Raised By Wolves – Season 2 Episode 8 Recap, Review & Ending Explained

Happiness

Episode 8 of Raised by Wolves Season 2 picks up with Campion copying the words Vrille left behind on the tree branch. Covering the android with rocks, he says his goodbyes and takes off.

Meanwhile, Mother brings Marcus to Grandmother, who points out that he’s not as strong as he thinks. “None of us are robot,” He replies. When Father appears, Mother repeats his current plan; she’s going to use the veil to kill Number 7. When the veil is removed, Father greets the new android, who admits this new world is tolerable. At least for the time being anyway.

Does Mother kill the serpent?

With the veil secured, Mother flies out to meet the serpent head on. They fly up to the outer parts of the atmosphere, where Mother eventually blasts the creature, despite it reaching out tentatively. As it comes crashing down to the planet’s surface, Mother initiates the killing blow.

Campion apologizes, knowing their familial ties but the veil does its job, masking Mother’s real feelings. Campion senses this too and probes her over her emotions but for now, Mother decides to keep the veil on. This is her bid to combat the depressive spiral she’s likely to suffer from killing her own child.

However, when they leave the tentacles of the serpent appear to dig underground, reaching toward something. As we find out later on in the episode, it could well be heading toward a signal that Sue’s tree was transmitting.

What does Paul find out?

In the meantime, Father suggests Grandmother come and help look after the children while Mother recovers. The kids aren’t exactly happy but eventfully come around to the idea, especially when she hooks up a new multiplayer game for them.

The kids also witness the video footage of Sue turning into the tree too, in all its shockingly gruesome detail.

At the same time, Tempest has her child scanned but the computer notices some abnormalities, which Hunter deduces is a side-effect from taking the acid-creature’s milk. They allow corrective surgery, while Paul talks to Marcus about he signal he’s noticed.

It’s here he deduces that the tree could well have been serving as a transmitter of sorts, which explains why the serpent was drawn to it in the first place and decided to swallow it up. Paul believes the signal is deep underground, potentially in the pits, sending Marcus out to investigate.

What happened to Marcus?

As Marcus looks set to descend in the lift, he turns and someone shoots him in the stomach. But who? It’s Lucius, of course, who ties him upside down, places the punisher helmet on him and nails the guy to the tree in an upside down crucifix pose, intending to let him bleed out.

As time passes, Lucius removes the helmet and notices Marcus is motionless. Believing his work is done, he turns to walk away. But there’s a problem. Blood trickles down onto his hand and as he looks up, he notices Marcus flying overhead.

While this isn’t really explained, the presence of Sol has been a recurring theme this year, as has the concept of Marcus having powers of her own. The ending here seems to hint that his death has caused a “second coming”, likened to Jesus’ resurrection.

Given the amount of religious symbolism in this show, including forbidden fruit and Noah’s Arc, it’s not outside the realm of possibility to think Marcus may have been resurrected by Sol, proving It’s existence. But we’ll have to wait and see.

Does Mother escape her fate? What does Grandmother want?

Mothers watches Grandmother and the kids down on the shore, discussing jokes and their family unit. The emotional weight of what’s happening is too much for Mother to bear though and somehow the veil cloaks her entire body, cocooning her and preventing her emotions from swelling up.

When Grandmother appears and finds her inside a pod, Mother calls out Grandmother for devolving the children. Apparently, it’s part of her mission. She’s hoping to let the children go into the water, but for now she forces Mother back into her cocoon and into a simulation to keep her at bay.

Could this be stemmed from some sort of jealousy? It would seem like Grandmother is trying to take over Mother’s role but for now, everything is left agonizingly open.

The Episode Review

So Raised by Wolves bows out its second season with an agonizing cliffhanger that doesn’t really explain very much, one that seems to hint that Marcus has powers after all. Quite how these have manifested and why though, is rife for speculation.

Mother’s fate is also left hanging in the balance, while Grandmother seems to be trying to devolve the children for reasons currently unknown. It would seem that Mother taking the veil has been Grandmother’s plan all along and without her veil on anymore, her true intentions appear to lie with taking over her role as caregiver. This would also explain why she took a fancy to Father too.

The whole of the second season has largely tackled the serpent and how this ties into our characters, and in that respect there’s been a good deal of work done to keep this thematically intact. Plot-wise though, there’s been a lot of weird and wonderful twists and while not all of them have worked, it does feel a lot more consistent compared to the first season.

With no word on season 3 just yet though, everything is left wide open for where this one may turn next. Given the number of question marks hanging over this show, let’s hope we get an answer sooner rather than later.