Earth Abides – Full Season 1 Review

Season 1

Episode Guide

Episode 1 -| Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 2 -| Review Score – 3/5
Episode 3 -| Review Score – 2.5/5
Episode 4 -| Review Score – 4/5
Episode 5 -| Review Score – 3/5
Episode 6 -| Review Score – 3.5/5

 

 

Humanity is obsessed with its own downfall. We’ve had numerous stories through the years depicting just how this may come about, but while some shows oft for an action-packed drama bordering on a soap opera, others adopt a much more thought provoking look at the end of civilization.

Nestled in the middle of this is Earth Abides, a decidedly slower and gentler series, based on the 1949 post-apocalyptic novel sporting the same name. The show has a much more optimistic tone overall, despite some dramatic spikes and a rather bleak opening episode, which is definitely different from the majority of others in this field.

Unfortunately, where the series slips up is with its characterisation – or lack thereof – showing that not every book can actually make the jump across to the small screen in an effective way.

On the one hand, it’s good that the show at least takes on some of the aspects from the novel, but the story has been reworked in different ways, with characters and events occurring in alternate orders, and instead of three parts like the book, we get constant time jumps across the six episodes, progressing years at a time.

For those unaware, Earth Abides follows the downfall of humanity, told through the eyes of a survivalist called Ish. While out in the woods, he ends up bitten by a snake. He’s incapacitated during the entirety of a nasty virus that spreads across the world, wiping out almost everybody.

When Ish awakens several weeks later, he finds that he – and a select lucky few – are immune to the virus. What transpires from here is the typical end-of-the-world scenario, as Ish tries to find survivors and make sense of this new world order.

Along the way, Ish befriends numerous individuals, with time jumps coming thick and fast as we move all the way up to 22 years and, eventually 50 years, after the outbreak. Ish ends up in a relationship with another survivor, Emma, and they have kids together, while there are newcomers that end up in their community, which they’ve dubbed San Lupo.

As the series hits the midway point, a bus full of newcomers arrives at the camp, including a man named Charlie whose motives are unclear at the time of arrival. I won’t spoil what happens but the episodes he’s featured in are easily the stand-outs of the whole show. There’s a perfect balance here of drama, characterisation and tension that I wish the rest of the series adopted too.

The story does make changes from the book and for the most part, they make sense for this small screen adaptation. Late on, we also do see ideas of faith and religion sneak into the story, and they’re used relatively well too. 

The problem with Earth Abides however, mostly resides around those time jumps. We never get a chance to see relationships blossom of characters interact in meaningful ways with foreshadowing or pay-offs because we keep jumping forward in time. There’s ongoing tensions between Ish and his children which are never properly resolved because we keep cutting forward and missing the meat of the drama.

Meanwhile, we get a recovering alcoholic wrestling with the demons of her past, but don’t see her struggles, nor how she’s helped by the community, despite it being the perfect sort of show for that.

We also get a woman suffering from PTSD because of a traumatic event that occurs in this show, but again we don’t see how the community band together and help her beyond a meeting right after the incident and a couple of dialogue-heavy scenes a year later.

It’s so frustrating too because there are parts of this show that work really well, and the ideas that are here are just screaming to be mined and explored in more detail. However, Earth Abides is in such a hurry to tick off those main plot beats that it never stops with enough time to allow us to warm to the characters that go on this journey too.

It’s also a little disappointing that the show doesn’t leave room open for the third part of the book (which is barely touched upon here) to explore in a future season, but giVen how this one ends, it would appear that the intention is to keep this as a stand-alone miniseries for the time being.

The main plot does work quite well though and as mentioned earlier, this is a far gentler and tranquil look at the end of the world, even with those pockets of drama thrown in. That drama comes in different flavours, including a plague of rats that look set to cause devastation, a potential resurgence of the virus and a big cat attack.

Visually, Earth Abides looks great, and as the years tick by, there’s definitely a consistent effort made to mix the beautiful natural world in with the crumbling urban remains of whats been left behind. Little shots of skyscrapers choked with ivy or playgrounds overrun with weeds and large trees give the perfect representation of Mother Nature reclaiming the world, and it largely maintains an aura of post-apocalyptic beauty throughout.

The music is also worth pointing out here, with an excellent haunting score for the main credits. Each episode is slightly different in the scenes that it shows on this too, which is a nice touch.

On the whole, the acting is pretty good, although Alexander Ludwig is the definite stand out for his portrayal of Ish. The rest of the cast are decent in their roles, but I just wish we got more of them so they could get the same love and attention that Ish’s character gets.

Earth Abides is definitely a slower prospect compared to other post-apocalyptic romps though, and its optimistic and hopeful tone may alienate some looking for a series with a bit more meat on its bones. There are spikes of tension here, but on the whole, this is very much a tranquil drama and a careful character piece. If that sounds like your jam, Earth Abides definitely has enough in the tank to recommend.

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