The Hot Zone

"The Hot Zone: Anthrax" is not quite as good as the first season about Ebola, mostly because there is a lot of "War on Terror" politics portrayed here, and you really cannot count on any of it being accurate because the primary government officials are depicted here like cartoon characters. "That's our guy; he's guilty! Tell the media!" The editing is also not as tight and some dialogue is cringe-worthy. But all of that is somewhat redeemed by the outstanding performances by Tony Goldwyn and Daniel Dae Kim. Tony completely embodies a socially-awkward Ivins, and Daniel exudes a calm yet confident authority. Their performances keep you going, however the ending is a bit rushed. The creators take too much liberty with "inspired by true events" so that they don't have to delve into the real excruciating details of this moment in American history.

Season 1 about Ebola was great.

Good actors, nice settings and a contagious disease. Exciting and scary.

I was hoping that season 2 would continue the story especially since the end of season 1 mentioned "Island of the plagues" and the idea that there was a place where multiple viruses were mixing had me intrigued.

Instead we got season 2 about Anthrax and it feels like every other episode from CSI.

Season 1 gets an 8/10.

Season 2 ... ugh, snooze.

Hot Zone: Anthrax explores aspects of the 2001 anthrax scares in ways I never heard at the time. I felt they gave away the conclusion a tad too early, and the timing feels weird (it apoears the investigation is happening weeks or months after 9/11, but in reality the investigation didn't conclude for 7 years). However, most of the acting is wonderful! A few anachronisms were distracting, like a Keurig, wall-mounted flat screen, and center-parted hairstyles were big misses for a 2001 setting, whereas Hot Zone series 1 was better about time period accuracy.

Folks, c'mon. What happened to watching a show for entertainment value? It's "based on," not a documentary.

Stop getting bent out of shape and just watch it. Or don't. I liked it. Especially coming from a book, there is always going to be a high level creative license involved to create the drama, suspense and fear.

It is ridiculous that they don't where general personal protective equipment in the BL1 lab! Also real scientists would open unknown animal samples in a biosafety cabinet to ensure that neither they or the sample get contaminated. Contact me if you need a technical consultant that knows about lab safety!