Review: Survivors 2.6

Whitakker has Peter held captive.

Survivors - Series Two, Episode Six
Written 23/2/13

In the first series of Survivors, the problem came not with its core ideas but in the way it treated its characters, unable to escape their core tokenisms as created by the series' modernisation. The second series realised this and gave most of the characters more complex motivations, which is one of the reasons why it's vastly better than its predecessor. The only problem now comes in its simple lack of ambition - it doesn't know whether to carry on as a realistic examination of a post-apocalypse Britain or to go into full sci-fi conspiracy mode. The result is a finale that shoved a series of exposition into five minutes, and did very little for the remainder.
     Still in the PSJ facility, the gang found scientist Fiona Douglas, who revealed that Peter had been taken to the facility for a short time and has the same immunity against the virus as his mother. She explained that she had created from their blood a vaccine that targeted all forms of the flu, and that she needed a short amount of time to work on it. While Whitakker was captured by the group, refusing to reveal Peter's location in a local static caravan park, she finished the vaccine. Evidence on Whitakker's computer shows Greg that PSJ had a larger role in the virus' spread, with it beginning in China a whole year before the outbreak. The vaccine is tested on Al and it works. Fiona lets Whitakker go in exchange for a place on his plane; the group ends up in a confrontation with a man named Landry at the airfield, who explains that his company was attempting to create a vaccine for all forms of flu, and created a secluded paradise filled with chosen individuals when the experiments went awry. While Peter is returned to his mother and the vaccine heads off to be mass-produced, an injured Tom ends up hiding on Landry's plane.
     The final few minutes of pure exposition do tie up a lot of new ends, and had the ideas been explored fully (and perhaps hinted at from the beginning), then they would have real potential. The central arc with the mine seems to have distracted away from that, leading to this rushed conclusion to the central mythos, and that I feel is in part one of the reasons why the show was canned. It all goes a bit Lost, really, and not in a way that Survivors can support.

Landry comes out of the woodwork as the virus' creator.

     It's weird whenever I come to the end of a series. Especially when this is one of the first series that I long-hauled on the blog, and one of the ones I had the most fun tearing apart. Survivors suffered not from being inherantly bad, but from a lack of that spark the seperated it from all the rest. That, combined with the unintentional year gap between its series, meant that it sorta ran out of steam even when the writing wasn't half bad. It died because of mediocrity and public apathy, and because it made several mistakes in its first series that the second just couldn't fix. And that's a shame.

Thanks.

IN TWO WEEKS: I start reviewing the second series of TORCHWOOD! "cue cheers" And this time, I won't be unfairly ripping into it...

Review: Survivors 2.5

Sarah makes the choice to maintain quarantine and
sacrifice herself.

Survivors - Series Two, Episode Five
Written 23/2/13

The character of Sarah was always one that, in the first series, I found innately annoying. Her experiences in the second series, despite playing on many "weak woman" stereotypes, did improve her character. This development gets its payoff in this rather well-done final story for her, as well as providing a moment of quiet before we storm towards the mythos-filled finale and that dreaded cliffhanger. The episode's main theme seemed to be depression and death, which is a wonderful thing to fill my Saturday afternoon with, but we'll roll with it.
     After saving two people on the street from a bunch of bandits, the gang is led back to a free commune, where people work the land. Tom gets jealous when bisexual Anya has the hots for the commune's organiser, leading him to admit his love for her. Sarah goes off for a walk and ends up trapped in a house wherin live three people who have become exposed to a new, more advanced strain of the virus capable of killing those previously immune. She chooses to sacrifice herself by shutting up the house, enforcing quarantine. Greg and Abby go to Greg's house, where he finds the postcard we saw in his flashback. The postcard contains co-ordinates to an airfield, where the two find a businessman claiming that the postcards were sent to the "chosen few", who would be whisked away to a safe haven. Sarah dies and Abby returns to burn the house down, with the group now heading off to the Scientist's Compound in order to seek a vaccine to the new strain. There they find only Whitakker, who has taken Peter.
     Sarah's act of bravery in the house provided a touching moment for both her and Al, two characters who in the previous series hadn't really been up to much. The only problem wiht that part of the storyline is that it was fighting with the other side, with Greg and Abby actually advancing some of the mysteries introduced in the premier and getting us closer to the finale. Atfer the last few episodes of running around the countryside shooting things, it felt rather sedated.

