‘The Terror’ Recap: ‘The Ladder’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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As I settled in to watch the next episode of AMC’s The Terror, I have to admit that I was outright prepared for more psychological warfare from this show. For I truly thought the slow burn approach to horror the first two episodes established would continue along here, which meant we were in for more dark and ominous moments that were designed to engender dread and worry in the audience, all while the crew began its downward spiral into fear. But wouldn’t you know it? This series actually had quite the surprise in store for us, because ‘The Ladder’ actually managed to kick everything up a notch storytelling wise, by providing us with a tale filled to the brim with chills and tense moments.
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Which is fascinating to say the least since the early part of this episode, stayed close to the slow burn formula that brought us to this point. For this segment of the story once again focused on the mythos of the world these men were now plunged into, since it was revealed that the newly deceased Intuit man was carrying some important charms, the kind that the crew should have paid closer attention to. But alas, they simply didn’t understand anything that this man dealt with, but his mysterious companion did, and the newly dubbed Lady Silence made a point to stay near the ships after the old man’s burial, in order to keep an eye on things and create new totems, out of outright concern and that’s where the slow burn approach came to an end this tale, because what followed next was outright incredible.

Because cracks appeared in the interpersonal foundations that the two crews laid down ages ago, and they came from the most unlikely of places since this episode saw two captains go at one another with refined impunity. For Captain Crozier and Captain Franklin both disagreed on how they should handle their next steps when it comes to the fact that the ice simply isn’t thawing, and Francis, well he wanted to send out a rescue party now since their location was unknown to anyone outside of the crews. But that kind of thinking finally pushed sir John over the edge with Francis, and he spoke his mind freely and more or less called his number two a coward, prompting Francis to prepare a rescue team behind Sir John’s back, one that he would lead. But before he could pull off this bold plan, the horror in question arrived.

For Sir John decided to spend a little time with the marines that were hiding within a blind to hunt the bear that feasted upon Lieutenant Gore, and what seemed like a fairly by the numbers moment, turned into a waking nightmare when ‘the bear’ decided to surprise this little platoon of soldiers. And I use quotation marks around the description of that animal, because clearly what slaughtered the men isn’t a bear, it’s something mystical and powerful, a being that quite frankly, is able to attack from any direction and has a sense of revenge within its heart. Since, it clearly punished Sir John for his crew’s disrespectful burial of the Intuit man and well, this was just a powerful and terrifying sequence of events to watch since it truly came out of the blue and it truly changed the dynamic of this first season going forward.

After all, this evil is no longer hiding itself, which means it will more than likely strike again whenever the heck it feels like it, and to complicate matters further, a reluctant leader is now in charge of this frozen fleet since command now falls to Captain Crozier, and already, there are forces working against him aboard the Erebus since Sir John’s lackeys are clearly hell bent on carrying out a dead man’s agenda and well, this was just a magnificent episode when all is said and done. Because this is everything, I’ve been waiting for when it comes to this series. The men are afraid, hope is fading and something genuinely evil is lurking about the boats, and while that doesn’t seem like something to celebrate, from a storytelling standpoint, it’s pure genius. Because things will only get worse from here, meaning that the audience is in for one wild ride, one that features more scares as this creature works to feed upon two ample crews and one that will show us the darkest parts of man as fear takes root, and I am both curious and mortified to see what horrors await us, as things fall apart. Until next time.

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