The Terror: Looking back at season premiere 'Go For Broke'

AMC’s latest hit show The Terror made its UK debut last night and the opening episode was a gripping introduction to the supernatural chills and intense drama that the show is set to offer.

The Terror is based on Dan Simmons’ book of the same name which tells the true story of two Royal Navy ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, which disappeared during an arctic expedition in 1845. The ill-fated crew were never heard from again, and the ships themselves were only discovered very recently. While the exact fate of the real life crew remains shrouded in mystery, the show posits that it wasn’t just the treacherous conditions that brought about their premature demise. Something far more terrifying also lurked amongst the ice.

Go For Broke

Entitled “Go For Broke”, the show’s season premiere did a masterful job of luring us in to this deeply unsettling tale. The opening scene is set a few years ahead of the main action and sees a pair of Naval officers discussing the whereabouts of the two missing ships with an Inuit who was the last person to see the crew alive. The man glances at photographs of our three lead officers, Captain Sir John Franklin (Ciaran Hinds), Captain Francis Crozier (Jared Harris) and Commander James Fitzjames (Tobias Menzies). Upon recognising Crozier, he delivers a ominous message from the missing Captain.

“Tell those who come after us not to stay; the ships are gone, there’s no way through…Tell them we are gone; dead and gone.”

In terms of a prelude for the show as a whole, this one line captures the overwhelming sense of menace and danger perfectly. We also know from the off that the voyage we are about to watch unfold is doomed. What we don’t know however, is exactly how that doom was brought about.

Once the action switches to the voyage itself, the stark, desolate conditions and prevailing sense of gloom and misery soon sinks in. It’s a show building to unimaginable terrors, and it revels in capturing every icy breath and freezing hardship along the way.

Strained Dynamics

Arguably the key focus of “Go For Broke” is establishing the dynamics between the three high-ranking officers. As the expedition leader, Sir John Franklin is steadfast and unwavering in his confidence of success. Hinds is superb as ever in the role and imbues his character with a commanding presence as well as a passionate religious zeal.

Crozier meanwhile is a far more world-weary, cynical and wounded man, hauntingly portrayed by the excellent Jared Harris. A troubled history of sorts between the two men is also hinted at, with a flashback suggesting a pre-existing personal rivalry.

The two men’s wildly different outlooks on adventure and glory is also made very clear. Where Franklin is adamant that the ships must push on regardless when the conditions take a turn for the worse, Crozier urges caution. Towards the episode’s end, Sir John addresses his men and proudly reminds them all, “[it’s] an adventure for Queen and country. An adventure of a lifetime”. Crozier on the other hand states in rather less optimistic tones, “this place wants us dead.”

Ultimately it’s Franklin’s early decision to press onward and ignore Crozier’s warnings that resonates throughout the remainder of this episode.

The Terror Awaits

Another standout performance in this episode is Paul Ready’s Dr Goodsir, a compassionate voice of reason amongst the madness. When one of the crew starts violently coughing up blood, an early glimpse at the gruesomeness to come, it falls to Goodsir to try and offer some comfort. As he does so, the boy experiences an unsettling vision involving a seemingly silent Inuit man who implores them to flee. It’s the first taste of the supernatural threats the men will face, and it appears Goodsir is the first to notice that something strange may be afoot.

One of the most visually impressive scenes of the episode comes when a member of the crew is tasked with diving into the icy depths in order to free a block of ice from the ship’s propeller. It’s beautifully shot by director Edward Berger, who captures a strangely serene moment of eerie calm beneath the waves that soon escalates into a hugely tense moment of panic. It’s a sumptuous looking episode from start to finish with Berger delivering a premiere that feels particularly cinematic in its scope and scale.

By the close of “Go For Broke”, the perilous position facing these men is left in no doubt whatsoever. While this outing was never flat-out terrifying as such, it delivered subtle menace and a creeping dread in spades. The episode marked the beginning of the end for the doomed ships and their crew and left plenty of ominous breadcrumbs hinting at the terrors that lie ahead.

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