Greg and Abby find the postcard.

     2.5 was all about getting things ready for next week, and it did that in a way which upped the stakes in a way which felt sublte and nuanced. Sarah didn't exactly go out with a bang, but it was certainly a loss that we felt, as Al's single source of character development disappeared in front of our eyes. The build-up of mythos surrounding the mysterious postcards is feeling a little too late, but hopefully it'll all smooth itself out as we head into Survivors unintentional final hour.

Thanks.

Review: Survivors 2.4

Smithson is a mad History Professor.

Survivors - Series Two, Episode Four
Written 23/2/13

The second series is slightly weird in that it is collated into three duets with inner continuity - the Manchester arc, the "Justice" arc as I call it and then the finale arc. This episode was rather interesting, as we juxtaposed last week's focus on law and order in an organised society with a more antiquated examination of the role of slavery in the history of society. Albeit most of the time this meant that it was a standard runaround, but there were enough awesome moments to keep me entertained for the most part. Still doesn't feel like we're a few eps away from the end of the series.
     The gang track down Billy to his house, hoping to find Greg and Tom, who have been sent to the mining camp of local slave-driver Mr. Smithson. They are entertained by a woman named Sally, who reveals that she holds people for Billy while Smithson's men come to collect them. Greg pulls an escape attempt by claiming that there is a gas leak, and Smithson takes him to his mansion to offer him a partnership, while Tom uses his own methods to get away. While the rest of the gang's attempt to infiltrate Smithson's estate lead to everyone being locked up, Tom steals Billy's truck and arrives to save the day, leading to an uprising that helps them all to escape. In the coda, it's revealed that Billy has been set free by some of the kids he kidnapped, one of whom is Peter Grant, Abby's son.
     Smithson's character was a pretty blatant way of working in some examination of theme, being an Oxford history professor with a complex and an obsession with quoting Greek tragedies. He stole the episode, although he didn't exactly correlate with the more realistic feeling of the first series, which felt like an examination of what would really happen in a nation-wide extinction event. I did question the decision by the writers to have the only black member of the cast as the one speaking about putting people in chains, even if the slave trade isn't as raw an issue here as it is elsewhere, like the States.

Super-Tom to the rescue!

     The only problem with the episode is that is felt rather by-the-book - enjoyable, sure, but there was nothing really surprising about the course of events. We all knew that the gang's plan would cock up, and we all knew that Super-Tom would arrive to save the day at the last second. I am enjoying it and I think that the series still has a few good ideas, but there was a level of mediocrity present this week that made me worry a bit. I'm already a bit meh about the series' unfortunate cliffhanger ending in two weeks, and this hasn't improved my confidence that it will at all justify this series' existence.

Thanks.

Review: Survivors 2.3

Tom stands trial, and his crime is revealed.

Survivors - Series Two, Episode Three
Written between 14th and 15th February 2013


Samantha and the Government compound was one of my favourite things about the first series, as I often found myself supporting her against the Survivors. Our mains seemed determined that society must remain anarchic and detached, and I didn't get that. Another thing I liked about Series One was arc-villain Dexter, who was slimey and more than a match for Tom. 2.3 brought both of them back, and shone a light on how their uneasy alliance came into being.
     Samantha and Dexter go to a local community centre, where they meet more people they want to bring to the commune. On the way back from Manchester, the team are forced to stop, and they meet well-stocked Good Samaritan Billy (Roger Lloyd-Pack). Billy is friends with Dexter, and he uses Billy's stocks to gain favour in the commune. The commune has been on the hunt for Tom, and Samantha has him brought in. As Abby prepares to mount his defense, Billy is revealed to be selling people into slavery in return for fuel. In the trial, Tom is proved guilty, but thanks to a power play by Dexter, Samantha is forced to force the verdict as guilty. Abby, Greg and Anya admit to each other Tom's guilt, but still feel that he is one of them and thus worthy of protection. While Samantha has set Tom free on the condition that he kill Dexter, the others stage a rescue attempt. Tom kills Dexter in a brutal, bitter showdown, but Samantha recaptures him and both he and Greg are sold into slavery.
     I enjoyed seeing my two favourite guest stars getting a second chance to work it out, and both of them provided complex and interesting characterisations. Samantha's arc has seen her degenerate from being the morally upstanding figure of law and order into someone so desperate for power that she is willing to throw the verdict of a trial in her favour and use people to her own ends. While Dexter's hubris got him in the end, it was fun seeing him show Samantha up and completely muddle her plans. The two duelling villains made the episode for me, and it's a shame that we'll see neither of them again.

