See – Apple+ Season 2 Episode 2 “Forever” Recap & Review

Forever

Episode 2 of See Season 2 begins with a harsh whipping. Every crack of the whip sees Baba Voss’ screams pierce the air. They don’t penetrate the walls Haniwa is being kept in though, as Wren keeps a close watch on her prisoner. In fact, she lets the girl go and leads her through the bustling streets of the city.

They don’t dwell though, as Wren lights a torch and leads the girl through to an apartment complex from the old days. Everything is laid out just like it would be in our time, with nature having failed to claim this area…. for some reason. Given this is centuries after we’ve all gone, it’s fair to say there should be at least some ivy or greenery hugging the apartment.

Anyway, ignoring that the pair have a really touching moment, one that includes them both bonding over their shared gift of sight. Since we’re on the subject of girls tumbling down the rabbit hole into another world, it makes sense that Haniwa starts reading Alice in Wonderland. This tumble eventually leads to both girls kissing, disagreeing gently about their purpose and how different they are to those who are not sighted.

Meanwhile, Baba Voss finds himself at Edo’s mercy, lashed relentlessly and even forced to stay awake to bear every second of this punishment. All of this stems from incidents in the past that we soon find out about later in the episode. It turns out Baba killed his father, Tao Voss, 25 years back but fled the city before he could pay the price. The circumstances surrounding this are still unclear but it’s obvious that Edo is desperate for revenge.

Queen Kane continues to ruffle feathers in Pennsa, ignoring the Captain’s advice of defending the kingdom and fortifying defences. Kane wants to go on the attack, claiming it’s the duty of “God” to do just this. Maghra is incredulous over what she’s hearing, pleading with Kane to see reason. She does no such thing and eventually leaves. Interestingly, Lord Harlan just so happens to be listening from the edge of the room, quiet as a mouse but with ears pricked over every word.

Harlan bides his time and confronts Kane while she’s having a bath. Catching her completely off-guard, he offers his services as a husband. Now, this would bind all the peoples together and as Harlan puts it “help change the minds that need changing.” Of course, this bond would also mean Harlan would be King – something Kane is well aware of.

Pennsa isn’t the only place disagreeing about the best way forward. In Trivantes, Edo greets the council and tries in vain to warn them about the sighted babes on the horizon. Thee council simply wave away the concerns, claiming they’ll all be killed if any show up.

After four days of beating, Baba Voss is thrown in a cell…next to the Witchfinder General, Tamacti Jun. This obviously doesn’t go down well with Baba, who froths at the mouth under the prospect of wringing Tamacti’s neck. That grip loosens slightly though when he learns Maghra is still alive and she’s actually a princess.

In the city, Baba Voss is wheeled out for all the people to see. After a circuit around the city, he’s being sent off to “be useful.” Unfortunately, Haniwa is brought out to see it all, with Wren awkwardly forced into the position of following orders she really doesn’t want too follow. The latest, in fact, is that she’s taken into Edo’s chambers.

Wren eventually makes her choice, deciding to free Baba Voss and bring him to Haniwa. Interestingly, the Witchfinder General decides to help out, taking out the guards and serving as a welcome distraction while Wren and Baba Voss find Haniwa and save her from her ordeal.

Outside though, Edo and Baba come to blows. The former bests his brother with Tao’s own sword against his neck. Edo plans to use Haniwa to birth numerous sighted children; a whole army to rise up and conquer the lands. This horrific scene is thankfully saved from coming to fruition through Haniwa hitting Edo with numerous arrows.

Baba decides against killing Edo though, realizing we’re only on episode 2 and there’s still a whole season left to play out, and leaves the city as alarms wail. Baba even keeps the Witchgeneral alive too.

As Haniwa and Baba Voss escape, the former picking off soldiers (including one just standing about pretty high high up), Wren sacrifices herself to make sure the pair go free.

Back in Pennsa, trouble brews as Kane loses her baby. She decides to keep the pretense up though for the people, although it’s clear this is going to cause serious problems going forward.

The Episode Review

See returns this week with another exciting – and slightly contrived – chapter, one that continues to dance around the idea of bringing guns into this to solve everything (despite us knowing they exist in this world given the finale last season.) We even get a glimpse of Edo’s big plan, which involves using a sighted army. And yet, they don’t need it. We’ve seen Haniwa is pretty handy with a bow and arrow, and she could singlehandedly take out an entire army from afar with a whole stack of arrows.

While these ideas of sighted and blindness are interesting, from a world-building perspective they completely fall apart under the slightest bit of scrutiny.

Edo’s plan isn’t exactly sound either; is he going to wait around 18 years for these babies to grow up? He knows the threat Pennsa poses and this plan just seems a little too long to make much sense.

Still, the acting is great in this and the political scheming between both settlements serves up an intriguing juxtaposition to see how both settlements deal with this growing crisis. Annoyingly though, plot armour plays a big part in this, with specific attention over just why Baba Voss didn’t kill Edo when he had the chance.

If he supposedly killed their father, surely he wouldn’t bat an eyelid over killing this meddlesome brother he’s been avoiding for 25+ years? Hopefully that’s explained going forward but it does seem a little too convenient for the script.

Either way, this follow-up to last week’s debut serves up a mixed cocktail of good, bad, and contrived. Will next week develop these plot-lines further? We’ll have to wait for next week to find out!