'The Terror' Netflix story of the Franklin expedition: Hubris, mutiny, cannibalism and a revolting sociopath. You'll love it!

 "The Terror," season 1, is an AMC drama series that can now be viewed on Netflix. The 10-episode story is loosely based on Sir John Frankin's nineteenth-century Arctic expedition and Dan Simmons's novel of the same name.

Sir Franklin hoped to crown his naval career by discovering a northwest passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. In 1845, his party of 129 men left England in two ships, the Terror and Erebus. Not a single member of that ill-fated crew survived. This gripping tale is the foundation of "The Terror," season 1.

"The Terror" AMC series contains all the essential elements of a British naval disaster story: murder, mutiny, insanity, suicide, starvation, euthanasia, and cannibalism. What's not to like?

In addition, the series includes a monstrous animal that stalks the expedition and devours several crew members. The animal is an enormous polar bear on steroids, but the crew refers to it simply as "the creature."

Mike Hale, who reviewed "The Terror" in the New York Times, liked the series but had some reservations. "The heart-of-darkness framework," he wrote, depicting "hubristic Europeans" who become lost in the new world and descend into savagery, was "constructed with intelligence and finesse." Nevertheless, in Hale's view, the series's story is "obvious and generally tedious."

 I disagree with Hale's gentle criticisms. I found the "The Terror's" narrative both fascinating and gripping. The series's supersized polar bear was genuinely frightening, adding a layer of suspense and thrill. Polar bears, after all, are the only animals in North America that stalk humans, and they can run as fast as a horse. Those bears don't need to be supersized to be terrifying.

I agree with Hale that the "The Terror" narrative is obvious, but only if viewed superficially. At a deeper level, the Terror crew's disaster is a complex story that can be interpreted in many ways. For example, it can be seen as a case study of poor leadership and faulty decision-making. It's also a cautionary tale about the massive destruction of a once well-disciplined organization by a single sociopath. The stark landscape of ice and treeless tundra is a story in itself that evokes a bleak assessment of the modern human condition.

Screenwriter David Kajganich affirms the oft-repeated observation that people's true character is only revealed under extreme stress. As the series progressed through its ten episodes, some of Sir Franklin's crew descended into cannibalism, while others rose to almost Christ-like status through sacrifice and suffering.

As someone who once spent time in Alaska's Yupik and Inupiak communities, I can attest that the series's depiction of the Inuits is accurate. They are gentle but resolute people with almost no record of violence before their introduction into the so-called civilized world.

In short, "The Terror" is an entertaining adventure story. I found it totally satisfying, except for the last episode, which was a bit confusing. This is only a minor criticism, however. Overall, "The Terror" is a triumph.

What's not to like? Hubris, a sociopath, cannibalism, and terror

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Will Americans Starve This Year? Probably Not, But Lets Plant Gardens Anyway

 A few days ago, Chris Martenson posted a blog essay titled "Will You Starve to Death This Year?" Martenson pointed out that escalating prices for natural gas have led to a global rise in fertilizer costs.  The price of diesel, which runs the world's farm tractors, has also shot upward dramatically, contributing to a sharp increase in food prices. A ten percent decline in global food production, Martenson argued, would be catastrophic.

Other people are beginning to worry about food. On television, I'm now beginning to see ads from emergency-food-supply companies--the outfits that sell food packets that can be safely stored for up to 25 years.  Is it time to stock up on canned goods?

I don't think Americans are in danger of starving to death--in the short term, at least. We live in a great country blessed with fertile soil, a temperate climate, and the advanced technology we need to feed a nation of 330 million people. 

In addition, the U.S. has a pretty good safety net to make sure people don't go hungry. The federal government's SNAP program (food coupons) is readily available to low-income families. Thousands of churches and nonprofit agencies deliver food to people who need it--including elderly shut-ins.

The American consumer is paying more for food, and we can't always get the food we prefer due to kinks in the supply chain. But nobody will die of hunger in the U.S., at least not in the near-term future.

Nevertheless, Americans should not take our food for granted. I've been reading about famines, and history tells us that people can starve to death even in countries that export food.

Several million people starved to death during Ireland's Potato Famine of 1845-1849, even though the British government exported food out of Ireland. Almost four million Ukrainians died of hunger in 1932-1933 due to Stalin's order to seize food stocks from peasant farmers, even while the Soviets were exporting food to Europe.

Anne Applebaum, who wrote a masterful history of the Ukrainian famine, described how people react when they don't get enough to eat. First, hungry people respond with anger and violence--especially if they have access to firearms. Eventually, however, starving people fall into lethargic apathy and quietly die.

In The Great Hunger, the best treatment of the Irish potato famine, Cecil Woodham-Smith explained how mass starvation always leads to epidemics. Disease invariably follows when the living become too weak to bury the dead.

I am also convinced from my reading that mass starvation inevitably leads to cannabilism, even in advanced societies. The starving people of Leningrad began eating the dead during the Nazi's 900-day siege of the city, as did the Ukrainians during the Holodomor. During World War II, German prisoners of war descended into cannibalism when the Russians penned them up and allowed them to starve to death. 

Americans have been blessed by abundant food for so long that we've forgotten its importance. We can eat whatever we want--from Russian caviar to Chicken McNuggets, and the grocery stores are always open.

Nevertheless, I think it is time for us to think about food.  We still have plenty to eat, but the grocery-store shelves no longer have everything we desire. And food prices have gone up alarmingly over the last few months.

Martenson concluded his sobering essay by urging his readers to plant gardens. I agree. I have been gardening for about ten years, and I now grow both a spring and a fall garden.

My little vegetable garden can't sustain my family for any length of time, but I am learning how to tend my crops, how to spot and treat diseases, and when to fertilize and harvest. 

Just as importantly, raising my own food is fulfilling on a spiritual level.  Planting a seed and seeing it grow into a bean plant that twines around a trellis and produces something I can eat is a miracle. And nothing tastes better than a home-grown tomato picked from my own garden. 

As Guy Clark observed in a famous song, "What would life be without homegrown tomatoes?"  Indeed it would not be nearly so sweet.