TV is the New Reading

‘Survivors’ takes sci fi … no where new

I watched two hours of “Survivors” this week. Not “Survivor,” the reality show on CBS, but “Survivors,” a post-apocalyptic nightmare on BBC America. I watched two hours of it. And I honestly can’t tell you if it’s any good or not.

The first hour played out like any pandemic movie you’ve ever seen, with the government trying to maintain order as first a few and then nearly everyone turns up sick -- in this case, from “European flu.”

It might have been called the European flu because it was the most civilized flu I’ve ever seen. People just sort of clutched at themselves, gasped and collapsed back on the bed. Especially since the pathology was such that the virus turned the human immune system on itself, one might’ve anticipated some violent pain, the horrific coughing up of blood, but no. First, everyone’s alive, then everyone’s feeling a bit warm, and then everyone’s sort of ... lying there. How urbane.

The Family

The situation quickly shifts to a handful of survivors whose immune systems presumably do not turn on themselves. And in a classic storytelling style you have:

+ The doctor, Anya, a woman of science

+ A Muslim boy, Najid, a person of faith

+ The mother, Abby, a woman searching for her son

+ The Key, Greg, who Knows Something about the virus

+ The millionaire, Al, accustomed to comfort

+ The parasite, Sarah, who gets what she wants

+ The criminal, Tom, who was serving 20 years

These figures are thrown together on a deserted isle -- the UK -- and have to rebuild their lives -- a sort of post-apocalyptic Gilligan’s Island.

Well, not quite. See, first off, the Family, as they call themselves, are hardly the only ones left alive. There are other far less altruistic roving bands, one of whom patrols the shopping district. They hanged a man in one of the shops with a sign saying “LOOTER.” That group has like one guy, Dexter, with a shotgun and he’s able to hold off The Family and, I suppose, any other small groups who come foraging.

It’s insane, really, because one shotgun can barely patrol a single entrance and yet his group is “guarding” a whole district, driving around in an SUV (for however long there is fuel, I suppose). You’d think it would occur to anyone that whoever is left is going to have to work together to maintain whatever food and water can be salvaged for whatever length of time before farms and production can be re-established because oh yeah, EVERYONE ELSE has DIED!

Meanwhile, even the Family and Dexter’s group aren’t the only ones around. There’s still a Lab they haven’t gotten to yet, a Lab of people with hazmat suits and secrets, one run by the government. This group presumably knows everything there is to know about the virus, and who knows, maybe they’ll have some interest in re-establishing order.

Or not. I have no idea what the priorities are for the Lab or for Dexter et al. or even for The Family. The last episode I saw had Anya foraging for food among the homes in the neighborhood and Al and Najid bring in some chickens, so they’ll have eggs. But it seems like a really sensible place to start is to figure out who’s all left and from there, what everyone can do to stay alive.

Verdict

As for whether it’s any good or not, your guess is as good as mine. It’s OK science fiction and it explores some questions, but it doesn’t really commit. Based on a 1970s sci-fi production of the same name by writer Terry Nation, “Survivors” was picked up for a third season in the UK but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything either.

In my opinion, the reality of their situation seems a bit lackadaisical. They may be the only ones left alive but that necessarily means everyone else is dead. In which case they’re going to encounter worse problems than power, gas and water outages and the occasional bad smell as they enter a strange home.

A week into the breakdown, however, the aftermath is as polite as the virus was.

Starting with flies, you’d soon enough have rot, pestilence and putrefaction. Not to mention all the dogs, cats and pets who weren’t killed by the human pathogen, these will all go feral soon enough and become threats in their own right.

Cities aren’t equipped to simply stop refrigeration for any length of time, so London is about to go quite ripe. The rats and vermin will get bold and spread everything they come across. Don’t forget, every dead body out there is basically a germ factory, and the European flu isn’t the only fatal thing people can catch.

So seriously, as threats go, a group armed with a shotgun claiming the shopping district for itself will soon enough seem almost ... quaint.

“Survivors” airs at 8 p.m. Saturdays on BBC America.

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