Raised By Wolves Season 1, Episode 4 recap: Nature’s Course

Raised By Wolves Season 1, Episode 4 recap: Survival skills.

When we left off in the previous episode, Paul looked like he might not survive. Thankfully, Mother manages to save him after he tumbles down the pit. His mouse does get lost in the process, though, sadly. Mother and Father’s rescue missions earn them respect with the children in Raised By Wolves Season 1, Episode 4.

The main problem facing them in Episode 5, “Nature’s Course” is that the children can no longer consume carbos. Father and Campion attempt to find another food source as their meager supplies run low. Both Campion and Father are struggling with a desire to be useful. Campion still feels residual guilt for turning against the androids, while Father feels inadequate compared to Mother’s necromancer abilities.

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Unfortunately, scouring the landscape near their homestead comes up empty. The closest the duo comes to finding something is a bundle of nuts Campion spots dangling from a tree (he plans on naming it “pizza” after the popular food item everyone on Earth loved).

But upon closer examination in the bio scanner, the nuts are deemed toxic and inedible for humans.

Father realizes he could teach the children how to hunt, as the creature that formerly stalked their camp is still in the carbos storage hunt. While hunting might have been notorious on Earth, these children have never even had to consider the possibility. Campion, who has developed a very strong sense of empathy, is entirely against killing another living creature.

Recruiting the other children, Father proposes that one of them take a sharpened spear and kill the creature so they can eat it. Tempest is the only one who doesn’t join them, as she remains in her separate quarters for her baby’s sake.

Holly is the one who steps up and stabs the creatures, resulting in a non-fatal wound. That makes it worse since now the creature is suffering needlessly. It terrifies the children, who all scamper off. Father closes the door again as he tries to think of how to persuade the kids into becoming survivors. Surprisingly, Father even jokes with the creature about death and his own experience with it as an intelligent being. At one point in this episode, Mother says Father’s ability to amuse is unique to him.

Tempest grows increasingly hungry, probably more so than the others, since she’s carrying for two. In the middle of the night, she grabs Mother’s scalpel and charges toward the creature, finishing it off once and for all. Tempest wastes no time in chowing down either as she feasts upon the creature’s entrails.

During this, Father has notices a cloaked figure with Tally’s voice, the same one Paul saw in the forest. He follows it until he hears a distressed scream from the homestead. Rushing back, Father sees a distraught Tempest stumble out of the hut, carrying something in her hands. It’s a fetus. The creature was a mother. She bursts into tears and collapses to the ground.

Raised By Wolves Season 1, Episode 4 recap: Tensions flare between the Mithraic.

On the other side of Kepler-22b, the Mithraic are continuing their trek through the desert. It was hard not to burst out laughing when I saw the Ambros (the Eminence)  insisted upon being carried in his little chair. If he cared for his people, you’d think he’d give them a break, and his legs work fine, last I checked. Sue and Marcus are growing antsier by the second as they watch the children’s tracking devices.

Little do they know, Mother removed the trackers from each child (after putting each one to sleep with another special ability) and threw them in a hole. They think the children are just on the move again. Convincing Ambrose to send a team to find the children is near impossible as it is, especially when they discover a massive pyramid-like formation in the desolate setting. The building emanates warmth, making the Mithraic believe it was a gift from Sol they need to open.

Explosions aren’t an option since they don’t want to damage what’s inside, so the soldiers slowly start trying to crack open the rock with hand tools. During this, Ambrose asks Sue for assistance with his hand. Her skills as a medic are valuable to the group. In their conversation, Ambrose recites an old Mithraic lullaby that she doesn’t recognize despite it being taught to every Mithraic child. It confirms the doubts he has about Marcus and Sue’s identities, although he doesn’t say anything immediately.

Instead, that night,  Marcus wakes up with a high-pitched sound piercing his skull. Lucius discovers a Mithraic earwig on his scalp. It seems to be a high-frequency device designed to kill their enemies. Marcus immediately blames Ambrose. He’s the most likely suspect as he is intimidated by Marcus’s place in the group, and they continuously butt heads over whether or not to retrieve the children.

Marcus pulls a gun on Ambrose, but before he can pull the trigger, Ambrose’s remaining android also pulls a gun. Sue shoots her in the head, and they find the earwig transmitter in her hand. Ambrose says androids sometimes malfunction when they lose their sister/partner, and we know Mother killed the other in the previous episode.

Ambrose suggests repairing her, but Marcus puts an end to that by unleashing a stream of bullets into the android. Later, while cutting her open for batteries and parts, Lucious privately reveals his suspicion that Ambrose told his android to plant the earwig on Marcus. There seems to be dissension among the ranks as to whether or not Ambrose has lost his way.

That night, the group huddles around the strange structure for warmth, but it’s no longer giving off any heat. A desperate Ambrose demands someone to retrieve the explosives so they can blow it apart and get inside, hoping to survive the night. No one seems to agree with this decision,  even as the temperatures drop.

Ultimately, he orders Marcus to use the explosive, and the two get into a fight. Ambrose tells Marcus he knows he’s not the real Marcus. Suddenly, Marcus hears a strange voice in his head, the wall of the structure begins to glow, and he shoves Ambrose against it, burning his face — moments later, Ambrose catches on fire and burns to death while everyone stands around watching.

It’s the perfect opportunity for Marcus to step in and say, “hey, looks like Sol did smite him down after all!” Plus,  the structure is giving off the heat again, so now they all think Ambrose’s death was Sol’s will.

Raised By Wolves Season 1, Episode 4 recap: The truth about the missing embryos.

While Father tries to teach the children how to hunt, Mother returns to the woods where some of the Mithraic ark supplies landed. She hopes to find parts that might allow her to get their mobile lab running again, as Tempest has asked to use it so she can carry the baby to term. Father is against it, believing they should let nature run its course.

The predominant theme of this episode revolves around the idea of letting nature do as it’s always done or manipulating it with manmade tools. As Mother says, “It is nature and nature is flawed.” It’s similar to the Mithraic’s storyline of whether or not to interfere with the structure they find. In the forest, Mother finds a simulation pod and uses it.

Inside, she sees the main Mithraic sim room, albeit a heavily-glitching version, a holographic Mithraic speaker repeats a message telling his people they will pray, worship, and fix the sins wrought by humans on Earth.  Within the sim, Mother accesses some of her memories. We finally find out what happened to the six remaining embryos.

A young Spiria and Gabin thought they were snowballs and played with them, allowing them to melt and killing them all. Campion knew they were embryos, but by the time he found out what happened, it was too late. He also chose not to tell his siblings the truth, knowing it would hurt them.

It’s an early display of his advanced empathy. Mother and Campion cremated the remains, and she let him dump them into the pit as a way of saying goodbye.

What did you think of Raised By Wolves Episode 4? Will Marcus and Sue manage to find Paul? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

New episodes of Raised By Wolves debut on Thursdays on HBO Max.