Station Eleven

⭐ 9.0/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

This was one of my favorite books I read in 2021, and although I knew they were making a TV show, I was totally surprised when it just randomly came out one day and started making headlines. It's a book about a pandemic that wipes out almost everyone and the remaining people are left to try and rebuild a worthwhile society. I had no clue how they were going to adapt it because the book does not really lend itself to that, and yet it worked! This show has been a total critical darling and it's been awesome to see people enjoy an IP that I had fallen in love with.

This show changes a ton from the books, especially focusing on relationships that were never there. I didn't really mind as the changes made a lot of sense for a TV show, though the flair for the dramatic definitely took away from the groundedness and realism that I loved. But the beauty of this show is that they were able to make something different yet equally great. It still jumps around to different characters and different timelines, seeing how things are interwoven and related. It still has that same feeling of being smart and complex, yet is still a simple story about likeable characters at its heart.

A lot of people were complaining about an apocalyptic show during our current pandemic, but it really didn't make me uncomfortable. This post pandemic show still used plenty of worn tropes (cults, survival at all costs, violence) and yet still managed to feel hopeful and warm most of the time. People are admonished for being paranoid and cold rather than celebrated. I think this show has a really high view of humanity which was quite refreshing.

I don't have many negatives. For the most part I loved watching this show, though I admit the tension made it difficult to watch at times and gave it a bit of an identity crisis. But this show is awesome just like the book. I can't give it a ten because, like the book, it never made me feel anything particularly strongly, and I'm not big on the artsy stuff (get Shakespeare outta here). The show also added some pretty strange scenes that maybe I just didn't really understand. But it was still great and I'd recommend it to most. That first episode is one of my favorite episodes of anything.