Farthing Wood Deaths Revisited: Series 2 - Dreamer

 
Scarface and Lady Blue had a litter of cubs around the same time as Fox and Vixen – a nameless female cub who stops appearing after only a couple of episodes, and a male cub named Ranger, who goes on to play an important role in the latter half of the series.  Although Scarface initially declares them “better than anything that other lot could produce” and believes that Ranger will be of invaluable use in his ongoing vendetta against the red foxes, he changes his mind when he actually sees the red fox cubs.  Ranger is turning out to be a disappointment to him, which Scarface puts down to the contaminating presence of Lady Blue’s “lily-livered blood,” and he now firmly believes that Fox and Vixen’s genes are the superior combination.

Episode 7 opens with one of the red fox cubs being found dead, and it comes as no surprise that it should be Dreamer, a female cub with a very short attention span and a penchant for wandering off on her own.  Scarface had spent much of the previous episode skulking about in the bushes near the cubs, and his intentions seemed none too good.  Coincidence?  Probably not, although nobody actually saw what happened.  Dreamer’s death remains the series’ greatest mystery non-mystery.

HORROR FACTOR: 10. We’re used to youngsters being fair game by now, and Dreamer’s carelessness in the prior episode had marked her out as an obvious candidate for misfortune.  Still, the sheer eeriness of this death, coupled with it being the episode’s opening image, make it one of the more spine-chilling that the series has to offer.  The score of perfect 10 reflects not so much shock or brutality, but the quiet, understated sense of unease that surrounds it.  Dreamer's death may not be outright horrific (although the extensive focus upon her dead body might upset some of the more squeamish viewers), but it is very, very unsettling.

NOBILITY FACTOR: 1. We technically don’t know the exact circumstances of this one, although it’s very much a death for a death’s sake.

TEAR-JERKER FACTOR: 8. Ugh, those damned violin strings again.  Dreamer had only been around for two episodes, but I think that's still sufficient time for us to have garnered some attachment to her as a character.  The tender manner with which Vixen is seen nuzzling her body, then glancing back one last time before leaving her daughter forever, are also very affecting.

RATING: 19