves, so I'm not criticizing Westworld on this account as much as noting the difference. And that difference is about as profound as it gets.

A question I started addressing in the 1980s when I first began considering artificial intelligence was the connection between artificial intelligence and life. Since the only intelligence that we know arose in living beings -- i.e., us, we humans - it struck me that an attempt to develop artificial intelligence truly worthy of the name without first understanding how intelligence arose out of our own DNA was "putting Descartes before the horse" (Mind at Large: Knowing in the Technological Age, 1988, p. 180; or see this if you don't want to read the book). Yet most artificial intelligence, in science fiction as well as our real world laboratories, has proceeded on the basis of non-living circuitry.

In fiction, the monster created by Dr. Frankenstein -- colloquially known as Frankenstein, in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel of the same name -- can be considered the first modern android. It is made of flesh and blood, and has a DNA-developed brain, so there is no reason he and his eventual almost-bride could not have had children -- indeed, it is Dr. Frankenstein fear of creating a species of monsters that gets him to abandon his project of giving the monster a mate. Even in the Boris Karloff movies made over a century later, in which a bride of the monster is created, one catastrophe or another that befalls the "monsters" always preclude them from reproducing. Which makes what was is happening in Raised by Wolves all the more remarkable.

How exactly Mother, now on the way to being a completely biologically apt name for her, came to be impregnated is not completely clear, and she doesn't completely or even mostly understand herself. She had virtual sex with her male human creator in a simulation. Presumably this triggered a fetus that developed from what already was inside her, in contrast to the embryos that were implanted in her and we met in the first episode.

With only one more episode left this season, it will be fascinating to see where this -- "the future of humanity" -- goes. It was good to see Father back to his senses, and all the children together, and Marcus get his comeuppance, though I hope he's not dead, he's too important and well-acted a character. (It occurred to me as an outside possibly that possibly Marcus had sex with Mother at some point after he so nearly kissed her, that we didn't see. Maybe that relates to that look on Mother's face that I talked about in my review last week.) Not likely, I'll be definitely back here next week with some thoughts on the season finale.

Friday, September 18, 2020

Raised by Wolves 1.6-7: The Look on Mother's Face

Lots of important, even game-changing events in episodes 1.6-7 of Raised by Wolves, up on HBO Max yesterday:

Campion and Paul are becoming rivals, even though it looks as if they'll still ultimately have each other's backs in life and death situations. But other than that, Campion is representing spirit and Paul logic and science, which is interesting in itself since Campion comes from the atheists and Paul the true-believers. This may be a significant indicator of the future and the changing roles of central characters on this planet.
The difference between true believers and atheists is also raging inside Marcus. He of course is an atheist in the skin of a true believer. But he's hearing voices that tell him not to kill Mother, and in the end of 1.7 he comes to believe he might be the true-believers' chosen one, the orphan who lights and leads the way to a better world.
It was night of sharp turnarounds, to say the least, for Father and Mother. Father is re-wired to become a robotic servant of the true-believers. All that's left of the original Father - courageous and wise and devoted to both Mother and their adopted children - is a tremor he betrays in one of his hands. Mother herself is almost destroyed, saved only by the voice in Marcus's head. At least she gets to have some good virtual sex with her human creator/programmer.

So where do we go from here? Marcus is convinced that he can get Mother to fight on his side. Ironically, that side is likely ultimate the atheists - since that's where Marcus originally came from - but he seems to be tipping into the true-believers. As for Mother, the expression on her face right after Marcus almost kisses her, his lips just a long fraction of an inch from hers, must hold some clue. It's not a look of hate or revulsion - certainly not only that. It's more a look of profound hurt -- some kind of, I don't know, recognition of deep connection between her and Marcus. Is there even somehow some love there? The image is below - what do you think?

One thing I'm sure of is I hope we see all three concluding episodes next week.

Friday, September 11, 2020

Raised by Wolves 1.4-5: Halfway to Dune

I thought the 4th and 5th episodes of Raised by Wolves were really good, especially the 5th, because it gave us a nice big origin story about Mother - how she was created, and endowed/programmed with her mission. Her maker tells her she's humanity's last hope, a nod to Star Wars mythology.

But maybe because I saw the trailer for the new Dune movie the other day, maybe I would have thought this anyway, maybe both factors are at play, but Raised by Wolves really felt to me tonight to be deeply indebted to Dune. The sweeping sand dunes, the monsters hidden in and under the sand, the boy - with the two possible candidates - as the savior, all these speak Muad'dib on Arrakis.

Meanwhile, Travis Fimmel's Marcus, now leading the pack of Sol true-believers, seems increasingly like Ragnar in Vikings. Not only because Fimmel's mannerisms are the same in both narratives - which I don't mind and in fact find appropriate in both - but the characters both are subject to visions, seek advice from strange characters, and have the same reactions to women. In other words, the Marcus character played by Fimmel was deliberately designed to recall Ragnar, and that's also fine with me.

