The Terror really wants to be scary. Like, very scary. In the third episode, an Inuit woman dubbed Lady Silence (Nive Nielsen) hides inside an igloo while a bear-like creature plods outside. The creature’s footsteps are heavy, and it snarls like a bear. It might actually be a large bear, but The Terror wisely chooses not to reveal its central danger just yet. At one point, the creature is close enough to the igloo’s entrance that its breath snuffs snow inside. Coupled with The Terror’s dissonant piano score, the result is more pastiche than true horror. The trimmings are there — creature, scared character, ominous music — but the flesh of it (sorry) promises something more meaty than pure terror. Lady Silence, true to her name, has yet to explain what she knows about the creature, but the show makes it clear she’s familiar with it. The creature spares her, maybe because it devoured Ciaran Hinds earlier in the episode, and it’s full. So, we know the creature has an appetite. Or, it has morals, possibly guided by a covenant with the Inuit. Whatever it is, it’s weird more than it is frightening. What, we’re supposed to jump at the idea of a giant bear looking for snacks? Once the unknown becomes known, it’s rarely terrifying. Which means, if a television show is six to 24 hours of things slowly becoming known, then television can’t ever be that scary.