Sløborn

After a binge watch of Dark I came across this and thought what the hell - another German series that maybe as good

But it is a very slow burn show

The first 5 episodes are spent setting up the characters, families, connections, rivalries, love affairs and so on

There is an introduction to the virus early on but doesn't really feature in the show again (bar some news reporting) til episode 6 where it then becomes the focus of the episodes

Having finished filming in December 2019 this was a very opportune series for what the world has experienced in the past 6/7 months

They keep calling the disease "pigeon flu" implying it is in the corona virus family like SARS, covid-19, etc but clearly the physical symptoms and high mortality clearly show it is a hemorrhagic fever like Ebola. On an island it would have been very possible to isolate and contain the infected but that would have not allowed the later extreme plot events. There are some interesting subplots and intriguing characters however, certain decisions made by major characters strain credulity and one character's particularly heinous action is very unbelievable given the person is not a sociopath. There are other characters who attain measures of personal redemption. All in all it is an OK apocalyptic story but it is clear that the plot was designed all along to achieve a certain ending for certain characters and set the stage for a second possible series..

"Sloborn" tries to keep too many balls in the air and ends up dropping them all.

There is simply too many plots and sub plots in this series. It starts to show by the time you are about half way through, as the plots intersect and become more scrambled as the story moves towards its odd ball conclusion.

It does have some merit up to the fourth episode and the acting is decent. I found a number of the characterisations a bit too peculiar and some, deeply unlikable. The abusive cop/father and the druggie author, stand out in this regard.

Not bad but could have been better if the story had been kept simpler and the characters made a little more relatable.

5/10 from me.

Up until episode 6 Sløborn goes strong with convincing character and story build-ups (although there's a few too many different storyarcs), and does especially well with introducing the main issue - a deadly pandemic - quite in quite subtle tones, focusing more on societal reaction and the slowly growing awareness towards the virus, instead of throwing in right into your face. Thing is: everything that was built up before is drawn through the mud during the last two episodes, where the tone of the Series changes radically, nobody in the writers room seems to care about inherent logic anymore, but just throws one wanna-be drastic moment after the other into the plot. It's actually really painful (not in a good way) and even cringey to watch in the end - especially because of the fact that it had so much potential in the beginning.

Episode 1-6: 7-7.5/10 Episode 5: 4/10 Episode 6: 2/10

Edit 2022: Season 2 was awesome! If you're into the early seasons of TWD you're in for a treat! No walkers but a similar vibe... currently my favorite post-apocalyptic series!

Although shot in 2019 this series is an amazingly accurate pandemic thriller that doesn't feel like sci-fi at all in mid 2020.

Sløborn anticipated all the social reactions and emotions from scapegoating the outsiders, conspiracy theories or government propaganda frighteningly well.

All in all it's rather slow paced but feels at no time boring or lengthy. I had to binge it in one day and definitely would watch a second season! Kudos to Emily Kusche who plays the main character very convincingly!