Raised by Wolves is one of the oddest shows I've ever watched. The HBO Max science fiction show is good, though it took a few episodes to really enjoy myself. There are many themes to examine but today I'll only look at one.
Motherhood has been explored throughout the show's two seasons. Mother (also called Lamia) is a main character who is tasked with raising humans. There are also other parents. So having a detailed account of every instance of the theme of motherhood wouldn't be possible in such a short post.
So I'll limit myself to two characters in Season 2.
Seven is...interesting. The very long story short is that Mother was tricked into bearing a flying serpent. He's called Seven because he's the seventh child that mother has 'birthed'. Seven is also her first biological child.
To really describe Seven would take a much longer post. His conception and birth are really weird. Which works in the context of Raised by Wolves.
By the end of Season 1, Mother gives birth to Seven who she immediately thinks of as an enemy. The first season ends with Seven escaping into the Tropical Zone and I worried about the fate of anyone who would dare to face him.
But in Season 2 Seven isn't an antagonist. Viewers never know exactly what he's thinking or what he's motivated by, but he's very sympathetic. This was something I would have never guessed by the way Season 1 ended.
Because Raised by Wolves never lets us have nice things, events happen which make Seven aggressive. Instead of the usual calm demeanor he has had for the majority of Season 2, he gets stronger and seeks to eat everyone in sight. He only becomes this way because the Signal/Sol has corrupted Marcus and Paul into enacting a plan.
What's Sol's plan? No one knows.
Since Seven has become so violent, Mother feels compelled to kill her own child. This goes against her current programming that says she should be taking care of her child. It doesn't matter to her programming that Seven is far from human and even endangering others.
So Mother's solution is to, basically, turn off that part of her programming. It's a hard choice but it's either Seven dies or all her other children meet their ends. I didn't want Seven to die as I saw him as a victim but Mother did make the right decision. Hopefully.
Mother's plan works. She ends up killing Seven and, by doing so, protects her children. But when she tries to get back to normal Grandmother, the android that basically helped Mother override her programming, betrays her. Grandmother does so as she feels that her plan for humanity is better than Mother's.
Honestly there's no long story short for Grandmother. Hopefully her past will become much clearer in Season 3.
Now while Mother did kill Seven, it does seem like her serpent child will play a part in Season 3. How did he survive? I have no clue.
There are some characters that I loathe beyond all reason. This is the case with Paul from Raised by Wolves. In Season 1 he was more than unbearable and a menace, yet he survived to see Season 2. Maybe he will die in Season 3 but I don't think we'll be that lucky.
Why do I hate him so much? Why do I hate this child?
The long story short is that Paul is under the delusion that he's the chosen one. Each person that Sol/the Signal manipulates into doing its bidding gets that same delusion. With at least one notable exception. Now if he was a child that thought he was the chosen one it would be annoying enough, but he also hates anyone who doesn't share his beliefs.
Before I continue, I must make note of the fact that Paul was 'adopted'. When fleeing Earth, two atheists assumed the identity of his Mithraic parents. Mary assumes the identity of his mother Sue. She ends up thinking of him as her son and adores him as if he was.
But because Mary doesn't believe in Sol, Paul hates her. She risks everything for him and he hates her anyway. Not because she isn't his real mom but because she doesn't believe in Sol. I can't understand why you would want to keep someone who was a danger to yourself alive.
Paul nearly dies in Season 2. Part of me wanted to cheer but the smarter side of me realized that I wouldn't be lucky enough for him to die. Not only is he a child, but he's an important character in the series. And it didn't seem to be the right moment for him to go.
The only reason he survives is due to the actions of his mother. When Mary finds herself at her darkest moment, she asks the being known as Sol for help. She promises that she'll obey it no matter the cost just as long as Paul survives. Sol agrees and shows Sue the way to save her son.
The depths of love Mary has for a child that she adopted is astounding. Though I wish that she had just let Paul die, I can understand why she was driven to save him. She risked everything for him and he only loved her again because now she believed in Sol.
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