REVIEW: The Terror, Season 1 Episode Six 'A Mercy'

 REVIEW: The Terror, Season 1 Episode Six 'A Mercy'

Stupid decisions, it seems, are a common theme across the horror genre. At some point in any horror narrative, you are bound to find a character makes a choice that seems particularly foolish. It's an unwritten rule of the genre, and as a result appears to be totally unavoidable.

This is certainly the case for The Terror's sixth episode, 'A Mercy', which sees James Fitzjames (Tobias Menzies) - now in full control after captain Francis Crozier (Jared Harris) stepped down in the previous episode - decide to hold a carnival for the crew of both ships. He does this, despite being informed that they are low on supplies, and despite the fact that there's a killer supernatural bear on the loose. This show really is very good at showing just how badly managed this whole expedition is.

The resulting carnival does look very impressive. I dread to think just how much money was pumped into creating this set on the artic landscape, as the production design is totally on-point, contributing a very real and authentic feel to proceedings.

It feels almost a shame when it all burns down, men burst into flames and the entire event turns into a complete disaster. It leads to a very spectacular sequence though, that's quite a feat in single camera production, in the way that it is shot with this real sense of urgency bursting through every camera angle utilised.

Francis clearly is not very well, and you have to commend the make-up team for the great job they have done in making Jared Harris look so frail. When you see Francis bed-ridden or peaking around a corner with a towel wrapped around him, he looks genuinely very peaky, and again it just adds to the authenticity of it all.

It's great also how this show is so open about discussing mental health issues. Last episode we got Lady Silence stating her belief that Francis is feeling suicidal, and in this episode Henry Collins (Trystan Gravelle) openly confesses about the dark thoughts that have been going through his mind. I really like that this show isn't afraid to explore such serious and important topics like this; it's so refreshingly candid about something which affects so many people, and it would be nice to see more TV dramas with characters who are struggling in this way.

Lady Silence (Nive Nielsen) continues to make for a rather unsettling presence in this episode. Firstly, we see her tucking into an animal by removing the blood and guts to get to the meat, in what is a particularly gruesome scene to watch. This is a moment within the episode that I could see alienating viewers who are particularly squeamish, as it doesn't hold back on showing the animal's insides, and as a result it is a little uncomfortable to witness.

Interestingly we also see Lady Silence hold a ritual to become the shaman to the supernatural bear known as the Tuunbaq, and this seems to imply that her Dad was very much operating under this creature's presence. This is the first sign that the carnival is going to go devastatingly wrong, as she turns up bloodied from the severing of her tongue that she had to do in order for the ritual to work, and is clearly under the Tuunbaq's spell. The episode does a good job making you feel this dread for the crews of The Terror and Erebus when she shows her face, although we get more dodgy CGI of the Tuunbaq, and it makes me once again wish that they'd stuck to just teasing this creature's presence.

Overall this was another great episode of The Terror. This instalment shows an in-depth understanding of the tropes of the horror genre, and what we as viewers have come to expect from this style of storytelling, whilst also offering a candid exploration of mental health and some spectacular scenes in the carnival fire sequence. However the CGI of the Tuunbaq still remains very unconvincing, and the scene where Lady Silence removes the blood and guts from a dead animal she decides to eat is a bit too uncomfortable to watch.

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