Amc’s The Terror aired March 26th bringing with it a dark, and incredibly well done opening act. Here are my thoughts on the first two episodes of the show named Go for Broke and Gore.

AMC knows how to do the horror genre right as seen with their cult hit The Walking Dead.  So when I heard that AMC’s The Terror had Ridley Scott (Alien, Bladerunner) as one of the executive producers, I just had to give this one a chance.  Here is the official trailer below:

As I have mentioned before, this show is based off of harrowing real events of the disappearance of the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror in 1845 while trying to complete a trek through the Northwest Passage on the way to China and collect magnetic data. What is known is that the ships did disappear along with their crews, and it wasn’t until recently that the HMS Terror was found by the Arctic Research Foundation in 2016 submerged in Terror Bay, and the HMS Erebus was found in 2014.  The ships were found abandoned, and there was evidence later showing that the crew of both died of starvation and exposure while trying to trek to a safe haven.  There were also signs of cannibalism, but sadly we may never know what really, fully happened to them.  That is the historical story behind the show.

Ship wreckage of the HMS Terror found by the Arctic Research Foundation in 2016.

The show is also based off of a fictional book called The Terror by Dan Simmons which also took a different look at what could have happened to the crews of the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.

Novel The Terror by Dan Simmons

Now on to the show itself.  My initial impression of it is that it is very well done.  With an executive producer like Ridley Scott behind the scenes and directer Edward Berger at the helm, I knew that the cinematography was going to be phenomenal and boy was it.  I feel like the show was able to capture the foreboding and merciless world of the arctic.  I think the first two episodes really showed just how unforgiving mother nature can be especially in an environment that was not meant for mankind to live in.  I felt as if I was immediately immersed in this world with these men as they try to traverse this cold, dark world.  Nothing really jumps out and scares you, but it is still unsettling to watch as the atmosphere itself is terrifying.

Yet the most truly terrifying thing is human nature itself.  We see a little bit of this in the first two episodes as the characters interacted with each other and stark landscape around them.  Viewers were introduced to intriguing characters that seem fully fleshed out.  And I really just want to applaud the acting in this because it was so well done.  The three leads Captain John Franklin (played by Ciaran Hinds from Game of Thrones and Rome), his second in command Frances Crozier (played by Jared Harris from The Crown and The Expanse), and Commander James Fitzjames (played by Tobias Menzies from Game of Thrones and Outlander) played so well off each other.  I quickly became attached to their characters who were flawed yet good men.  The antagonistic relationship that James Fitzjames (Tobias Menzies) and Frances Crozier (Jared Harris) have between each other was so well done.

Ciaran Hinds as John Franklin, Tobias Menzies as James Fitzjames- The Terror _ Season 1, Episode 1 – Photo Credit: Screengrab/AMC

Jared Harris as Frances Crozier

And the stellar acting did not stop with the three leads.  I really felt that all the actors in this from Lady Silence (played by Nive Nielsen) to the deckhand who dies in the first episode did a wonderful and very convincing job in their acting.  I also thought that the character development and story telling in this was so well done.  I loved how there are already some interpersonal dramas between the crew members which will definitely come to the forefront later in the series.

Lady Silence played by Nive Nielsen

To some people they may find the story telling too slow, but I thought that the pacing was done just right in that there was plenty of early on character development mixed with a trickling of the dark supernatural elements we are sure to see more of in future episodes.  These creepy supernatural hints, from the vision of the old man that the dying crew member sees to the creepy pile of rocks in the middle of nowhere they find, all tie in nicely with the stark environment they are in.

I definitely give this an A+ and would recommend everyone watch this show!