The Terror episode 10 (finale) review: Dead and gone
As a matter of fact, you could even go so far as to claim that this said title is a reference to the mental state of some of these men even prior to their deaths. Some were killed by madness, whereas others by disease, by the Tuunbaq, or simply because their bodies gave up. This episode was a slow descent into despair for one and all, even eventually Cornelius Hickey, the man who in some ways benefited the most from his time isolated from the rest of the world.
Captain Francis Crozier showed himself to be one of the last men standing, even to the point where had become one with the Inuit people. It was the life he then understood and over time, he came to accept it. They were willing to accept the fact that the Tuunbaq was gone, destroyed in the midst of a violent showdown, and he was willing to take on whatever his future would now be.
We imagine that for the creative team in the finale, crafting a fitting conclusion was a hard thing to do given that this was a tale without really an ending. There were Inuit reports of a Crozier sighting for years after the failed Franklin expedition, but that was really it. There was very little when it comes to context and as a result of that, this was really a book without a final chapter. The show cultivated an ending that was a little more harrowing and introspective, with Crozier being forced to confront more of who he is versus what he was with the arrival of some new men who stumbled their way onto the land.
Through almost everything within this finale Jared Harris deserves all the credit in the world for bringing the story of Crozier to life and making you feel for this man who had lost so much. The Terror was a story unafraid of risk and there were many different instances of that. Many main characters died before the finale and there was never any real hope of a happy ending at the end of this. They were unflinching in their approach to great storytelling here and that is why, in the final minutes, you could feel satisfied with the journey even if there was no prevailing message of hope here. It was more just the story about imperialism and how sometimes, there is not treasure underneath every stone.
CarterMatt Verdict
A beautiful and yet garish ending to a story that has been everything from haunting to mesmerizing. Jared Harris is a lock for an Emmy nomination.
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Related – If there is a season 2 for The Terror, it will be very different.
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