Samantha and Dexter battle for control of the Commune.

     As for the episode's central moral dilemma, finally exposing Tom's crimes before the virus (killing two security guards who had seen his face during a bank raid), I didn't really know if it was well done or not. There's always been an emotional coldness to Tom's character that underlines his sheer badassery, the problem with that being that without the underlying twitches it can feel rather wooden. And that was the episode's main problem - we came away getting the impression that Tom really didn't care about anyone, that he was indeed a cold, heartless monster. It may be very touching for our gang to dismiss this and say, "He's one of us now, so that's cool," and it's good to have the heartless killing machine on your side, but it still made their endless moral proselytising a bit off.
     Dexter and Samantha's last episode had an awesome sense of pace and was a powerful send-off for two characters that the series had taken a while to develop. I keep getting the feeling that Survivors would have been better as a single 12-episode series, as this second series is proving to be ridiculously better written than the first and still develops off of those initial ideas. The showdown between Dexter and Tom is one of my favourite scenes so far in the series, and there's still more awesome to come even though the series only has three hours left.

Thanks.

Review: Survivors 2.2

Tom gets supplies in his own way.

Survivors - Series Two, Episode Two
Written 16/12/12

The second episode was of similar quality to the premiere, and rather demonstrated the show's unwillingness to return to the mistakes of its past. I may have perhaps wished that we could have had our little eyewitness view into the scientists' compound for a little while longer, but Abby's escape did allow us a look into this series' overall mytharc - one that is, in hindsight, fundamentally pointless seeing as the show will be cancelled before we ever get a deeper look into it. Regardless, at this stage any new plot developments are like fried gold, and this three-episode mini-arc in the City has been rather fun, I think.
    Tom, having been excised from the group, robs a local group of Survivors for food and supplies, returning to his group with his plunder. Refusing to give up on her, Najid has been putting up posters around the city for Abby to follow should she ever return. A girl from the local group plays with Najid, and he unwittingly reveals to her that the food from her group has gone to his. While Tom, Anya, Al and Sarah go off to a Pharmaceuticals company to get a lead on Abby, the local group start to hunt Greg and Najid. At the Scientist's base, Abby is re-infected and it is discovered that her immune system can easily produce large amounts of an anti-serum. The scientists are planning to put her into a comatose state and harvest her antibodies for the rest of her life.
     Whittaker, however, accidentally gets jam on his fingers while playing with his son, which allows his wife, Lucy, to find out the code keeping her locked away in the facility. Lucy speaks to Abby, who tells her the truth about the Apocalypse, and she then allows Abby to escape. Despite this, when the gang turn up to find her, she's gone out of a different exit, and they return to the City to find Greg and Najid being hunted. Tom returns their food and they reconvene, finally finding Abby wandering the streets of Manchester.

Lucy doesn't know what she's in for.

     Pretty much the same as last week, really. Lots of decent character developments across the board, especially with Al and Sarah's relationship, Tom's criminal past and with what the facility was doing, with a shady pseudo-governmental figure on the other end of a computer screen. I think my favourite subplot was definitely with Whitaker's wife, as it showed us an insight into not just the facility but into different parts of his character. Whereas last week we were made to see the preservation of his wife and child as a mark in his favour, this week allowed us to see that he's essentially been psychologically abusing her in some misguided attempt to save her, while screwing over all of his close friends at the facility.
     I suppose on the face of it there isn't much to talk about with Survivors when I'm not being unnecessarily scathing to it, and that's a problem considering that so far, I've really quite liked what I've seen. We've had no screams of "PETER" to annoy me, no magic religious advice from Najid, no stereotyping of Anya's sexuality, it's all good. Our characters have yet to really evolve beyond the stereotypes that they were presented as, but they're coming damn close and I'm even beginning to feel for some of them. Can't really say much else besides, you know, keep up the good work.

