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Season 1 – The Terror

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2018

History

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

94%

Tomatometer

69 Reviews

89%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

A series of bizarre deaths haunt a Japanese American community during World War II while Chester Nakayama and his friends and family face persecution from the American government in a Japanese internment camp.

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Critics Consensus

A thriller wrapped in a prestige drama package, The Terror makes for gripping, atmospheric supernatural horror.

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Hugo Rifkind

Times (UK)

My terror with The Terror is that the ghosty horror will tip it over somewhat. I'd be happy enough with them playing it straight as a drama of expedition gone wrong.

Mar 18, 2021

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Scott Bryan

BBC.com

The drama's strength is its claustrophobia, the feeling or foreboding and the complete and utter isolation experienced by the crew.

Mar 17, 2021

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Deborah Ross

The Mail on Sunday (UK)

This is masculine derring-do, and this is horror, but it all comes wrapped in top-notch prestige drama and that, I discovered, I can take.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 8, 2021

Full Review

Fausto Ponce

Alta Fidelidad Magazine

The series... tells us the story of the expeditionaries in a disorderly way, which helps to generate mystery and in some cases (as when we see passages of days prior to his departure), empathy. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 3.8/5

Apr 27, 2021

Full Review

Keri O'Shea

Warped Perspective

It's in keeping with the series as a whole that so much of the worst of the misery takes place off-screen. Just as with their historical counterparts, we simply don't know what the men's death agonies were like.

Apr 8, 2021

Full Review

Adam Sweeting

The Arts Desk

There could be considerable potential here for mere cheap-thrills silliness, but The Terror gets its teeth into you with its gritty and unpleasantly plausible depiction of shipboard life in the mid-19th century.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 6, 2021

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Jack S

One of the best historical horrors I have ever been lucky enough to see. This historic fiction based on the real life Terri's faced by the crews seeking the north west passage off of Newfoundland in the arctic circle. In the cold wastes lies the cold blooded nature of man, and the lengths he will go to survive will make you shudder.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

04/25/25

Full Review

Jay J

Do you enjoy history, but also like monsters? The story of the Franklin Expedition is already an objectively sorrowful, and horrific tale of human adventurism, and bravery gone wrong. There is already enough meat on the bone here for the creators to have made a tense, and heartbreaking story, based on the known facts. Instead, they dragged out the tension into a 10 part slog, involving historical accuracy, broken up by the occasional involvement of a... zombie(?)-monster polar bear, which feels odd, and completely out of place with he rest of the story. It feels like they understood their narration was wearing on the viewer, so they threw in interludes of absolute horror movie nonsense to pep you back up, so you could be prepared for the next long stretch of dull drama. Why?... Why?... Why?...

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/17/25

Full Review

Ted C

horrifying, but beautifully made and very human. SPOILERS: it has shamanism lead poisoning cannibalism selfconscious affection among men unselfconscious affection among men CGI monster overcoming addiction Charles Dickens sun dogs glorious tripped out ending shot

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/20/25

Full Review

Christopher L

A great first season! The acting and atmosphere is exceptional and it captures the period quite well. I didn’t realize it had a supernatural element until the unstoppable polar bear appeared and I almost felt this would have been fine without that addition. The monster would have best been kept in the shadows and elusive, it kind of loses its hold when you see it in the daylight. Overall, a very entertaining and gripping series that makes you feel what it might have been like for those men in true history. It had me reading some history of that voyage and, wow, my hat is off to their plights.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/02/25

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Audience Member

It would have been great if it was just a historical drama, but the addition of the stupid monster ruined it.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

12/29/24

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Daniel J

Great tension, atmpshere, and acting. Only a few odd writing choices kept me from giving this a perfect score. I was even willing to accept the supernatural element, but somehow it started to drift off course in parts near the end of the season. Still, a great watch.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

12/25/24

Full Review

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Jared Harris

Captain Francis Crozier

Tobias Menzies

Captain James Fitzjames

Ciarán Hinds

Sir John Franklin

Paul Ready

Dr. Henry Goodsir

Adam Nagaitis

Cornelius Hickey

Nive Nielsen

Lady Silence

Episode 1

Aired Mar 26, 2018

Go for Broke

An accident at sea cripples a Royal Navy expedition 200 miles from finding the Northwest Passage, forcing its captains to make a dire choice.

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Episode 2

Aired Mar 26, 2018

Gore

After a long winter trapped in the ice, scouting parties are sent out in search of open water; one of the teams makes a frightening discovery.

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Episode 3

Aired Apr 2, 2018

The Ladder

With something now stalking the ships, the captains debate their options, testing their loyalty to one another against their duty to their crews.

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Episode 4

Aired Apr 9, 2018

Punished, as a Boy

A cunning attack on the ships proves the men are not battling an ordinary bear and that the region's Inuit culture may hold a key to their survival.

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Episode 5

Aired Apr 16, 2018

First Shot a Winner, Lads

A strange illness begins to show itself while another more familiar one jeopardizes the expedition's most valuable resource: its captain's judgment.

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Episode 6

Aired Apr 23, 2018

A Mercy

With the end of their provisions in sight, officers contemplate an 800-mile walkout while planning a party to raise the men's worsening spirits.

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Episode 7

Aired Apr 30, 2018

Horrible From Supper

As the men begin their long march south, shocking events underscore how vulnerable and exposed their situation has become.

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Episode 8

Aired May 7, 2018

Terror Camp Clear

The death of an officer under mysterious circumstances creates paranoia among the men; Capt. Crozier discovers some of the crew members may be considering mutiny.

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Episode 9

Aired May 14, 2018

The C, the C, the Open C

While hope comes in strange forms, the question of what the men are willing to do to survive begins to be settled in both noble and horrifying ways.

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Episode 10

Aired May 21, 2018

We Are Gone

The expedition's journey reaches its climax as men find themselves in a final confrontation with the Inuit mythology they've trespassed into.

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The American West

71%

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Into the Badlands

84%

88%

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TRAILER

for Into the Badlands

TURN: Washington's Spies

81%

92%

TURN: Washington's Spies

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Dispatches From Elsewhere

85%

74%

Dispatches From Elsewhere

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TRAILER

for Dispatches From Elsewhere

Feed the Beast

23%

77%

Feed the Beast

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The Terror: Season 1 Featurette - Wrapping Up the Series Finale