Station Eleven wraps up its tale with one last reunion
The final episode, “Unbroken Circle,” will make you cry—maybe more than once
TV Reviews Station Eleven
One thing I love about Station Eleven is that for an apocalyptic novel, it’s not very interested in the mechanics of the world ending. The pandemic is much worse in the show’s world, and we all understand pandemics differently now than when the book first came out. We understand how vaccines can help other people and how connected our health is to that of others. So the metaphor is already there, in a way, but Station Eleven doesn’t dwell. It does not give us more sheets and studies to read about how the virus works. Instead, it knows the most compelling part of the story is simply in the connections between people.
I was in glorious suspense watching “Unbroken Circle.” No, not for that Hamlet play (though the costumes were enthralling), or the Chekhov’s Knife that Kirsten gives Alex, or even to really find out what happens to the characters. All I cared about was Jeevan and Kirsten meeting again. Ugh, I was afraid this show would betray me, and it just wouldn’t happen. When one character mentioned “the doctor left,” I was ready to throw something at the screen. I thought that maybe they’d set us up, that the two would pass each other like ships in the night.
But of course, Station Eleven wouldn’t be the soothing balm it is if it didn’t deliver: Kirsten spots Jeevan just as he spots her, during the conductor Sarah’s wake. The moment is almost romantic even as their love is platonic, familial. Their story really is unlike any other. Unlike the fury and history and push-and-pull of Tyler, Elizabeth, and Clark, which needed to be play-acted through Hamlet to be processed, or the strange “babies raising babies” complexity of Alex and Kirsten, or the matriarchal role of the conductor, or even the lost children that follow the Prophet, Jeevan and Kirsten’s connection is special. Losing Jeevan meant more to Kirsten than losing her own family, because he actually felt like family. And the worst part of it was that Kirsten and Jeevan’s loss of each other had no rhyme or reason.
At the beginning of my recaps, I often wondered what kept Kirsten from the others in her group, what made her seem particularly traumatized compared to the others. But upon reflecting on her relationship with Jeevan, you can see why: For her, that loss, that goodbye, was completely inexplicable. Jeevan just disappeared one day. Sure, he was upset; sure, they were driving each other crazy. But the emotional weight of their connection should’ve been sturdy enough for him to stay. As she tells him when they walk together, she never felt scared when she was with him. The show alludes to unhappiness at home, which suggests that her time with Frank and Jeevan was the only time in her life she didn’t feel scared with people.
So, in a way, losing Jeevan was a wound for Kirsten that could never close. Station Eleven, as a show, is about open wounds and lack of closure. It’s also about the inexplicable reasons that connections break, like the one between Tyler and Arthur, or between Arthur and Miranda, or that between Arthur and Clark.
Station Eleven the comic book exists because of Miranda’s open wound. We return to her in the hotel room, where she goes to see her coworker, realizing it’s foolish to be alone in this moment. She reveals to him that her whole family died at once, and only she survived. We understand that the comic book was a way for her to explain an inexplicable tragedy, a life interrupted because of the loss. That it was her life’s work to make sense of this tragedy through her art. It makes sense that both Tyler and Kirsten clung to the stories of the book, as the story was born from someone else’s trauma of losing everything, a way for her to escape to a place where things made sense.
The show has many stories that people escape into: Tyler’s stories about losing his wife Rose and how you can’t trust the people behind the museum are ways to explain his confusing reality. Hamlet is an escape hatch for him, his mother, and Clark to explore the loss of Arthur and reset Tyler’s story of them both. And hasn’t the show itself acted like that for us? Station Eleven has felt like a soothing balm precisely because it acts as a counterweight to the bombardment of bad news of the pandemic. Instead, it trades in hope and optimism.
And, in a way, that comic book was a way for Miranda to heal wounds in her present day life. She finally finishes it after hearing news that explain her wounds from Arthur in a way that made sense, and she tries to use the comic those wounds by printing out copies for Arthur and his son. And that does it: Miranda tells Clark in their last call that Arthur asked her out on a date.
Of course, his death and a giant global pandemic interrupted this healing process. But the healed wound provides its own mercy. Miranda knows she can’t save herself but while on the phone with Clark, she figures out how the people there can stay safe. (Of course a job in logistics would be helpful in this regard.) It turns out she’s the one that calls the pilot on the Gitche Gumee flight to tell him to keep the passengers on board.
Because of this conversation, the airport could be a safe haven for its inhabitants. But the end of the episode suggests they are eager to leave—and several do, with Tyler and Elizabeth in the end. Alex joins them with a proper if perfunctory goodbye to Kirsten.