Thanks.

Review: Survivors 2.1

These reviews are a bit late. The first two were written in December 2012 and were intended for the new year, but circumstance pushed them back a bit. Whatever, enjoy.

Survivors - Series Two, Episode One
Written 16/12/12 

Back in the glorious summer of 2010, I took advantage of a ridiculously underpriced boxset to review the first series of the 2008 reboot of Survivors, based on a story by Terry Nation that's best known for its far more popular adaption from the 70s. The new reboot did a lot of things rather differently, adding new characters and swapping a few ethnicities round to reflect Noughties Britain. While the second series had been planned for a while, the 2009 Swine Flu scare made the BBC reconsider broadcasting it, and while critical reaction was better the ratings for the second series suffered so much that the BBC threw in the towel.

Greg's life is on the line - and so are Anya and Al's when
they try to help.

     I'm going to turn around now and say that I was several million degrees too harsh on the first series of Survivors. It had its problems with characterisation and certain annoying acting decisions, but as a sci-fi concept it was fundamentally sound, and the direction and cinematography were always top-rank. Series Two starts off immeditately attempting to rectify the mistakes of the past by managing to flesh out all of our characters at once, and solidifying the dynamics between them.
     Stuck in Manchester after having to look for runaway Najid, the gang find themselves nursing a Greg whose been shot by Dexter. Stuck for medical supplies, Anja, Al and Tom head off to the Manchester Royal Infirmary, which is then collapsed by city-dwellers trying to eradicate what is essentially a disease hotspot. They all try to help, leaving Greg in the lurch, and Sarah has to sell her body for a jack. Meanwhile, Abby has been taken to the Evil Scientists' Lair, where she is told by David Whittaker (Nicholas Gleaves) that she's the only one to fight off the virus who wasn't immune and thus needs to be tested on to prevent the virus from mutating further and killing everyone. Anya and Al are rescued, and Greg recovers, but Tom is forced to leave the group when Greg denounces him as a murderer.
     One of the more surprising parts of the episode for me were the frequent flashbacks to life pre-virus for Greg, which felt very Lost-like. While they were certainly welcome, they did feel a bit belated and in the scheme of things it would have been wiser to have seen these back in the first series, when our characters were setting up. Meanwhile, Sarah, a character whom the writers seemed to spend the entire first series trying to get us to hate, gets some rather unpleasant character development when she is raped in  order to further the story. I don't know whether they were trying to be girtty or were taking her character to what they felt was a logical extreme, but it felt a tad unnecessary regardless. Worst of all was the fact that the guy playing the rapist is now on all those co-op ads. Eugh.

Abby's looking a bit worse for wear in the Scientists' compound.

     The scientist storyline was perhaps the most interesting part of this week's episode, with Nicholas Gleaves turning in another great performance as a troubled villain. The scientists, again, were a part of the first series that were very much left in the background, and that was a real shame. For all of the atmosphere and little personal stories that the first series gave us, it neglected to fill in on any of our actual characters or main villains. It felt very much like it'd been written like an American series and then they'd simply just forgotten that they only had six hours to work with.
     So, all in all, an improved start for Survivors. It feels very much like it's making up for lost time, and the result is an hour of compelling drama that both explores the post-apocalyptic world in a much more in-depth way but also advances a lot of our characterisations. I'm not sure that the flashbacks were well-placed and I really think that it's a little too late to be starting with that now, but I was glad for the character development they provided and it's certainly a trend that this series is going to continue.

Thanks.

