The Terror: Gore

March 30, 2018 6:59 PM - Season 1, Episode 2

After a long winter trapped in the ice, scouting parties are sent out in search of open water. One of the teams makes a frightening discovery.
posted by Countess Elena (8 comments total)

These two episodes came together On Demand, and I watched them that way, like a movie. It was at this time I began to realize just how different the series would be from the book. To start with, Lady Silence is not actually -- well, I think it's an improvement, creating a whole lot more room for character development. It's also not a good move to have somebody so close to a Noble Savage as she was in the book. I did not realize, when I read the book, that the Inuit myth invoked was almost wholly created out of whole cloth. I don't know what the Inuit community made of this, but to have Lady Silence as a less enigmatic character is the least the series could do.

I also see that the same-sex relationship is entirely different, which again is for the best. In the book, it was the villain abusing a mentally disabled inferior; here, it's consensual and between equals.

One change from the book that I definitely don't like is the prominence of the dog. Something horrible is going to happen to him, I don't know what. In the book, you just assumed it had, but now I feel certain that we're going to have to see it.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:07 PM on March 30, 2018 [6 favorites]

Having just come back from visiting some glaciers, I adored the big scene shots. Literally shouted when they did the pull-back shots of the boats trapped in ice.

The telegraphing from the start with the word "hubris" and the current state of events is quite delicious. And those transposing shots of the standing ovation, applause at the opera juxtaposed with a furrowed captain's brow? Brilliant.

Haven't read the books, but I'm a sucker for anything related to seafaring, exploration or being shipwrecked and this satisfies many cravings and interests for me.

Alas, I may resort to subtitles on re-watch. The accents are thick and a bit hard for me to parse at times.

The tailoring, too, is sublime. Love seeing the little details in their diving suit, the captain's coat, etc.

Surgery scenes I could do without, but you can't tell a story about arctic exploration during that period with zero gore/deaths.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 9:53 PM on March 30, 2018 [5 favorites]

I watched them back-to-back on Monday and it struck me a bit that the second episode felt a little ... I dunno, cheaper? ... then the first. The first one has a lot of very beautiful shots of the ships in the ice -- particularly that amazing shot in which the sea is covered in lilypads of ice. The second one spent quite a lot of time around that ridge of rocks, and that felt a lot more like a set in a studio.

(Are these Books Included? I did read the book but it was a long while ago now and I don't remember much of it.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 3:38 PM on March 31, 2018

I forgot to make a posting on Talk asking if "books included" would be something people wanted! I read the book in the past year, and to be honest I don't remember a whole lot about its details. I remember the most striking and arresting things, and the most problematic, and that's all. Do people have feelings about discussing it here?
posted by Countess Elena at 9:57 AM on April 1, 2018

I don't recall much of the book either, having only half-read it yonks ago. So from my perspective it's fine to have book discussion included in these threads.
posted by turbid dahlia at 2:51 PM on April 3, 2018

As for the show, I watched both episodes last night and found them thrilling. I am a huge fan of ye olde navy stories told on film - the ABC/BBC James Cook series from decades ago, and of course Master and Commander - and the set dressing here is just gorgeous, and the actors all excellent. A lot of folk are suggesting it is slow-paced, which I guess it is, but for my money it doesn't matter, as it works.

Countess Elena, I agree with you about the dog. Any time there is a dog in a show or film of this nature, I just assume something awful and upsetting is going to happen to it. It's a lovely dog, too.
posted by turbid dahlia at 2:55 PM on April 3, 2018 [3 favorites]

At this point in the series is when I realized that the guy who plays Francis is the same one who played Anderson Dawes on The Expanse. This meant a lot of shouting at the screen about “beltalowda” in the Corb household, along with a decision that he would always be correct, having survived the ravages of space. Time will tell how correct we are.
posted by corb at 9:23 AM on April 4, 2018 [4 favorites]

When we watched this episode, I was wearing the Tangerine Dream t-shirt my wife had given me for xmas with the cover of their Zeit album on it. So imagine my surprise when Birth Of Liquid Plejades (somewhere after the 7 minute mark) was used in the scene where they find the first cairn.
posted by Catblack at 3:07 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]