One of those characters also resonates with the Count of Monte Cristo and his mask. Except this mask was put on the character because he raped women in hibernation over the long voyage. His reason: Sol commanded him to populate the species, though he doesn't deny the carnal pleasure he obtained from following Sol's commands. Since he's in a mask, that can't help but raise the question of who he is? I'll make a wild guess: maybe the master programmer of androids who created Mother back on a dying Earth?

Anyway, these echos of Dune and Star Wars, not to mention of course Blade Runner, point to the depth of Raised by Wolves, not that it's too derivative. An important science fiction series should be standing on the shoulders of giants, and I'll be back here next week to tell you how Jack and the Beanstalk fares with these giants.

Friday, September 4, 2020

Raised by Wolves 1.2-3: More than Meets the Eye

I just watched Raised by Wolves 1.2 and 1.3, on HBO Max. It's all that is available there now (along with the first episode that I saw and reviewed the other night), but the three are more than enough to convince that this will be a major science fiction series, with a complex, multi-level, intriguing narrative, indeed.

First, we learn a couple of things. There's a lot more to Marcus than meets the eye. He's actually an atheist, who along with his wife Sue underwent plastic surgery, so the two could take the place of the original Marcus and Sue that the atheist "Marcus" killed, so the new Marcus and Sue could get on-board the great Sol-believer interstellar arc. And they also became parents of the original couple's young son, whom the new Marcus (I think) gave a little white mouse to, as a present, before they all embarked on the arc. All of which play a role in the story, which gives it a Space Family Robinson or Lost in Space on speed or LSD kind of quality, or quite a ride.

And that's less than half of it. Mother is a much more powerful android than is Father, who is just a general-purpose not deadly weapon android, but he's equipped with plenty of smarts, too. And heart. When Mother starts blaming herself for the death of the other kids (other than Campion, who is alive and well and brilliant), Father discovers the real reason the other kids died. And Mother, wanting to recreate the family she lost to this unforgiving planet, has taken a bunch of other kids of various ages from the defeated arc. These range from cute to pretty interesting, and they include Marcus and Sue's "son".

And there's still more. There are some sorts of monsters at large on this planet, which presumably are indigenous species, but, who knows. So all of this adds up to a great, provocative start for a highly intelligent, vividly depicted science fiction series, which I'm looking forward to watching.

Tuesday, September 1, 2020

Raised by Wolves 1.1: Fast Action and Deep Philosophy

I just saw Raised by Wolves 1.1, courtesy of HBO Max, where the series is set to debut this Thursday, September 3. In a sentence, it's a big concept, altogether excellent combination of fast action and deep philosophy, as befits Executive Producer Ridley Scott, and especially well-suited to our pandemic ridden time, when the very fate of humanity could well be at stake if things get much worse.

The narrative features androids and space travel (the action) and a conflict between true believers and atheists (the philosophy) who have left a dying Earth. As such, the series is one big step more promising than the excellent Westworld, at least to my science fictional tastes, because it tells a story not only of humans and androids, but sets it way out in space, on a planet around another star. The flavor is therefore closest to 2001 than anything else, even though Raised by Wolves has not much else in common with Clarke's story and Kubrick's movie.

The special effects and overall cinematography are top-notch to the point of breathtaking at times. The acting is also fine, and it was good to see Travis Fimmel from Vikings back on the screen. Amanda Collin is fine as Mother the android, and her character comes with the awesome power of killing everything around her with a scream (reminds me, in an odd way, of the episode "Sound that Kills" in the ancient Science Fiction Theater television show). Munro Lennon-Ritchie and Jadon Holdsworth as Campion put in good performances, and it will be fun to see how this crucial character - a young boy whose allegiances to belief have not been settled as yet - develops.

I'd add that if ever there was a series I wanted to binge-watch to the end - at least, of this first season - Raised by Wolves appears to be that. But I'll take it the way it's being presented, and will be back here with subsequent reviews.

"challenging fun"
- Entertainment Weekly

e-mail received from a reader:
Dear Paul, I just dreamed of airships flying between raindrops. I just returned from 2042 CE, where I sold my hardcover copy of The Plot to Save Socrates for seventy million Neo-Euros, because it had your response to this e-mail from way back in 2007 scotch-taped onto the inside of the cover. A Paul Levinson collector paid top Neo-Euro, because of the authentic archaic e-mail printout from you. It turns out that not many of your e-mails from before your tenure as CEO of HBO/Cinemax and terms as United Nations Secretary General will survive that far into the future. So, please respond to this e-mail, to help found my great-grandchildren's fortune. My Will will stipulate that they must share with your great grandchildren. Thanks! Tom

I of course happily replied...

42 reviews of The Plot to Save Socrates!