IR TV Review: KINGDOM - EPISODE 2 (“Storm’s Retreat”) [BBC America]
The second episode of the BBC America nature series "Kingdom" creates a natural progression after establishing the four different clans in the Nsefu sector of Zambia's South Luangwa National Park in the first episode. The series was shot over 5 years and it seems the tracking of certain animal behavior becomes more and more pronounced as time goes on. The second episode is called "Storm's Retreat" which refers to the leader of a clan of wild dogs but said retreat only happens towards the end of the episode. The beginning is still following a leopard mother raising her male and female offspring with a tragedy eventually in play. What is interesting about the female offspring is her personality initially as she prances but it is only a matter of time before she needs to grow up and start hunting without her mother's help. Watching her come to terms with that as the show jumps four months is interesting. The hyenas as seen over the last episode are an interesting reversal of the lore we have heard. They function in many ways alone and the mothers in the pack don't care for other's offspring if something happens.
The wild dogs, especially when the cubs first have the ability to experience the wet season is joyful. However, when the buffalo eventually move through, tragedy strikes again. What is interesting here is the more intrinsically embedded these cameras become the more the primality and loss of this animal world becomes abundantly clear especially with individual animals. If we were never here, watching the hierarchy displayed in a protected national park is what nature primally dictates. The lions are of course the top of the food chain but it is so much clearer that they are aggressors, many of the times just to retain dominance. The leopard and dogs kill because they need food but they don't play with it. One image in night vision (the technology now is wonderfully detailed) show the lionesses playing with a crocodile away from its watering hole just for spite. This is also in totally darkness which makes it even more interesting because we can't see what they see. Eventually because the lions get ever more vicious, the wild dogs end up retreating out of the national park when they consider it no longer safe. A lioness herself has cubs but they too are not immune from possible danger from trudging elephants. The animal kingdom continues on but it will be interesting to see what is in store. A-
By Tim Wassberg