Review: Survivors 1.6

As we reach the finale of the first series, an attempt has to be made to round certain things up and to make the choice as to whehter the series will end ambiguously or on a cliffhanger. Like all young dramas, Survivors follows the latter option, rather annoyingly. Although, the quality of this episode doesn't exactly have us running back for more...
   So Samantha Willis' commune is branching out, trying to create some form of government. They've recruited Dexter as Lead Henchman, and their first port of call is a visit to the House. There, they get info on all of the survivors. Anya tries to hide her status as a doctor, but Sarah rats her out because she wants to fuck Max Beezely. They kidnapp Anya and Tom, Al and Greg go off in hot pursuit, leading to a standoff where Greg and Al are sent away while Tom shoots Gavin.
     They get Anya back, and they decide they need to move, possibly south, to get away from Samantha. Najid doesn't like the idea, and so like all rational eleven year olds, runs away into the filty, disease ridden hellhole that is Post-Apocalypse Manchester. There he ends up with a group of modern Oliver Twists who steal food and supplies in return for a warm meal and video games. The group, instead of ignoring the teenage boy, go off on a wild goose chase, fighting through shopping centres. Anyway, it all climaxes as they're chased by not only Dexter but also Scientist Helicopters. Dexter shoots Greg, the scientists abduct Abby and we get an annoying cliffhanger.
    So, two loose strands of plot tied together with a sugar rush, not resolving any aspect of the series but promising more. The big dramatic developments are of people revealing information from Episode One to other people and them taking it rather well. I don't have Series Two on DVD, so I can't review it yet, but I'll soon pick it up in the nearest bargain bin in Tescos.

Thanks.

Review: Survivors 1.5

Quite a strong episode, where we deal with how apocalyptic events spark superstition. It does have some really stupid segments in it, but the acting is good, the idea works well and for the first time it really feels as if our "family" of characters act that way. We also (at last) get a subplot surrounding the Lab.
     Naj stumbles upon a group of campers who are listening to some sort of prophet (pictured) talk about how "He" spoke to him once the silence came. Naj and the preacher talk and he leads them back to the house.
     In the house, Greg is pointing out how Abby won't help the group is she goes looking for Peter every five minutes. She refuses to take the hint. Upstairs, Tom has had sex with Sarah, for some reason. I mean, seriously? This relationship comes smack bang out of nowhere, has little relevance to the plot and is gone by the next episode!
     Anya goes out looking for Naj and they just happen to be at the gate. The preacher (now named John, most likely a reference to the John from Revelation) and the rest end up camping in the house garden. Naj wants them to stay but the rest of the group are realistically skeptical. Al and Sarah are serving tea, and Al notices an almost due pregnant woman, who isn't scared by labour without hospital care. John, meanwhile, displays open signs of talking to voices in his head.
    Abby and Anya talk to John, who reveals that he used to be an architect but now hears the voice of God. He explains that they want to rest in the house until the baby is born. All of the group vote, and the majority vote is that they can stay until the baby is born. To cut a long story short, Anya is forced to reveal her medical credentials when the baby is born and John breaks down. Anya diagnoses him with scizophrenia, and he is forced to accept that that is true, at least after a rampage with the newborn baby. Oh, and Anya, after having slept with Tom some other time, tells him about her lesbianism (well, Bisexuality). He isn't impressed.
     In our subplot, people are being round up by the Scientists, studying them to see why they are immune, and trying out cures. The head scientist shows some questionable ethics. Then, one of the scientists picks up on Abby's video recording, and they rush to try and find her.
    It's certainly entertaining, and these little details regarding human behaviour when faced with an event such as this should be cherished. In my honest opinion theological episodes often blur things up, and sometimes things can be held unsensitively. But this bucked that trend, landing firmly on the side of rationality, with the moral being that you should always keep a clear head in times of trouble. And I like that.

Thanks.
    

Characters: Survivors

This post is just a basic rundown of all of the characters in Survivors, so I don't have to elaborate when reviewing them. Note that these descriptions examine their roles throughout the whole two series.

