Two ships, 150 men trapped in arctic ice for two years.
Vainglorious leadership, months of darkness, native mysticism, spoiled food, alcoholism, scurvy, lead poisoning, and a creature picking off the men one by one, growing bolder in its forays.
The series really gets going when the amber twilight of the last meager autumn day– lasting but a few minutes– winks out, leaving the crew to fend off the creature and weather the darkness and cold in their crooked, heaving ships.
The men lose their minds. There is slow starvation, mutiny, suicide, and omnipresent fear.
When desperation pushes them off their ships, they attempt to cross a frozen hell, lugging their boats over the ice. Landfall and daylight brings no respite from the blinding, night-less desolation.
Some men falter, others rise to the occasion. Great conflict and drama ensues.
I loved it.
Well acted. Well directed. Well paced. Check it out.
I read the book. Didn’t realize it was going to include a mythical succubus polar bear. Pretty good read. Read a factual account of the story too. They dug up a couple of the sailors (the first couple that died) and found their bodies mostly intact. Although once they pulled them free of the ice they started to decompose quickly.
What an incredible ordeal. Heck, I cry when I have to get out of the warm shower on a cold evening. (and yet I’ve swum in snow ringed lakes – go figure)
Also quite interesting about the industry that developed to support the search for Empire, and how profiteers made the explorers journeys, in some instances, much more uncomfortable and perilous (The people who canned the meat cut corners in production and QC which lead to spoilage and the privations of the sailors.)
I don’t have cable. Hope to see it on Netflix.
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Great comment, Jim. Thanks for sharing.
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