Earth Abides

Will be interesting to see where they go with this apocalyptic near-end of humankind. The first episode was better than the preview. It is a quiet and solitary show since (almost!) everyone but the main character has died from a pandemic, but uses that quiet to ask worthy existential questions about loneliness, whether you should strive to live if your loved ones are all dead, hope, and how to move forward. There is a famous book with this title/theme and we'll see how much this series complements and parallels that novel. The first episode is good enough to watch more. It has a Walking Dead sense of desolation and despair but without zombies, and instead the personal struggle of living in a vastly changed world.

I'm at the end of episode 6 and realized, oh, this is it?

This could've been really great with, at least, six more episodes. They give you just a little bit of what was probably a whole lot more, in the book, I imagine. Why make a show that gives you only just a little, from the book?

Right when something new happens, it's so short and vague. Then, years to by and something else happens, which is short and vague. I mean, did they want to sell more copies of the book? It's like they made a show from the cliff notes. But, if you want to know the whole story and elaborate on those short, vague happenings, then we have to read the book?

Was this a small filler series? It could've been great, but it fell wantingly short.

The series offers a refreshing perspective on post-apocalyptic life, which I truly appreciate. However, the pacing feels rushed, and the characters lack sufficient development. For example, Evie's trauma is introduced but not explored deeply enough, leaving her arc feeling incomplete. Additionally, new characters are introduced frequently, but the audience isn't given enough time to connect with them or fully appreciate their roles in the story. I also wish they delved more into the children or what happened to Evie's family-their stories feel incomplete, leaving me hanging. Slowing down the narrative or focusing more on character development could significantly enhance the experience.

EDIT: After now having finished the season, I need to change my rating from 1 star to 5 stars. I would still never recommend the series to anyone, though. But should you choose to watch it, bear in mind that the story was published in 1941, long before any of us were born. It was written in a completely different time, where the world was so much smaller, and we had much less knowledge about anything. Furthermore, the author wasn't a skilled, experienced survivalist. No, as novelist George R. Stewart was probably more of a philosopher, it seems. My advice is to regard the series as a theater play. It would have worked much better as such, I think. But as a TV-series, the narrative is just too slow, with too little drama and too little action for today's world.

Going into this as an avid apocalypse fan, I was excited to see a long a fruitful world building into the narrative which upon learning it was only a mini series then left me "insert cliche" of wanting more. The main characters are left with shallow to no back story preventing the watcher to become invested in them emotionally which for the genre is a grip factor.

Failing that the entire story feels rushed and at times outlandish, a specific scene seems utter nonsense in reality .

When it came to wrap up of the series , I was left feeling as though it was quickly scrubbed together . A brilliant performance from the leading cast let down but rushed screen time and shallow writing .