If you would like to read my review of last week’s episode, click here.
Synopsis: The expedition’s epic journey reaches its climax as men find themselves in a final confrontation with the Inuit mythology they’ve trespassed into. (IMDB)
“We are Gone”starts off with a view of Mr. Hickey’s camp as Crozier is brought in, battered and bloodied. He reminiscences about the drink he once had with his former captain before instructing Crozier be cleaned up and unharmed. Crozier notices that Mr. Hickey is wearing Fitzjames’ boots. Back at Crozier’s camp, Little is trying to convince the men to raid the other camp and rescue Crozier, but they would rather follow his original order to continue south. Little berates them for their lack of loyalty and call them disbanders, but they proclaim that they are survivors.
Dr. Goodsir tends to Crozier’s wounds who believes Little will be arriving by that night. They count up the remaining men and weapons at Mr. Hickey’s camp as Dr. Goodsir reveals that they have resorted to cannibalism to survive. He instructs Dr. Goodsir on the plan and where to go if they are divided, but he knows he will not make it out of the camp and asks Crozier to bring a ring back to London for him. They discuss the fate of Lady Silence and reveal they think she’s alive and well with her people which reassures Goodsir. Hodgson arrives and takes Crozier to Mr. Hickey, but not before Dr. Goodsir advises the captain to avoid eating any meat and if he must choose the soles of the feet as they are the toughest to chew.
A sick Jopson awakes to find the able-bodied crew walking off leaving a few tins at each of the tents of the remaining men. He drags himself along the rocks, seeing hallucinations of Crozier eating at a table. Crozier tries to persuade Mr. Hickey to let Lt. Hodgson and a few others head back to the other camp and help the sick men, but Mr. Hickey taunts Crozier with recounting the day he turned his first officer. He goes on about the mythology behind the Tuunbaq and the constant terrors that the crew faced on this voyage. He sees Crozier as his equal and he thanks him for that.
Crozier sits in his tent trying to remove his shackles when Mr. Diggle offers his help for the captain so he can slip out during the night, but Crozier wants to make sure to take some of the men back with him. Dr. Goodsir washes his body covering himself with the contents of a mysterious vial. He drinks a larger vial and closes his medicine box. He lays down in his bed and slits his wrist, killing himself. The following day Mr. Hickey brings Crozier out to eat their latest meal: Dr. Goodsir. He sees it as a gift as the doctor could have run off into the hills. Crozier refuses at first, but when Mr. Hickey won’t take no for an answer he walks over to Dr. Goodsir’s body and cuts off the sole of his foot. He takes a very chewy bite to the approval of Mr. Hickey as the rest of the men begin their meal. He looks at Mr. Diggle and shakes his head, warning him not to eat the meat. Mr. Hickey asks about a boat chain and gets up, hitting Sgt. Tozer in the back of the head with his rifle.
Mr. Hickey’s group moves along the barren arctic as Crozier is forced to help pull the boat. The men stop and discuss where they last saw the creature. Mr. Hickey wants to kill the creature for its resources as they men finally feel hope for the first time in a long time. As some of them start to cough up blood, Mr. Hickey reveals he killed the real Hickey and assumed his identity to flee from England and start a new life so his plan was never to go back. He starts to shout out “God Bless our Native Land”and forces the men to join in until the Tuunbaq arrives.
The men prepare their guns for the beast, but they start to become stir crazy. Des Voeux dashes off the opposite direction and Armitage is shot by Manson leaving one armed men to defend the rest. The Tuunbaq emerges over the ridge and grabs one of them in his mouth. The men forced to pull the boat yank it forward to knock Mr. Hickey down and use the boat for cover. Mr. Diggle tries to flee, but the Tuunbaq catches him and rips open his back. As Lt. Hodgson tries to unshackle the group, he’s picked up in the Tuunbaq’s mouth by his head and thrown around like a ragdoll. Another is pulled from underneath the boat and ripped apart as Tozer and Crozier and thrown forward away from cover. Mr. Hickey tells Manson to stand and watch as the Tuunbaq appears in his face and rips him apart.
Mr. Hickey begins to cut out his tongue in the hope of controlling the beast while Tozer is able to free himself from the shackles. He throws the keys to Crozier as he arms himself and fires at the beast. Just as Crozier is about to remove his chains, he is pulled to the ground as the Tuunbaq has eaten Tozer and is attached to the other end. The Tuunbaq stops as Mr. Hickey stands beside him, blood pouring down his chest as he offers his tongue to the beast. He looks at the offering and quickly chomps down on Mr. Hickey’s arm before picking him up by the waist and ripping him in half. However, the Tuunbaq is injured and falls to the ground, unable to hold itself up any longer. Crozier tries to move closer to free himself, but the Tuunbaq swipes at him and claws across his chest. He sits up and pulls the chain as hard as he can, releasing it from the Tuunbaq’s stomach and in the process killing it.
As the sun begins to rise, Lady Silence meets with another Inuit. She passes by Des Voeux and leaves him to die in the arctic desert. On her journey she finds the site of the Tuunbaq attack and the dead creature lying in the middle of it. She notices Crozier, who is intact and barely alive, and is able to free him from the shackles by cutting off his hand and take him on her sleigh. She takes him back to their camp where she finds the mutilated corpse of Dr. Goodsir. Lady Silence is able to tend to Crozier’s wounds and nurses him back to health. They travel to the other camp where he finds Jopson’s body and a barely standing campsite. Lady Silence and Crozier venture onward looking for the remaining men and unfortunately stumble upon a destroyed camp with signs of cannibalism and hypothermia. Crozier finds Lt. Little who has chains attached to his face and manages to let out one word “Close”before he dies.
Lady Silence brings Crozier back to her people where her name is revealed to be Silna. He is allowed to stay and adapts to the Inuit way of life while Silna is still outcasted from their society. Two years later, the rescue party has made it to the Inuit camp where the men are asking if they have seen any of the expedition. They recognize a photo of Crozier, but he instructs the Inuit leader to tell the rescue party that everyone died, there is no Northwest Passage and that they should never return. The episode ends with Crozier, now dressed in Inuit furs, who has happily assimilated into the community as he goes off and hunts seals with some of the residents.
Overall, this was a phenomenal finale. Everything comes to a head as Crozier and Mr. Hickey have their final showdown with not only themselves and the elements, but the creature as well. The themes of survival and morality are paired well with the desolate, icy atmosphere and the psychological thrills of both the crew’s descent into madness and the monster’s return. Many of these stories get an ending, albeit a horrifying one for most, but that is what one would expect with a lost expedition. The Terror is able to take everything it had been building in its tension filled season and had it erupt in a horrific and satisfying conclusion to this mysterious tale.
Score: 9.5/10
