REVIEW: The Terror, Season 1 Episode Four 'Punished, As A Boy'

 REVIEW: The Terror, Season 1 Episode Four 'Punished, As A Boy'

After the shock ending of the previous episode, it would be a serious understatement to say that the show's landscape had changed. A lead character has effectively been removed, and with that always comes huge ramifications for the characters who remain. This is very true of The Terror.

First we get a sense of what is going on at home, as Sir John's wife Lady Jane Franklin (Greta Scacchi), along with her niece Sophie Cracroft (Sian Brooke), demand answers from the Admiralty as to why they aren't doing more to find the missing crew of the two ships. The pair are understandably concerned about the situation, given that the ships have seemingly vanished, and the Admiralty simply don't seem to care. This scene does go on a little too long, although it is nice to get a sense of what is happening on land, as well as out at sea. Tensions on the two ships certainly are at an all time high. Captains James Fitzjames (Tobias Menzies) and Francis Crozier (Jared Harris) are hardly the greatest of friends for a start, and the crew seem to be growing restless. When the fight breaks out over the kidnapping of the Inuit girl (Nive Nielsen), it hardly seems all that surprising that things have gone this way. This is by very definition a broken crew; they have lost their leader, and now they face having to adapt to his second in command. The episode does a great job here at showing how recent events have impacted the ships' status quo, as you get a sense of the major loss that has been befallen the expedition, and the significant impact it has left behind. Hickey (Adam Nagaitis) is the man responsible for the kidnapping, which brings these tensions to the forefront, and it is really brutal to witness him being whipped on his back as punishment. There's something about viewing a whipping (even if it is obviously fake) that is very uncomfortable to watch; I am sure I won't be the only one who finds himself instinctively wincing whenever the whip makes contact with Hickey. The Inuit girl gets more respectful treatment from Henry Goodsir (Paul Ready), who brings her food and tries to converse with her. Henry shows her compassion and respect, and these are the kind of scenes I like in television drama, as they show us who a character is deep down. Henry is clearly somebody with heart and humanity, and Hickey could learn a lot from him.

The bear creature, we learn, is something more than a normal bear, and there are hints that it could be an altogether more supernatural threat. Whatever it is, it's certainly savage, with the way it slashes at its victims. Here, we see one victim whose remains have been left with his brain exposed, and another who has been ripped in half. The special effects here really are remarkable; they are extremely convincing to the eye, and these genuinely look like they could be real human remains. This episode also has some beautiful cinematography with the northern lights, and it's interesting how this iconic natural phenomenon is used here. Normally you would assume this event with beauty, but here there's something that feels quite foreboding about the light they produce. It's almost, again, like a feel of the supernatural. As though something beyond typical human expectation is watching, overseeing, as the ships' crews traverse across the icy landscape. A general sense of menace, that something could be lurking right around the corner, waiting to strike... Overall, The Terror's fourth episode is another strong outing for the horror anthology series. The opening scene may have been a little slow, but once the action returns to the ships stranded at sea the episode really picks up, and provides some tantalising hints at just what this bear creature may be.

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What are your thoughts on The Terror's fourth episode? Let me know in the comments section.