‘Anna’ Recap: ‘The Woods Protect Us’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the series premiere of ‘Anna’.
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It has often been said that the children are our future, and it makes sense as to why. For they truly are the next generation and with the proper guidance and education, they should go forth as adults and change the world for the better, and that is one big reason why we protect them and nurture them. But we also do so… because we harbor great fears about what children can become without guidance. For time and time again, we’ve met people that clearly didn’t receive the right guidance and grow up to be broken and/or unsavory, and we fear this outcome so badly… that sometimes what children could become without the protection of adults, is explored in great detail in fiction.

For there we can truly understand the horrors that come about when the innocent are given no guidance, and we can use that story as a cautionary tale, and it just so happens that there is a brand-new series on AMC+ that explores just that, in the most unique way imaginable. For Anna is a series that introduces us to a young girl that shares the namesake of the series and when we catch up with Anna and her little stepbrother Astor in ‘The Woods Protect Us’, we come to learn that they are in quite the precarious place. Because this duo is on their own and living in the woods, for their parents have died and… so has most of the world's population. For a few years back a powerful and potent virus known as the ‘Red Fever’ swept across the globe and wiped out all the adults, leaving children to fend for themselves and well… it doesn’t take long for the story to show us, that a world without adults would be disastrous for the children left behind.

Because the children we meet here for the most part, are simply roving about with no purpose or direction outside of finding food and a warm place to sleep for the night. And to make matters worse… some have become outright feral. As evidenced by an intense and harrowing sequence wherein Anna and an acquaintance named Pietro, have to do their best to escape this roving and violent band of little monsters. Who simply beat anyone they see with any available object for reasons unknown and all of these elements simply plunge us into a harrowing world. One where it is indeed survival of the fittest for these children and it is both sobering and horrifying to see young kids fighting one another for scraps or a juice box. 

Yet what’s truly impressive, is that the bleakness doesn’t end with those elements. For there is a dark cloud hanging over the future of these intrepid survivors. In that, the virus is in their blood and inactive at the moment. But the instant they hit puberty, the Red Fever will surge through them, killing them as well. Which makes this story appear to be quite hopeless in nature, since mankind will eventually die out once the surviving children of the world reach puberty. Leaving one to wonder what the point would be to set up a story that bleak and devastating and well, truth be told… that answer is nowhere to be found in this opening tale. For this is the setup, the story that introduces us to this world and our intrepid characters and not offering answers here… compels one to continue the journey.

Simply so we can see, if this is indeed an experiment in hopelessness or if the story will give young Anna and Astor purpose outside of mere survival. Such as having something to fight for or finding an understanding of what they should do with their limited time on this Earth and both of those options would make for some quality storytelling. After all, what kind of cause would a pre-teen or child rally behind? For that matter… what kind of value would they find in facing the end? And truly, it will be quite fascinating to see what direction this story takes in the weeks to come, and what the ending of this episode signifies… and all we have to do, to indulge our curiosity, is patiently wait for a week, for this fascinating new series to return. Until then.     

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