Raised by Wolves Review: Infected Memory (Season 1 Episode 5)

Humanity comes in many forms, and on Raised by Wolves Season 1 Episode 5, “Infected Memory,” it comes through Mother’s search for answers.

“Infected Memory” is another example of characters driving the story, which is doing wonders for the show. Mother’s reawakening to her root cause, caring for others, is done with a surprising level of emotion, as we see her remember what she’s been reborn to do.

Father’s withholding of seeing things that aren’t there comes as a means of protecting himself. Mother is looking for any way to diminish him, and explaining his visions is the exact kind of excuse that she is waiting for.

What’s interesting is that they are both seeing Tally now. Is this a flaw in them both, a sign of them both breaking down? They have mentioned it multiple times, that they wish to make the children self-sustaining, and maybe this is a sign that the process has started.

Their argument in the doorway at the start of the episode is incredibly human, their bickering and disagreements really settling them into the roles their names provide.

Mother has nearly burned every bridge at this point. Her reckless behavior and near contempt for others has been draining everyone down, which is why the episode spends a lot of its time fixing this, and doing so way more successfully than expected.

The flashback that Mother experiences fits quite a bit of information into itself. We now know that rifles with some sort of electricity pulse can knock out these more powerful androids, we get to see the original Campion who modified Mother into what she is today, and we see how the journey to Kepler 22b comes to be.

This fills in a lot of the preliminary gaps about how Mother and Father have gotten to the planet.

But the most important piece of these scenes is that Mother realizes the truth about her emotions. Her original motivation is to annihilate, but her new objective is to care for and raise the future of humanity. It’s a massive shift in protocol, but also explains why her emotions are so wildly flipping and flopping to one extreme to the other.

She’s conflicted. Both sides of her are struggling for dominance, and now that this original Campion memory has returned to her, and the reminder that she’s been born out of love, maybe this will be the moment where the goodness finally wins out.

The rest of Mother’s scenes certainly speak to that. But Marcus arriving may put an end to that.

Still, it’s a commendable way to completely turn around her character. The past couple of episodes hold this feeling of uneasiness when Mother is involved, as it always feels like she may become explosive or diminishing to others.

Here, we see the reason why she struggles with this, and really digs deep into her wants and desires. She wants to be the mother she’s been named, but her past is holding that back. It’s a disarmingly human moment for her, especially after Tempest tries to poison herself, as she can almost see the pain she’s caused in one single instant.

Marcus’ new leadership role looks to be off to a rocky start. His choices have a meaningful impact on the group not because of his faith, which has been the thing driving them so far, but through practicality.

Where the others see a criminal to execute, he sees cannon fodder for their fight against Mother. For a broken energy machine they see a rundown piece of equipment, but Marcus sees a potential weapon.

His warrior instincts are what is keeping his newfound eminence afloat, as his street smarts redirect the more belief-driven people to look at things differently.

But it’s icing out those closest to him, namely Sue. She’s justified in her disapproval of the rapist joining their group, but strangely she is the only one who voices the fault of it. It may be the rest are already devout in their absolute trust of Marcus.

Now that a random outsider has brought them to the settlement’s doorstep, it looks as though Marcus’ chance to finally get the children back has come.

But it’s Marcus’ vision near the end of the episode that proves rather ominous. He sees himself in this criminal he lets live, not because of any shared past but because of their shared hearing of Sol. Maybe Sol only speaks to the corrupt, or maybe it’s a sign of insanity, a word Marcus himself uses about their new prisoner.

This episode is also one of the most eye-catching so far. The scale of the endless desert (and their long shadows) that the Mithraic walk through, the large lower deck of the ship that they approach and search, the thick fog of the wooded area, and the well-realized post-apocalyptic flashbacks all help to build on the solid worldbuilding foundation.

Like its previous episode, Raised by Wolves Season 1 Episode 5, “Infected Memory,” is a great character study. Amanda Collin brings a stoic heartbreak to her scenes, and it’s through Mother where the show’s trajectory has shifted.

Will kindness win the day, or will Mother be forced to become the thing she’s shed of herself?

Some stray thoughts on the episode:

• It’s curious that both Father and now Mother are seeing the same vision of Tally, as initially it appears like there is something wrong with Father. But now that Mother is seeing the same thing, it looks as though they are both suffering from the same thing.

 

What did you think of this episode of Raised by Wolves? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Raised by Wolves streams Thursdays on HBO Max.

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