The Arrival
Episode 1 of The Baby starts with a woman running through the forest clutching a bag in her hands. Inside that bag happens to be a baby. She’s chased by several police officers, who eventually corner her at the cliff-edge. They’re afraid, and she steps back and falls to her doom. The baby starts crawling toward the edge too but as the offer leans over and grabs its leg, he only has its little sock. The baby has fallen as well. We then cut back slightly to a poker night with three women – Rita, Tasha and Mags. Natasha is our protagonist and she’s not exactly happy about Tasha having a baby. She looks at her baby with disdain, seeing it as a massive burden on one’s life and wants them to go back to being carefree besties, drinking and smoking. This whole conversation takes a turn for the worst though when Rita announces that she’s pregnant. When Mags leaves off the back of Tasha’s rudeness, Rita does too when Tasha throws up an abortion “joke” to her. It’s a bad night all round. There’s clearly a lot going on with Tasha so she decides to leave for a while to get some perspective. Her destination is a little beachside cabin, with a sofa-bed for, well, a bed. Anyway, while Tasha is outside having a smoke, the moments from the opening comes into context, including a particularly effective jump scare as this yellow jacketed woman falls to her doom. The baby, however, lands in Tasha’s hands. The police office arrive and don’t have a clue what to do. Tasha ushers them out the door, wishing them luck, as she hears their car drive away… and then crash. A boulder falls on top of the car. It’s not just a little crash either, and with both officers dead, Tasha picks up the baby and drives off, intending to take this “creepy vibe” babe to the police station. On the way, she stops at a petrol station but there’s a problem. That creepy baby seems to cause the attendant to die, as we cut back inside and see the man lying on the floor, blood oozing from his head after a fallen shelf. Eventually Tasha makes it to the police station where we learn that woman who jumped off the cliff is called Lydia Wilcox. Tasha gives her statement, including the incredulous story about all the dead bodies. The thing is, the officer believes she’s not telling them something. And as a result, she’s arrested for the night, kept in for questioning. The baby is kept in too, given he won’t stop crying when he’s not with Tasha. However, when she holds the baby, her breasts start leaking. It’s incredibly weird (Tasha’s words) but as the babe starts breastfeeding, it momentarily turns into a demon. Tasha awakens with a start to find herself still in the police cell. Tasha is cleared of her charges though and allowed to go, where she heads home and looks set to get her life back underway. That is, until someone leaves the baby outside her door again.
The Episode Review
The Baby gets off to an incredibly weird start, sporting an undercurrent of dark humour and a really compelling mystery. There are shades of AppleTV’s Servant here too, given the strangeness of the whole situation, although what we’re presented with here feels a little lighter, despite the visceral shock of certain scenes. It’s also worth pointing out that there are also similarities to The X-Files too, and in particular the episode “Chinga” where a doll ends up going on a rampage. There’s some nice parallels between the two and it makes for a really intriguing watch. Tasha as a whole isn’t a very likable character but that’s obviously deliberate, given we’re supposed to see her thrust in the middle of this less-than-ideal situation and then grow and get better as a result of that. I’d imagine we’ll see her slowly grow closer to this baby, perhaps even come to understand exactly what’s going on and who the woman in the yellow jacket really is. Either way though, this is an enticing start and certainly sets things up nicely for the future.