"Heroes"

Abby - Mother of the Group/Screeching Protagonist

Abby Grant is the only person to survive the virus by fighting it off naturally, and this makes her hopeful towards finding her son, Peter. If you didn't know that her primary objective was to find her son, you'd just have to wait five minutes, for her to either brood or scream his name loudly. The plot is often moved in the wrong direction because she thinks she saw her son, or thinks she saw someone that knew her son, or is looking for her son etc. . She's supposed to fill the "normal woman" role, but it rarely works as she's always swanning off to look for her boy, or being abducted by scientists, or having sex with strange men. Her background is revealed as the main plot of the first episode.

Greg - Survivalist/Only Sane Man

Greg has a very lax character, but he's basically the straight man to Abby and Tom's madness. He appears at first as a survivalist, and often talks about how his wife left with his two children, and thus his objective is to find them. Unlike Abby, he doesn't really make use of this objective, instead just acting like a househusband and, occasionally, a rational thinker. His stereotype is "modern black man," very P.C. . His background is only revealed in Series Two.

Tom - Hard Man/ Ex-Con Nutjob

Tom Price has been in prison and the army, and acts as the more gun-happy member of the group. He's the "right-wing white man" but he's Ok. He doesn't have much to say, and the acting is a little stiff; very little voice inclanation or tone is used to try and create an ex-con out of charmer Max Beezely, but it doesn't work well. Regardless, he seems to have the most common sense, and tensions with Abby and Greg just make the group stronger. Somehow. Background is revealed in Series Two.

Al - Playboy/ Whiny Arsewipe

Al, short for Ali, is used to a life of luxury - fast cars, booze breakfasts and deep-seated loneliness. His attitude to the world in general is less annyoing thn Sarah's but still manages to be annyoing whenever someone damages his pride. Acts like a father to Naj, even though most of the time he fails quite considerably.

Najid - Whining Muslim Boy/ Whining Muslim Boy

Take all of the muslim zealots of the world and condense them into one little boy, and you have Najid, whose actions are nonsensical, illogical and unrealistic. He is also extremely annoying and upon occasion makes the show unwatchable. Serves as the series' only main child.

Anya - Deppressed Doctor/ Lesbian Deppressed Doctor

Anya is bearable to say the least, ignoring the obvious issues regarding her having had to watch people die consistently throughout the epidemic, scaring her mental state. Despite being a lesbian, most of the boys don't catch on, and so early on she serves as Al and Tom's main love interest. 

Sarah - Pretty Girl/ Shallow, Manipulative Bitch

Sarah Boyer is empty-hearted, callous, stupid, lazy, ignorant, annoying, manipulative, and dowright useless. Why she exists as a character at all is beyond me.

"Villians"

Samantha - MP for Flydale North

Sam Willis is the last MP, and she's trying wholeheartedly to create her little commune in the North, and eventually tke over the whole country. And to be honest she's only presented as a villan because she does morally ambigious things and isn't part of the group; murdering Tom on the other hand, is loveble. Sam's my favourite character mainly because she does things that make sense. It's bovious that this series views sense as a threat.

Dexter - Rampaging Gunman / Spindly Idiot

My main problem with Dexter is that he's never actually shown trying to kill anyone until the last few minutes of Series One, by which point we're supposed to already think he's badass. But he's not. He practices kung fu, and drives around with his gang, but they only hold guns to peoples' heads in their main performance. Once he joins up with Samantha, he provides a good foil for Tom. Which is odd, seeing as out next villian serves the same purpose...

Gavin - Government Gunman

So the Commune's security needed a toughman. Here comes Gavin, who has the same ideals as Samantha but likes to kill people anyway, just to make sure other people agree with him as well. Despite him being in three episodes, he's killed off by Tom.

The Scientists

They're not really revealed until Series Two, but in Series One we get small tastes of what's going on, and how they're cooped up to make sure that the virus they accidentally released early doesn't infect them.

Thanks.

