Some mild spoilers – but nothing that will ruin the show for you

Two androids look after the last of the human race…

Perhaps the most perplexing ten episodes of TV I have sat through in the already perplexing year of 2020 are those of HBO Max’s Raised By Wolves, now coming to Sky Atlantic and a wider UK audience. Perplexing because of the existential and metaphysical questions it poses? Hmmm. Not really. Perplexing, because by the end, this reviewer couldn’t decide whether I thought it was wonderful, original, compelling sci-fi, or actually… a bit naff. Perhaps it is both – and perhaps that’s not a bad thing.

The set-up is terrific. Two androids are sent to the barren planet of Keppler 22b to nurture what we are (somewhat erroneously) led to believe are the last six embryos of mankind, fleeing a planet destroyed by a global stand-off between atheists and ‘Sol’ worshipping ‘Mythraics’. So far, so Sci-Fi Eden.

The two series openers are directed by Ridley Scott – who also execs the series – and there are definitely notes of Prometheus to be enjoyed (and mainly the better notes for those who found Prometheus ultimately tiresome). Of course, all Edens go pear shaped (or should that be apple shaped?) and this one is no different, due to (and I don’t think this is really a spoiler) lots of other humans turning up.

It’s the other humans that I had problems with. The androids’ quest to be Adam and Eve to a new humanity is solid stuff and took me back to the classic science fiction I spent my teenage years reading in the pages of Galaxy magazine back in the 1970s. When we discover that one of them is actually a reprogrammed weapons grade model, that also spices things up nicely. But, like I say, loads of other people tip up – essentially a bunch of bumbling druidic dullards – and aside from wondering how they ever developed the technology to build anything more advanced than a bicycle let alone a deep space migrant ship, their inter-personal wranglings are tediously one dimensional and frankly a bit soapy. This might be because while it’s possible to excuse the wooden dialogue of the opening episodes as robotic android speak, when put into the mouths of people who are supposed to have beating hearts and complex emotions (not least concerning the demise of humanity) you realise that it was just wooden dialogue after all. This isn’t helped by rather a lot of wooden acting and some terrible costumes. Seriously, who goes to colonise a planet in white leather and capes?

But. But… but… but… the underlying story telling is good, and it’s definitely more-ish despite being at least two episodes too long (but then what series isn’t over stretched these days?). I was gobbling up the instalments, drawn in whilst simultaneously tittering at its clunking gaucheness. As it lumbers ever more erratically to the series finale, it throws all of its rules out of the window and goes completely loopy as it sets itself up for season 2, which this reviewer will definitely be watching.

So, yes, I am equivocal about it, but kudos to show runner Aaron Guzikowski for creating something bold and completely unapologetic. For sure, it lurches from idea to idea a bit chaotically, and it doesn’t always know which strands are really worth pursuing, and it’s oddly dated – but in a way that feels strangely refreshing at precisely the same time – and it does it all with great gusto and utter conviction. It’s a series that says, ‘I’m wearing loon pants – and I don’t care!’

6/10 but, simultaneously, 9/10

Martin Jameson