The Terror - Terror Camp Clear

I have always been fascinated with lost expeditions. Historians have done their fair share of digging to kind of attempt to fill in whatever gaps are missing. What they are unable to do, there are creative minds willing to visualize and depict, examine and illustrate an alternative theory of those little-recorded events, not altogether documented or foretold, imagined and developed by those looking to paint a portrait, a dark, tragic, gloomy work that surmises what a doomed mission into the Arctic might be.

In this episode of The Terror, officers and crew are gradually succumbing to fear, malnourishment, sickness, madness, paranoia, and exhaustion. With Hickey getting in the heads of many of them, Crozier and Fitzjames trying to keep it all together, and the unnecessary slaughter of an officer and the Eskimaux Netsilik (thanks to Hickey, making up a story about how the Netsilik were at fault and hiding the seal food source from his superiors), the eroding and deteriorating conditions both in terms of their mental and physical states continue to worsen.

I really liked the opening conversation between Crozier and Fitzjames. They have been at odds in the past, but in their climate of despair and loss, the two developed a respect for each other. Fitzjames reveals to Crozier that he didn't come from "good stock", his dad less than a model mentor, his parentage not altogether English, his life as an officer built on vanity instead of valor. But Crozier encourages him to see his value, and the two recognize themselves as brothers. I just really liked this brief, warm dialogue as the two walk about the grounds before their lives are forever altered by Hickey's actions and the oncoming chaos stemmed from the Tuunbaq. As an opposite, Hickey applies his persuasive manipulation to ranked and unranked officers alike, initiating a treasonous plan to leave behind Crozier's larger crew for their own endeavors. The divisions are clear and Lady Silence will need to be freed before Hickey and his goons could get a hold of her. Meanwhile Goodsir sees her leaving as a casualty of prejudice and a prevailing bigotry. As sickness begins to overwhelm the crew (Fitzjames and other sick members begin to experience lesions on their body and ensuing mental health trouble), the problems just escalate.

The investigation into the deaths of the Netsilik and Hickey’s version of events, how the seal’s meat (still rather fresh, found not digested yet) in Lt. Irving (having returned to Hickey and the other murdered officer to tell them of his discovery when he was mutilated by the insidious mutineer) undermines Hickey and his lies, the compounding issues Crozier now endures as members of his crew have gained access to guns without his permission, the enveloping fog that continues to encroach their camp, the lead-poisoned cans of food that continue to sicken and weaken those who eat from them, and the returning Tuunbaq, rampaging through the camp as it devours officers. The Tuunbaq’s timing is impeccable for Hickey, who was about to be lynched after a rightful court martial. Hickey tries to turn the officers against Crozier, claiming he was planning to abandon all under him, but before he could finish the Tuunbaq bursts on the scene, emerging out of the fog this ferocious monster, roaring and tearing into anyone in its trajectory. This entire closing set piece is incredible. The monster might be right off a computer, but the inclusion of the fog and how the tents in the camp are so tightly arranged within a perimeter that is quite enclosed yet unstable as a hiding place, with the white of the ice underneath them sending off this bright white (that sort of blends in with the encroaching fog) that seems to serve as a type of camouflage is damned impressive. With Hickey the real heel of the show as the Tuunbaq comes and goes to leave carnage behind, this episode develops its turmoil to the conclusion marvelously. It just all goes to hell as men scramble, tents serve as no safe haven, guns and supplies are confiscated by Hickey and his hoods, bodies are strewn about, Fitzjames fires rockets at the monster while it pounces on a delirious office overcome by the poisoned food, and Crozier realizes that he has no choice but to allow the mutineers to flee without confrontation.

5/5