THE TERROR INFAMY, the next instalment of the Ridley Scott produced, and Dan Simmons inspired (well at least the first season) series. This has screened on the BBC, to warm if slightly muted applause. This series explores the post Pearl Harbour reaction to Japanese Americans, from their internment to their destructive treatment and imprisonment during World War II. A young man called Chester (Derek Mio), has his eyes set on the wider world of his home on the island of Terminal, near the California coast. He has a girl in his sight called Luz (Cristina Rodio) for one, a bright future for another. When Pearl Harbour draws the Americans into the war, fighting the Japanese, the family become viewed with suspicion. This event seems also to raise the spectre of an evil spirit. With a series of brutal deaths taking place one of the other, the fear of released horrors, might drive everyone to horrific ends.
It is certainly true that there has rarely been examined in complex detail, the internment of Japanese and other ‘foreign’ agents in World War II. The classic narrative around the war has left much of it at the mercy of the ‘thank you for your service’ brigade, who fail to examine the ills of the military mind. Now maybe this is not only the most substantive exploration of the events, but also the most revealing. Starring George Takei, who lived through the events, helps. But it is also the very obvious parallel of the supernatural menace that haunts the people. You would have guessed this, the original THE TERROR had that feeling of unease and fear of the ‘unknown’, tracking and killing explorers. Here it is a native menace (to Japanese culture that is) actively extracting a remittance of vengeance that is both arbitrary and elusive. This has obviouness that the series does overcome well, if not as truly nerve jangling as the first series.
The disc lacks a lot of extractive content here to be honest, choosing to focus on the series in a vanilla way (you hate this term but I think it apt). It also flirts with the characters in a profile form but with out conviction. An interview or a commentary or even a documentary on the camps would have added value. However, this is very well produced, directed, written, acted et al. The undervalued extras and disc aside, you will miss this when it is gone from BBC iPlayer. Maybe not so much the discs.
10 episodes on 3 discs. 8 hrs. Widescreen; Soundtrack: English.
