‘Anna’ Recap: ‘The Invisible Boar’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Four of ‘Anna’.
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For the most part, post-apocalyptic stories, find a way to inject hope into their nightmarish landscape and understandably so. After all, there is only so much darkness and mental stress that the human psyche can take. So, giving us a sliver of a better tomorrow or a chance at a return of civilization in these types of stories… removes that ugly stigma from our minds and engages us deeply in the story. But once in a great while, you run into a story in this vein, that decides to go hard and remove any and all hope from the equation. Which results in a harrowing journey that genuinely makes it feel as though the end is at hand, leaving the audience in a bleak and unsettled place and it just so happens, that the AMC+ series, Anna, accomplishes all of that… as evidenced by its next episode.

For ‘The Invisible Boar’ informs us of the fact that the lost children that Anna is spending time with, genuinely have no hope for a future. In large part because of the lack of adults in this world. For without the guidance and wisdom of parents and older siblings or anyone beyond the age of 15, these children aren’t gaining an understanding of what is right and what is wrong. Nor do they remotely comprehend boundaries and safety and common decency and not having any of that present in their minds and hearts, is sending them down a dark path. One without redemption or any possibility of a tomorrow and that was made apparent, by way of the cruelty that Angelica imparted upon Anna and others in this bleak and harrowing tale.

Because Anna tried to save her brother from this place and was captured in the process and sadly… in an attempt to escape she was bitten by a snake, and rather than let her rest or attempt to find any semblance of knowledge on how to solve this problem… Angelica went to extremes. In fact, she ordered Anna’s arm to be amputated for no good reason and that horrible act spoke volumes to the dangerous places’ ‘society’ is now headed without common sense and education present for these kids and it also hammers home the reality… that darkness awaits mankind in its final days. Since base instincts and emotions are driving what's left of humanity and that never ends well, and while that alone should have been enough to rob us of hope in this tale, another twist only sank our spirits further.

For we finally were able to get to know the ‘Little Lady’ that Angelica has been keeping hidden away and learn that Katia is their name, and they are indeed immune from the virus and have made it to adulthood… wherein they will die. For Angelica could not stand the fact that someone was going to outlive her, since the Red Fever had indeed taken hold and she planned for both Anna and Katia to be burned at the stake. Wherein their ashes would be fed to the Blue Kids and well… that’s about as bleak as it gets. Since Katia’s antibodies will be bathed in fire, cementing the reality that there is zero chance that humanity can survive this plague, and well… that definitely leaves the viewer in a sour place when this story comes to a close.

Since it means there is a fair chance, all we will do… is watch humanity flicker out before our very eyes and see the proud legacy we built be left to nature and silence and that made this quite the sobering story for certain. One that also frustrates and infuriates because of the wanton chaos present here. But that is the point of this tale, to shock us and stun us and leave us beside ourselves and really, all this episode does… is leave us wondering how much darker things can get. Because there are still two episodes left in this riveting first season and, there is a real chance we haven’t even hit rock bottom yet and what’s wild… is that this bleak entry in this tale, compels one to continue the journey. To see if it will go to the darkest places imaginable, or surprise us with the tiniest silver of hope and it will be quite interesting to see which way this story goes as season one comes to a close. Until next time.  

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