Summary: Crozier is staying in The Terror and drinking his problems away, which frustrates Fitzjames who wants a proper captain. Goodsir discovers that there has been lead poisoning which is the reason for all the sickness. Crozier speaks with Lady Silence and wants a way to kill the Tuunbaq but she refuses to comply. Crozier gets frustrated and Lady Silence explodes at him. Crozier alienates his crew and sends Blanky on the deck. The Tuunbaq attacks and Blanky is nearly killed but the crew manage to wound the Tuunbaq. Crozier accepts his drinking problem after Blanky has his leg amputated and chooses to be a good leader, leaving Fitzjames in charge while he recovers.
The Good: This episode revolved heavily around Crozier and put him through a short but very good character arc. We start the episode with Crozier in a very rough situation. We had gotten hints of his alcoholism in the last episode but it has completely consumed him by this episode. We have learned a lot about Crozier and we understand that his biggest demons come from his past and before we get to the biggest conflict in the show, we need to see him overcome his own demons. The alcohol addiction provides that conflict and it symbolizes Crozier's lack of ability to overcome himself. Eve when he is doing a captain's duty (which is very rare for him) by interrogating Lady Silence, she chooses to attack him personally, reminding him once more about how awful his life is. And his first response? He sends away one of his friends and decides once more to rest up and have a drink. It's powerful to see Crozier as such a mess and with the crew's chances of survival decreasing, it creates an incentive for us to want Crozier to return to being the man who he was 3 episodes ago. Furthermore, the episode uses this incentive to help get us to care about Fitzjames, who has been a background character for the most part. With him driving for Crozier to be the man he is supposed to be, even going as far as to quote the late Franklin about his insufficiencies, it makes us root for him which is a very important step to get us to like his character. More certainly needs to be done with Fitzjames, but this is a very good start. The resolution of Crozier's arc was very well done. I really like the idea to have a character arc occupy a complete episode, especially in the middle of the season. The middle chapters in a book are often the most boring, and that can translate to television as well. This show did an excellent job making this middle episode feel important and enjoyable by having a complete character arc cover a single episode. The best part though is how the resolution didn't feel rushed at all. Instead the episode used a separate plot point, the Tuunbaq, and combined it with Crozier's arc to provide him a reason to turn away from alcohol. It was the Tuunbaq causing Blanky to be amputated which awoke Crozier at last. He realized that this could have been prevented if he had been smarter, and as such learns from his mistakes and gives a fantastic speech at the end of the episode highlighting his change in character, demonstrating how he has finally shaken off his demons. With Fitzjames in charge, it gives Crozier valuable time to get back in shape so he can potentially be back to the respectable captain we saw in the first episode. There were other great developments in this episode. As I mentioned before, there was a separate storyline revolving the Tuunbaq in this episode which was expertly laced into the Crozier storyline to make both blend together as a cohesive unit. The best scene combining both was the interrogation of Lady Silence. We learned a lot of great information about the Tuunbaq here, planting many possibilities in our minds which is very interesting. I had initially thought that Lady Silence would be a sort of villain for the show, but the thought that she also seems to be scared of the Tuunbaq is an interesting one and makes me believe that it may be going rogue by attacking the men. It opens up a lot of interesting possibilities and creates a great hook for us as we head into the back half of the season. Hickey continues to be a fascinating question mark in the show. This episode demonstrated that he is very good at manipulating people and taking opportunities whenever he gets them. Could he be primed to become a villainous character now? We have already established some hostilities between him and Crozier, and now that we are seeing some typically villainous traits from him it feels likely that he will become a villain. I was very happy that the show included lead poisoning and used that to answer the sickness instead of something supernatural. I'm very happy that the show is making an effort to be historically accurate. Having done some research, I learned that the message left by Lt. Gore and the early death of Franklin were also historically accurate which impressed me. I love seeing shows put in effort to get the little things right, as they almost always result in an increase of quality. The Bad: There wasn't anything bad about this episode in a story perspective. However, I wills ay that the show is missing something. It hasn't emotionally engaged me yet. The writing has been fantastic and it has been a joy seeing the story unfold in front of us, but I'm yet to truly care about the characters or where the story goes. I'm only intrigued or interested. It's because of this that I don't feel comfortable rating this show too high, since I don't get the same level of enjoyment from this as I would from something like "Black Mirror". I understand that it is difficult to get emotional engagement from a ten episode show, but that doesn't excuse it for not being present in the episode. The Unknown: Does Lady Silence speak English? Her outburst was spurred by things which Crozier said in English, so did she actually understand him? What are the Tuunbaq's current allegiances? Does it serve Lady Silence or is it actually acting on its own? Is it getting revenge for the death of its previous owner? What are the extents of the Tuunbaq's injuries? Does it have any way to heal itself? Best Moment: The one scene I haven't talked about so far is the Tuunbaq attack. That's because I want to discuss it here. This show has shown total mastery of horror scenes. Franklin's terrifying death 2 episodes ago was stellar, yet this was somehow even better. The dark lighting, the fearsome presence of the Tuunbaq which is rarely seen, and the reaction we see from Blanky really sell the terror of this sequence as the Tuunbaq hunts down more men. It's survival horror at its absolute best. Character of the Episode: Crozier for having a great character arc in this episode. Conclusion: This show continues to deliver a great story with excellent elements of horror. However there is that emotional engagement missing which prevents this from being great television at the levels of some of the best TV shows out there. Don't get me wrong, this show is still great, especially for a miniseries, but I don't think it's quite on that amazing level I see potential for. Score: 65
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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