"Raised by Wolves" TV series (2020)

The trailer got my attention. It was genuinely eye catching, had some stunning visual effects and it had Ridley Scott involved - now, I worship the ground this man walks on, he created such amazing movies like "Alien", "Blade Runner", "Thelma & Louise", "Gladiator", "Kingdom of Heaven", "Prometheus" and "The Martian". Really, when it comes down to it, he might be the only movie director close to mighty Steven Spielberg as for the wide repertoire, choices of completely different subjects and a massive commercial success. I read some recent interviews with him and its clear the man is passionate about his work (he is 83 now) which explains his success - when you enjoy your work, it is not  chore or a task but a labour of love. He really creates something new and its amazing because after all the movies I have seen, I am still surprised with things Scott comes up with.

In general I am a bit cautious about approaching big, fat books or long TV series with 75 seasons because it feels like a task. But it is a lockdown, I have really nothing else to do (but cooking, eating, cleaning, walking and sleeping) so I decided to have a look and the first glance was actually during New Year's Eve when I decided to stay in bed with wine and watch "Raised by Wolves". It was fantastic and I was really in the mood for it - so much that I completely ignored what was going on outside (some half-assed attempt to celebrate New Year with fireworks, like there is any reason to celebrate and pretend to be cheerful) and binged on the first three episodes - by the way, Ridley Scott is a producer but he directed only first two episodes, honestly I can't see any difference between his work and other directors because they all respectfully follow his example. 

It starts with a bang - the planet Earth is destroyed and the spaceship with two androids ("Mother" and "Father") arrives on some deserted planet where they have task to grow a little group of human children out of some seeds connected to android mother. Clearly, they are programmed to save the human population and like some robotic Adam and Eve, they do their best to raise these children in the middle of the barren, cold and unwelcoming desert. They are also fiercely atheistic and teach the kids not to believe in religion - this comes as a problem when another spaceship crashes on this lonely planet, brining the whole bunch of Mithraic religious sect who have their own agenda. It raises a very interesting question: what if there is a interplanetary religion that might blindly and passionately follow its own rules? Just like in our own history when two sides first met and inevitably one conquered the other, guided by strong belief - these Mithraic people initially seem as a saviours, just to show their real face very soon - like a mythical Medusa, "Mother" becomes a weapon that unleashes her unlimited powers on everybody and she is so dangerous that even children freak out and become scared of her. So now I am at the point where nobody is sure is she a robot that went crazy or what - its obvious that she is all-powerful and far more dangerous than "Father" who is kind of useless anyway - and Mithraic people are approaching the farm with the children so it would be interesting to see what comes next, I am really into this big time. Its very clever, it has excellent visual effects and like the best of SF it has roots in a mythology.