Raised By Wolves recap: Episode 7, ‘Faces’

Marcus makes increasingly disturbing decisions that jeopardize his relationship with his family in Raised By Wolves episode 7.

Raised By Wolves episode 7 is an improvement over previous episodes, in my opinion. Tonally, the show shifts dramatically from its grounded beginnings and starts leaning heavily into the supernatural thriller components it has been seeding carefully throughout the season.

The main driving force of this episode is Marcus, who is slowly succumbing to the corruption inevitable when one suddenly finds themselves promoted to a position of power. With both androids now down for the count — Mother is strung up in the silo and Father has been reprogrammed into a service android — the Mithraic have seemingly won and taken over the settlement.

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Most of the children are happy about this, except for Campion and Tempest. Tempest refuses to participate in a religion that facilitated her rape while Campion is still loyal to his android parents. He’s put into a separate silo until he’s ready to accept Sol into his heart through baptism.

Meanwhile, Marcus is repeatedly told to destroy the necromancer, but every time he gets close to doing it, he hears the voice in his head demanding he let her live. It sort of reminded me of Quirrell/Voldemort from Harry Potter.

Attempting to appease the voice, Marcus breaks out his toolkit to reprogram Mother similar to what he did to Father. He tells Sue it would be in their best interest to take her with them to the tropical zone so they could have protection if other ships or people arrive and try to challenge them. But even though Mother doesn’t have her eyes anymore, she still proves herself a formidable enemy.

She sees through Marcus’s disguise and recognizes him as an atheist soldier. Initially, Mother tries to make Marcus see that their goals are similar, but when that doesn’t work,  she finds his vulnerabilities and picks at them. She tells him he will never be a good father to Paul and pinpoints each of his many insecurities. It works. Frazzled and distressed, the next time Marcus sees Paul, he snaps at him and shoves him to the ground, resulting in a pissed off Sue slapping him across the face.

Realizing reprogramming Mother is more difficult than he had anticipated, Marcus instructs Father to take her into the forest where they can dispose of her properly. On the way, Lucius stops them and offers to accompany Father since the android is dangerous. Seizing her opportunity, Mother tells Lucius that Marcus is an imposter. They both seem to chalk it up to the android trying to save herself, but it appeared like Lucius might have been listening to her words a little too closely.

In the woods, Marcus instructs Father to slide Mother into the gaping pit in the ground. Father, who we were led to believe was no longer the android we had come to know, doesn’t let Mother go completely. He keeps the rope tethered around his “trigger finger,” allowing Mother the chance to climb out of the pit. She thanks Father for his help, promises she will return for him and the children and walks off into the woods, likely to recover.

Throughout Mother’s escape, Marcus is overwhelmed by the voice in his head demanding he let her live. Suddenly, the old pre-surgical version of himself appears, and the two fight, resulting in Marcus receiving a knife to the stomach. I don’t entirely understand what happened in this sequence, it almost seemed like Father was creating the hallucination but maybe it was the voice in Marcus’s head? Hopefully, we’ll find out soon, according to showrunner Aaron Guzikowski, answers are coming!

Marcus manages to make it back to the settlement where Sue desperately tries to save him when she realizes he’s bleeding profusely. In his delirious state, Marcus tells her that he believes he is the prophet anticipated by the Mithraic. Delusions of grandeur much?

Raised By Wolves episode 7: Campion is haunted by his siblings.

Campion reaches his own crossroads in this episode as he is forced to undergo a Mithraic baptism if he wants to be released from the silo. Initially against it, Campion finally agrees when Tempest advises him to do it and Paul encourages him to try. Reluctantly, Campion attends the ceremony inside the newly-constructed “church.”

However, before he finishes the recitation, he notices that the soldiers used his siblings’ headstones as construction material and is extremely disturbed by this.  Even worse, the Mithraic,  who have a tendency to be cruel to any non-believers, tell Campion that it doesn’t matter since his siblings were atheists and had no souls anyway. He refuses to continue the baptism and is returned to the silo.

That night, Campion’s ghost siblings, including Tally, haunt him and try to cajole him into killing himself with the rope used to hang the old creature. It has been difficult to tell if Tally has had good intentions or not, I guess this confirms that whatever she is, she doesn’t have anyone’s best interests at heart.

Odds & Ends from Raised By Wolves episode 7

• Throughout the episode, the “new” Father can’t keep his finger from twitching. I thought he was trying to type out morse code for a moment. I also thought he might be faking it, like Campion believed, too. At least some part of his old programming must remain, given he saved Mother.
• Paul’s mouse reappears from the hole, lending credence to the idea that things that fall into that pit do not really die.
• It was nice to see Tempest getting more to do this week. She is the only one of the children to try and help Campion, advising him to tell the Mithraic what he wants to hear, even if he doesn’t believe it. She also follows Marcus into the woods when he takes the androids, although she loses sight of them when a few creatures come sniffing around.

What did you think of Raised By Wolves episode 7? What will Mother do next? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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