Survivors
I watched the second and third episodes of this yesterday. In the first episode I had a few little niggles - and I am talking little, they didn’t really spoil my enjoyment of the show, they just made me wonder whether it might get a bit rubbish by the second ep. Namely the silly jump from the explosion at the forecourt which happened three times and the car driving through the window which again, they repeated three times.
A drama about the survivors of a killer pandemic has a lot of scope, or does it? It’d be too easy to get too focussed or on the other hand, too convoluted. Luckily, I don’t think it has gone down either of those paths so far. While I thought the second episode might be a little weak given the trailer (survivors go shopping, end up being held up by the masters of the supermarket) it was actually bloody good. In fact it was so good that I didn’t bother trooping out to pound a pint last night (although a two-mile jaunt in the cold and the rain factored, I think) but landed up grabbing other can and watching the third episode to bring me up to speed. I think there’s the danger of a program like this being drawn out and becoming a tad stagnant (think Lost) and doing the whole modern let’s-shift-around-in-time-so-much-that-nobody-gives-a-f*ck-anymore syndrome (think Lost) but so far the first few episodes have dealt with their situations well. Also, the acting is surprisingly good. In the third episode we’re introduced to a small farming family - a dad and his two kids. He locks them up and goes a bit Howard Hughes as he keeps vigil over them, occasionally wandering outside in a boiler suit and gloves to clear away any sign off infection. “No contact,” he murmurs, “with ANY LIVING THING!”, which becomes his mantra. Naturally the kids disobey him and venture out into a world of beautiful birdsong, vast open fields and blue skies (perhaps how England used to be). It is the little girl in this episode who shines, giving a believable and equally harrowing performance while her dad’s going loopy, throwing petrol bombs at cars and taking baths in bleach in a vain attempt to protect his kids from narrowly avoiding the virus when it first came around. In survivors it’s hard to recognise good from bad and thankfully the writers must have thought it better not to label anyone like this. Even the villainous Max Beesley - in his lighter moments, is likeable and something of a hero. Watch it!
Bought me a nice copy of Empire magazine yesterday with a big pic of Wolverine on the front. There look to be some really interesting movies coming out soon which I’ll surely mention in later posts. Also, I’m expecting Hellboy 2 and The Dark Knight through the post on Monday or Tuesday, so I’ll probably do a bit on the special features and whatnot when the time comes.
