The Terror is a 2018 television series about the crew of a Royal Naval expedition searching for the Arctic’s treacherous Northwest Passage who discovers instead a monstrous predator.
Things have REALLY escalated in AMC’s The Terror as the finale looms nearer and nearer. Episode 8 wound up pitting the crew against one another as Captain Francis Crozier (Jared Harris) attempted to get to the bottom of the murder from last episode. Also, our monster is back after taking a brief hiatus. Based on the last few episodes, it’s looking like AMC might have quite the finale in store.
The episode begins with Crozier and Captain James Fitzjames (Tobias Menzies) doing some patrolling around their camp. Fitzjames opens up to Crozier about his background and how his appointment on their mission came from a stroke of luck and high connections. Crozier reassures him of his worth and value, to which Fitzjames is very relieved.
Picking up from where last episode left off, Cornelius Hickey (Adam Nagaitis) has blamed the heinous murder of his crewmen on the Eskimos that they’d come across, leading other members of the crew to slaughter the Eskimo family. Hickey starts to rally some of the men against the Eskimos by telling them about what a threat they are. Upon returning to camp Crozier immediately questions Hickey’s story, as he knows the Eskimo to be a peaceful people.
As Hickey continues his plan and gets some arms dispersed amongst his followers, Crozier has Dr. Harry Goodsir (Paul Ready) open up the stomachs of their slain men. Inside one of them he finds seal meat, which tells him that the Eskimo met his men in peace and offered them food. Following this, Crozier orders that Hickey and Sgt Solomon Tozer (David Walmsley), who led the armament effort, be arrested and sent to the gallows.
Shortly after, Hickey and Tozer are awaiting their hangings while Crozier tells the men of Hickey’s murderous ways. After Crozier finishes, he allows Hickey his final words, during which he accuses Crozier of a plan to abandon the men a year earlier. In the midst of Hickey’s speech the monster returns and attacks the crew. The episode ends with a close up shot of the monster eating one of the men, and it almost looks as if it’s absorbing him in some way.
Tension was the name of the game in Episode 8 as the crew continues being divided. For weeks we’ve watched Hickey conspire and plot against his Captain, and last week we saw the true nature of his insanity. I was concerned throughout the episode that Hickey would get the men to fully up rise against Crozier, so it was quite a relief when Crozier was able to quickly solve the murder. Just when it seemed justice was about to be served to Cornelius Hickey, our giant snow monster appeared out of nowhere and began another massacre. Lady Silence (Nive Nielsen) had been sent away from the camp earlier in the episode, so she may very well have been controlling the monster. If we’re lucky, the show will continue the recent tide of the past couple weeks and lead us into one heck of a finale.