Review: Survivors 1.4

This is certainly the most lacklustre episode of Series One. It's got a lazy storyline that doesn't really advance any interesting plotlines, and some of the breaks in logic present in the episode mean that the whole thing is a little difficult to watch.
          Our first, rather dull storyline, concerns Abby, who at the end of the last episode was told of a large house run by runaway children. She heads down there and meets, along the way, a man who's been fighting with the children, as it was his country home that they now live in. They bond, and he helps her to find the kids because she thinks one of them is PEh-TER!!!! By god, that screaming is getting annoying by this point. Oh, and they go skinny dipping. It's only been a month since her husband died, and already she's swimming nude with a man she's known for a few hours! Anyway, the child isn't Peter (who'd have known) and everyone lives happliy etc.
     The secondary storyline, which is more interesting if just as stupid, regards Al, Tom, Anya, Sarah and Najid taking up residence in Samantha's commune. They seem to be fine, but Al, being a lazy, unlikable bum, is unhappy with the commune's strict work guidelines, and isn't really up the whole Communist utopia thing. So, he leaves, and for some godawful reason, all of the other survivors go too. WHY? It isn't like Al hasn't got a place to stay, because Greg's still back at the house. Their decision, to completely shun their more comfortable existence for one lazy bastard, is not so much admirable as downright braindead.
    Looking for some positives, there are some ok chase scenes between the forest man and the boys, and good tension between ex-con Tom and Samantha. But otherwise, it's just this mess. Not unwatchable, by any stretch, but nonsensical.

Review: Survivors 1.3

The question always arises in these post-apocalyptic situations; what form of government remains? In this political themed episode, we answer that question quite nicely, as well as fuelling the elusive scientist subplot. Luckily, most of the characters are given things to do, most of which are interesting in their own right. There's still that absense of characterisation, but by this point you really don't expect anything more.
          Our main plot deals with Greg and Tom, who upon finding a country farmhouse discover that a father is trying to keep his two children away from the outside world, in a seemingly irrational fear of infection. It turns out, however, that they soon agree with the father, and as they discuss it with the daughter they realise they may have killed all three of them. You see, they all had food poisening during the flu epidemic, and so were never exposed. Luckily, the virus has been "blown away by the wind" and the three live happily ever after.
          A notable, and perhaps more memorable subplot entails Abby, who has stumbled upon a country commune that has working electricity and water, where the last cabinet member, Samantha Willis, has created a stable local government. They store a video diary of Abby if Peter ever drops by, and Abby begins to like the lifestyle. However, after witnessing Samantha's harsh punishments, she walks out.
        It's a captivating episode that manages to be greater than the sum of its parts. The acting's a little stodgy, the character depth absent, the plot a little unbelievable, but there's a good plot and a good atmosphere. The series takes its time with things and that's to its credit.

Thanks.

