I really enjoy HBO’s The Last of Us, which comes as no surprise. I enjoyed the game, and the TV show is a very faithful adaptation. But in between our weekly episode hiatus, I’ve been looking for something else to watch on the various streaming platforms I subscribe to.
Given the chatter about The Last Of Us, other post-apocalyptic shows tagged, Station Eleven (also on HBO Max) caught my eye. I’ve heard positive rumblings about it in 2021, but those words are drowned out by other big releases. However, when it was mentioned on the excellent podcast The Back Page, which is run by Future alumni, I decided to give it a quick look. An hour later I was hooked.
True to its name, I’d have thought Station Eleven would be about survivors hiding out in a remote radio station after a deadly flu kills 99% of the world’s population. But to my surprise, it mostly centers on a traveling group of Shakespearean actors and musicians called the Wandering Symphony. Yes, really…
Station Eleven isn’t the typical ending to a global drama
Station Eleven (based on Emily St. John Mandel’s novel of the same name) offers a fairly fresh alternative to the world of software focused on post-apocalyptic survivor groups. Gone is the grim bent of Joel (Pedro Pascal) or the intense stare of The Walking Dead’s Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln). Instead, we see a colorful cast of characters navigating a fun-filled route between various post-apocalyptic settlements, some 20 years after the world collapsed.
Without getting into spoiler territory, Station Eleven mostly tells Kirsten’s story, both as an adult (Mackenzie Davis, whom you may remember from Black Mirror’s episode “San Junipero”) and a child (Matilda Lawler) and her unlikely guardian Jeevan Chaudhary (Himesh Patel). And, of all places, they met at a performance of King Lear.
All three actors are adept at portraying surprisingly complex characters dealing with problems of the past, present, and somewhere in between. and the supporting cast of equally bizarre and impressive characters, with all of them having mysterious connections.
The story of these characters is told in a non-linear fashion, as we jump in time. Sometimes we are before the pandemic, others during and after it. Some moments only last a split second with a few frames, others with longer sequences.
With its time jumps and the deliberately disjointed nature of the memories, the story is hard to parse at first. But Station Eleven becomes a slow-burning affair as all of its disparate narrative threads come together to deliver a satisfying conclusion.
This is not to say that there are no cliffhanger scenes or dramatic moments, just that this show is more thoughtful and allows you to drink in its long takes and action scenes. Instead of settling your heart as Walkers break through barriers or catch unsuspecting survivors, you watch humanity deteriorate and try to rebuild.
A post-apocalyptic world that clicks without the clicks
While I love the creepy and terrifying Clickers of The Last of Us, the lack of zombies or some form of mutant creature makes Station Eleven feel grounded, especially since it came out when the real world was in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic.
But what’s most refreshing is the way Station Eleven creates a post-apocalyptic world. In the first 100 days of the deadly epidemic, the Earth did not suddenly go insane or invade savage humans. Instead, it collapses as the people maintaining critical infrastructure die of the deadly flu.
As a result, the post-apocalyptic America we’ll see in 20 years is not one filled with crazy cults. But a person who has logical communities or people who unite together was in the right place at the right time.
Certainly, there is a wary of strangers. But it’s almost an evolution of the feeling one gets when walking down a quiet dark street when an unknown person comes the other way, rather than the immediate threat and drawing of arms when confronting others that occurs in the likes of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.
Dangerous groups exist, but they consist of people who were dangerous before the fall of civilization. This sidesteps the somewhat tired cliché of seeing the likes of accountants suddenly become raging cannibals within a few years of living in a crumbling society.
The strengths and flaws of the people in Station Eleven’s post-apocalypse are brought to light and gradually evolve as the need to survive slowly turns into a desire to thrive.
Outlook: Station Eleven’s has its own demons – and they’re more connected to them
The seemingly directionless Jeevan, for example, is slowly finding something of a post-apocalyptic life, but he’s not entirely devoid of self-doubt. And while Kirsten has had some traumas in her first 100 days of the pandemic, she can still find joy in the art of acting.
Meanwhile, Station Eleven’s main antagonist is not so much a villain but more wayward and damaged by the events of the early epidemic and a troubled childhood.
In short, what Station Eleven does brilliantly is show that humans will be human despite the circumstances. Even after the fall of civilization as we know it, some will try to find joy, while others will search for meaning, be it for good or for evil; Basically, people will continue to move in the dark and the light.
By comparison, we see that the aforementioned Joel and Rick Grimes were completely shaped by their post-apocalyptic lives, taking every ordinary person and turning them into something completely different… for better or for worse. That has its place, as do post-apocalyptic shows filled with zombies, nuclear fallout, and more.
But Station Eleven shows that the more mundane collapse of current civilization can provide an equally captivating canvas upon which to tell distinct human stories. If you’re looking for something to watch between The Last of Us, or simply want a little bit of HBO brilliance, I can’t recommend Station Eleven enough.
Station Eleven is so good, you can buy it directly from Amazon, which sells for between $28 (DVD) (Opens in a new tab) And $40 (4K Blu-ray) (Opens in a new tab).
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