cover story
Infamous and terrifying
AMC’s first anthology horror series heads into Season 2
By Kenneth Andeel
TV Media
T
he first season of AMC’s
chilling series “The Ter-
ror” garnered rave reviews,
so of course the network has
brought it back for Round 2. On
Monday, Aug. 12, the second
season of the channel’s hit
historical horror series (now
christened as a yearly anthol-
ogy program) returns, dubbed
“The Terror: Infamy.”
The altered title helps audi-
ences differentiate the new
season’s storyline from last
year’s, because this is not a
continuation of the first sea-
son’s story, but a whole new
tale of, well, terror.
The new season stars Derek
Mio (“Seal Team”) in the lead
role of Chester Nakayama, a
photographer who discovers
creepy signs of the existence of
an otherworldly presence in his
pictures. Mio is supported by
Shingo Usami (“The Pacific”)
and Naoko Mori (“Mamma
Mia! Here We Go Again,”
2018), who play his character’s
parents; Cristina Rodlo (“Too
Old to Die Young”) as his clan-
destine girlfriend, Luz; and C.
Thomas Howell (“Animal King-
dom”) as a retired soldier who
oversees functions within the
War Relocation Authority, the
agency established to conduct
the relocation and internment
of Japanese-Americans during
World War II.
Rounding out the cast is
beloved veteran actor and
activist George Takei (“Star
Trek”), who plays Yamato-san,
an experienced elder able to
offer Nakayama wisdom and
help him navigate the perilous
threat posed by spirits out of
Japanese folklore. In addition
to his onscreen role, Takei also
served as a consultant for the
production. Having lived in an
internment camp himself when
he was young, he was an in-
valuable source of knowledge.
The first season of “The Ter-
ror” went into development
in 2016, and was adapted —
quite faithfully — from the
2 | Screentime
George Takei as seen in “The Terror: Infamy”
flair to rocket the story into
novel of the same name by
truly brain-breaking territory.
science fiction and horror au-
He added an unrelenting Arctic
thor Dan Simmons. Simmons’
demon known as the Tuunbaq,
book is based on a legitimate
which pursued and savaged
incident from real-life history:
the doomed survivors as they
the disastrous lost expedition
struggled to boat, sled and hike
led by Englishman Sir John
their way out of the grip of the
Franklin in 1845. Franklin and
northern ice.
his crew intended to probe the
“The Terror: Infamy” rep-
Arctic region for the coveted
licates that formula of real
Northwest Passage, but the
human history paired with a
two ships assigned to the task
supernatural threat, but it re-
(HMS Erebus and HMS Terror)
locates to an entirely different
became icebound, and all 129
era. This season features a com-
men who set out on the expe-
munity of Japanese-Americans
dition perished. The wrecks of
during World War II who are im-
their ships remained undiscov-
prisoned in camps set up by a
ered until 2014 and 2016.
paranoid U.S. government after
To the already terrifying
prospect of becoming stranded the attack on Pearl Harbor.
These Japanese-American
in Arctic ice, Simmons added
internment camps are seen as
his own piece of supernatural
August 7, 2019 | East Oregonian and Hermiston Herald
a shameful moment in Ameri-
can history, and the story of the
camps remains largely unex-
plored by American television.
No series has ever focused
on life inside those camps,
let alone one that features
a majority Asian and Asian-
American cast like “The Terror:
Infamy.”
The new season juxtaposes
the cruel fate of interned fami-
lies with this season’s new iter-
ation of occult monstrosity. Un-
like the Tuunbaq of Season 1,
which was an invention of Dan
Simmons, the preternatural
baddie of “The Terror: Infamy”
is a creature inspired by Japa-
nese folklore, known as a bake-
mono. In Japanese mythology,
a bakemono is understood to
be a shape-shifting entity that
disguises its original form.
The show is likely to take
healthy liberties with its in-
terpretation of the folkloric
bakemono. This season’s evil
creature needs to deliver a
horrifying visual punch equal
to that of the Tuunbaq’s mu-
tated zombie polar bear from
Season 1, while simultaneously
expanding upon the traditional
Japanese mythology to explain
why a spirit from so far away
might pursue individuals
across oceans to their new
homes in America.
The first season of the show
was able to count on a sturdy
plot derived from Simmons’
novel, but now that the series
has turned into an anthology,
showrunners have a whole
new set of challenges. Un-
like “American Horror Story,”
which typically retains a num-
ber of core cast members from
season to season, “The Terror”
anthology looks as if it will re-
quire audiences to embrace an
entirely new set of performers
every year.
On the other hand, if “The
Terror: Infamy” is as success-
ful as the original season was,
there will be limitless opportu-
nities for the show to expand
and plunder mythology and
folklore from around the world
and throughout history. Find
out if the anthology format is
a good fit for this series when
Season 2 premieres Monday,
Aug. 12, on AMC.