When the first season of HBO’s Raised by Wolves debuted last year, that Ridley Scott was attached to the Limited Series and actually directed the first two episodes, was one of the major selling points to check out this SciFi/Futuristic series. That the two main characters, Mother (Amanda Collin) and Father (Abubakar Salim) were androids taking care of human babies on a desolate side of a planet, invited intriguing possibilities and innate weirdness.

Most of our expectations were met in the first season, with impressive world-building, and a true sense of other-worldness. Both Collin and Salim were great in conveying the strangeness of androids, so while they looked like regular humans, the acting skills they put on, made it always very clear that they weren’t flesh and blood. The whole concept of raising a family, of bonding with the children out of duty, and what human attributes could possibly creep in, propelled our interest in the episodes.

That a posse of real humans who showed us why humans didn’t deserve to inhabit a world showed up, only made our identifying, and sympathizing with these androids a strong given. And so, through a media round table, that had us scrambling to attend, bleary-eyed, at 1am, we were afforded the opportunity to meet Collin and Salim, and the show’s writer, along with others responsible for the series.

Of course, the biggest question revolved around how Season 1 ended, with Mother giving birth to a snake-child, and what would happen now. The answer to that was ‘Watch Season 2’. Of course, they weren’t going to turn the round table to a spoiler extravaganza.

I was given the chance to watch the first three episodes of Season 2; and I’ll say here that if you loved the first season, there’s still much to explore and appreciate in story development. If anything, what we get yet again, is how real people, the humans who have travelled to this planet, are the worst examples of why our race should persist.

So this much I can say, that the series really does the Android-lore and characters very well; but have now fallen into the trap of making the humans predictable and one-dimensional. I’m also hoping that the coming episodes can do a better job of making the children develop as individuals, and not just as ‘tools’ for our androids to act out or say something pithy and philosophical.

I welcome Season 2; but have to admit that the novelty of the first season isn’t there anymore to pique our enthusiasm, so I’m sitting on the fence on just how great this Season 2 will turn out to be. That Mother is still such an intriguing character is, for now, Season 2’s saving grace. The new season drops on Feb. 3.

Filipinos can stream or download Raised by Wolves Season 2 from Feb. 3 only on HBO GO. Relive the complete first season of Raised by Wolves on HBO GO. Subscribe to HBO GO online at www.hbogoasia.ph or the mobile app via the App Store or Play Store on your device for as low as ₱99.70/month.