Blood Really Does Run Cold in AMC's Latest Tale of "Terror"

Some history In 1845 reallife Captain Sir John Franklin led the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror on a joint expedition to the Arctic in order to find the Northwest Passage a direct trade route between Great Britain and China and India amp160The men on these ships were never seen alive again and while the exact details of what happened were lost to nature and time American author Dan Simmons filled in some of the blanks in 2007 through his historical fictionthriller aptly named The Terror amp160Eleven years later the novel has been brought to life with such a faithful level of adherence to the details of the period that itamp8217s hard to believe one isnamp8217t watching exactly what happenedWe mostly follow the captain of the HMS Terror Sir Francis Crozier which is fine because who doesnamp8217t want to watch Jared Harris act amp160Sir John Franklin Crozieramp8217s friend and hubrisdriven superior and Captain James Fitzjames Franklinamp8217s second in command are also expertly brought to life by Ciaramp225n Hinds and Tobias Menzies respectively amp160These three gentlemen have the responsibility of guiding hundreds of souls through a section of the world that seems intent on killing them a premise with which Ridley Scott is extremely familiar amp160Harris Hinds and Menzies are pictured below left to rightLine this show up with many of Scottamp8217s claims to fame and itamp8217s hard to see a real difference amp160In Alien Aliens Prometheus and Alien Covenant just to name a few the charactersamp8217 situation is essentially the same theyamp8217re in a ship on a doomed expedition that falls victim to an unforgiving environment while they contend with a ferocious threat they donamp8217t truly understandIn all of those films the charactersamp8217 fates are accelerated by Scottamp8217s favorite narrative tool shitty decisionmakingamp160 The actions that lead to nearly everyoneamp8217s demise are almost always born of stupid or illogically selfish decisions amp160Forget the fact that we know these ships the Erebus and Terror and their crews will be lost before we get even three minutes into the pilot the perilous outcome of their voyage was made clear to them by Crozier himself almost right away Though the existence of his own personal demons is apparent he seems the most logical of the three men in charge yet he is ignored again and again until itamp8217s too late amp160A similar situation happens with my favorite character the purehearted Dr Harry Goodsir Paul Ready in which he discovers and speaks up about yet another threat to the crew and his pleas initially end up falling on deaf ears as wellThe best parts of this show come from the character work amp160Yes thereamp8217s a monster or whatever but with Scott taking the lessismore page right out of the horror story playbook itamp8217s more effective when itamp8217s not being seen amp160That said the only reason I even care about who the monster kills is because if removed one is left with a story about what is essentially a group of boys being marched towards death by the hubris of this Manifest Destinytype of thinking their leaders subscribe to amp160The idea that God is behind your country and its efforts to achieve glory and dominion through itamp8217s economic accomplishments can be a powerful one and when combined with a general air of superiority and the inability to earnestly consider the advice of oneamp8217s council it makes embarking on a trip like that a veritable death sentence amp160But hey everybody needs a jobThese young men are just trying to earn a living feed their families do something honorable andor be someone differentbetter and the viewer gets a real sense of that as their time spent with the lower ranks in these ships increases amp160This is still 1847ish though and at the time man was still technologically unadvanced enough that almost everything was a serious problem if not a fatal oneamp160 One second youamp8217re laughing with your friends in the belly of a ship the next youamp8217re spitting up blood which is the nineteenth century version of amp8220youamp8217ve got like an hour leftamp8221 amp160I spent most of the show actually forgetting there was a monster just to have an amp8220oh shtamp8221 moment when it reappeared to remind me why I started watchingEvery character grows and it dawned on me about two thirds of the way through the season when I realized I was basically watching a different show amp160The dynamics had changed relationships had changed attitudes had changed and people had died and it all happened so organically that it barely registered at first amp160I honestly donamp8217t know what affected these people more exposure to the brutal weather the bloodthirsty creature hunting them through the frozen tundra or the smaller personal terrors that extended bouts of paranoia and disease caused them to bring upon themselves and each otherThere really isnamp8217t too much more I can get into without spoiling a lot of the show Iamp8217ve seen 90 of the season at this point but I will say this For fans of the novel youamp8217ll probably feel this is a pretty faithful and respectful rendition of something you already love amp160For those of you who like me had never heard of this title understand that both The Terror and its characters donamp8217t remain the show or people they were when you first meet them This may be the best new series of the year to date amp160It is certainly the grandest and most gripping adventure so far much of it made more frightening by the frozen unforgiving environment in which the characters are trappedAll that39s missing is a terrifying ice dragon but TV already has one of thoseClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management 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Blood Really Does Run Cold in AMC's Latest Tale of "Terror"

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Ainsley Andrade

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Blood Really Does Run Cold in AMC's Latest Tale of "Terror"

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