Review: Survivors 1.2

As per the rules of the second episode, this is where we fully work with premise. While this episode is not as captivating as the first, it still works with the ideas presented quite well. The lack of depth in the characters is an issue, but at this early stage we rattle along anyway.
          Our survivors have found a country house and as of the start of the episode are going out to get supplies. However, the supermarket is being controlled by a group of gun-toting survivors headed by the manipulative Dexter, who serves as this series' main villan.
          Meanwhile, over in a large warehouse full of enough goods to feed a city, Bob and his helper/manipulative lover Sarah watch on. As the survivors trek around Netto, Greg goes into the offices and finds their supplier. In the supermarket, the group find a speared corpse. On the way out, Dexter stops the group from taking anything, claiming property rights. As they're forced to drive away, Abby's plot device kicks in as she thinks one of the gang is Peter's instructor from the holiday.
          Abby broods (this will become more familiar as we go on) and when they get back, they all argue some more about the reality of the situation. Tom (pictured) describes his now personal vendetta against everyone in their way. Back at the supplier's, and we see that Sarah is bribing Bob with sex.
          Anya decides to go out to get some supplies and Tom tags along. They're packing medical supplies, Anya being a doctor'n'all, and Tom is trying to chat her up (blissfully unaware). He guesses correctly that she was a doctor, and she says that she doesn't want him to tell anyone because she wants to start afresh. In return, he tells her about his criminal past.
       Bob has an accident with a forklift, crushing his leg. Back in the morning, and the survivors are split up into two groups - Greg, Tom and Abby go out to look at the other supermarkets, and Anya, Al and Najid go out to the small country shops. They also discuss having to raid houses as well. Anyway, Greg decides he'll go to the supplier's instead.
       Abby drives Tom to the supermarket from the day before, against Dexter's orders. Tom thinks it's just to get supplies, but Abby, being a cmplete and total waste of air, honks the horn repeatedly to get the attention of Dexter's gang and hopefully find Peter. This doesn't go down well. They get held at gunpoint, Tom ends up really not liking Dexter, but luckily Dexter has mercy on Abby and they get away scott-free.
     Greg goes to the suppliers, where Sarah (the most shallow and undercharacterised person in the world) stops his car, and asks for help regarding Bob. He drives into the warehouse and lifts Bob out of his inprisonment. Along the way, Greg finds that Sarah is a complete incompetent. That night Greg decides to stay at the compound to make sure Sarah can look after Bob, and to get a few supplies. This obviously worries the rest of the survivors when he doesn't return.
     In the other subplot, Anya takes up raiding houses while Al and Najid rob a sweet shop. However, the owner is still alive and trys to kill Naj, meaning that Al is forced to kill him instead. It weighs on the conscience of them both. The three get back. Meanwhile, in the morning, Greg starts to head back and Sarah comes with him, abandoning Bob. Abby has set off looking anyway.
     Al and Najid also go off, and find some chickens, which they plan to take back and keep. Al moans about having killed the shopkeeper. Abby arrives at the supplier's and there's some tension, which doesn't really work because no-one has any character! The Dexter arrives and claims his territory. He slaps Sarah (and the audience cheered!) Greg ends up attcking Dexter and then Tom arrives, making Dexter choose as to who he'll kill. Choosing peace, Dexter tells them to go and they do.
     As a second episode, it doesn't carry the gravitas of the opener. The desolation that endcapped the premiere isn't mirrored here, and that's a bit of a let down. We still know little about the characters beyond their stereotypes and basic motivations (PEh-TER!!!). However, there is some good drama and while some of the acting is a little stiff, it works.

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Review: Survivors 1.1

To make up for my lack of Lost reviews, I'm going to be taking on a much smaller project, reviewing Series One of the remake of Survivors. You see, to those who weren't born, Survivors was a 1970s drama series based on an idea which at the time seemed practically impossible; a supervirus wiping out most of Earth's population. It was very depressing, but ran for four series. When there were fears over the various forms of Influenza around the globe, some bright spark at the BBC decided that it would be fun to bring the series back for a remake in 2008.
          And so here's the first, feature length, episode. We focus on all of the main characters, which cover most of the basic ethnic groups to fill in the modern consus form, as they go about their daily lives. As it happens, a terrible virus is spreading across the world, named "European Flu." Our main character, Abby Grant, is worried about her holidaying son, who's quite recently recovered from a terminal illness. She ends up trying to drive to get her son from the holiday camp, while the world falls apart around her, and she gets the virus. As our lucky protagonist, she manages to fight it off. All of the characters fall asleep somehow, and when morning breaks 99% of the world's population is dead.
          Our main characters, all immune to the virus, which include a muslim boy (Najid, perhaps the most annoying thing the BBC have ever produced), a sorta-muslim bachelor (Al), Abby, a survivalist black man (Greg), an ex-army prisoner (Tom) and a lesbian doctor (Anya), meet up on the Manchester Ringroad and decide to stave out this new world together.
          I may have simplified the plot a bit, but that's what it is. There's some marvelous tension and some well-used gore that accurately and skillfully covers the virus' spread. It doesn't fall back on the "touchy subject, good programme" excuse and is actually quite a skillful piece of television. My only gripe at this stage is that none of the characters are very developed; they're just a bunch of grouped stereotypes. The only character with any backstory is Abby, and her whining for son Peter is quite irritating at times. Still, it's a good one-and-a-half-hour of sci-fi, and gets off to a good start. We have the hope of exploring a secret scientist lab, as shown in the end of the episode, and this should help keep away the tedium of the open country setting.

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PS. A quick note in this episode is that publicity focussed heavily on the roles of lesbian teacher Freema Agyeman (Who played Martha Jones in Doctor Who Series 3-4) and Abby's husband David, played by Shaun Dingwall (Who played Rose's father in Doctor Who Series 1-2). Nonetheless, both die in the virus attacks, making it a little pointless.