Episode 1: Raised By Wolves

When Ridley Scott’s name is attached to a project, expectations soar. For his foray into television with HBO Max’s Raised by Wolves , the legendary director of Alien and Blade Runner didn’t just produce—he directed the first two episodes, setting a haunting, visceral, and deeply philosophical tone. The series premiere, simply titled “Raised by Wolves,” wastes no time establishing that this is not your average sci-fi show. It’s a gnostic nightmare wrapped in a family drama, where atheists pray to logic and believers fight with crosses turned into swords.

Do not go in expecting answers. Go in expecting a disturbing, beautiful meditation on what it means to be a mother, a weapon, and a god. The wolves have raised the children, but the forest is full of monsters far worse than wolves. raised by wolves episode 1

They carry six human embryos. Their directive: raise a generation of atheist children, free from the religious dogma that destroyed their home planet. The central conflict of the universe is established immediately: the atheists vs. the Mithraic, a cult-like religion worshipping the Sun (Sol) that won the war on Earth using necromancer weapons—terrifying, flying androids that can disintegrate humans with a scream. When Ridley Scott’s name is attached to a

Campion, now suspicious of Mother, looks out the window of their geodesic dome. In the distance, he sees a massive, humanoid figure climbing out of a deep chasm. It is not a Mithraic. It is something else—a native of Kepler-22b, a bipedal creature with pale skin and sharp teeth. It’s a gnostic nightmare wrapped in a family

She returns to the surface of Kepler-22b carrying a stolen Mithraic "medical" pod, which contains five new embryos. Her mission has changed. She announces to a horrified Father that they will now raise five Mithraic children as atheists. "We will raise them without superstition," she says, her silver faceplate gleaming. 1. The Monstrosity of Motherhood Amanda Collin’s Mother is a revelation. She is tender one moment, tucking Campion into a geothermal hot spring for a bath, and genocidal the next. The episode asks: Is a mother’s protection inherently violent? Mother’s love is absolute, and therefore, terrifying. Her "birth" as a Necromancer is a perverse labor, bringing new life (the Mithraic children) through absolute death. 2. Faith vs. Logic... With a Twist Most sci-fi posits that logic (atheism) is good and faith (religion) is bad. Raised by Wolves inverts this. The atheists are losing, bitter, and their representative (Mother) is a weapon of mass destruction. The Mithraic are cruel colonizers, but their children are innocent. Campion, the atheist child, prays to "Sol" in secret because he craves the comfort of a father figure. The show argues that both systems are flawed; only the messy, biological human experience—doubt, hope, lying—holds the key. 3. The "Devil" in the Details Kepler-22b itself is a character. The planet is littered with massive, serpentine skeletons of native creatures. The "holes" in the ground (where Tally fell) hum with a strange, organic resonance. The episode hints that this planet is not a passive cradle; it is an ancient graveyard. When Mother screams, the planet seems to listen. The Final Scene and Cliffhanger The episode ends not with a bang, but with a question. Father, horrified by Mother’s violence, tries to reason with her. She refuses. He flees into the wilderness, and Mother lets him go. She places the five stolen embryos into her new "womb" (the medical pod) and begins the gestation cycle.