While I understood the machinations of Tyler, Elizabeth, and Clark, I found it really hard to emotionally connect with that story. It’s partly the major hiccup in the storytelling—why would Kirsten help him?—and partly because the actor was truly hard to take seriously in his hipster beard and Carhartt overalls. It could also be because their bonds both predate the pandemic and are similar to a typical family unit.
In contrast, Kirsten and Jeevan’s story serves as the backbone of this series in a way that surprised but truly stuck with me. It’s no surprise that Kirsten walks with Jeevan with her hair down, wearing a dress. It’s not so much a sign of her femininity as the fact that it’s the most carefree of outfits, and Kirsten hasn’t felt carefree in a long, long time. She promises to add the airport to the wheel, and to meet Jeevan’s family. The show ends with a story unfinished and ongoing.
Stray Observations
- With all the different connections that commenters found in the show, I think I have to rewatch it.
- How I wish the show had simply spent the whole episode focused on the conversations they must be having after almost 20 years apart. What do you think they talked about?
- The costumes in the Hamlet sequence were so incredibly beautiful.
- I wonder if the writers know how the comic book story goes. I found the bits and pieces of story strong enough to satisfy me, but I wonder if they ever sat down and figured out the story at some point.
- I didn’t get a chance to shout out his acting, but I really enjoyed Prince Amponsah’s acting as August. I wish he’d had more to do with the main stories.
- How many times did you cry watching this episode? I cried three times, and two more while writing this recap.
77 Comments
While Station Eleven is bookended by two Shakespeare tragedies – it begins with King Lear and ends on Hamlet – the show itself is pure late period Shakespeare romance, like Cymbeline or the Tempest (we even have a character named Miranda). The show is full of odd tonal shifts, strange coincidences (who names their kid after a deadly hurricane?) and, most importantly, the recognition scenes at the end that bring long lost characters back together. I think the show is best appreciated on those terms, and will not be for everyone. I was truly there for it, though.It is hard to take Tyler getting the happy ending reconciliation after he used children to suicide bomb Gil, though.And, in the apocalypse, people are able to memorize complex Shakespeare passages pretty much on demand. #skillsThe costume designer for the Traveling Symphony is a genius. The ghost mask is especially amazing.
I totally agree about Tyler and it’s my one big flaw with an otherwise stupendous show. Like….there were children suicide bombers! That’s extremely unforgivable! But Kirsten finds out he’s sad and that’s it? Very odd decision that either needed more time spent on it or needed him to do something less shocking than get children to blow themselves up. I haven’t read the book, so I don’t know how faithful this is.Otherwise I loved this series so, so much. This finale was pretty cheesy, but in a way that fit perfectly with the themes of the show, and I mean….you can’t say they didn’t earn it.
The suicide bombers aren’t in the book at all. Tyler is a character that really doesn’t get a happy ending there.I’m trying to reconcile that point by thinking, well, maybe it is a different morality in the post apocalyptic setting, that maybe healing an awful person is better than gaining some sense of justice with another violent act, but it’s still a bit of a stretch. I agree that it’s the main sticking point with the show. It reminds me of the Watchmen HBO series, which somewhat succeeded in redeeming Adrian Veidt, but of course the destruction of NYC mostly happened off screen in this “sequel.” It’s a bit harder to take when you see it happen full on in the middle of the series.The ending is really Shakespeare late romance. Those plays tend to have improbably strange and cheesy wrapups, which is part of their charm.
My thoughts exactly. He steals children and uses them as suicide bombers. Why are we just supposed to forget or forgive that?
Tyler wasnt behind the bombings. I guess you didn’t get to read the whole thread. A rogue kid from his group (probably the young girl at the end) decided to interpret the prophecy that way, and formed a splinter group with younger kids who were then used as suicide bombers. They only explain this in 1 line in the episode where Kirsten finds Tyler after stabbing him, and it’s amidst so much other stuff going on. Youre not alone as many people missed this, so they failed to get it across well. They should’ve been more illustrative.
The suicide bombers were not part of Tyler’s plan or doing, a rogue kid (presumably one of the older ones) broke off from Tyler’s group with some younger kids did the mine stuff. They only told us this briefly in passing though, so alot of people missed it. It would’ve been better had they shown it or reiterated it. Or quite frankly, not included it all, since we never really understand who was the leader behind it or why.
the bombings are not Tyler’s doing; he says himself he’s lost control of the narrative because he’s weak and some of the kids have taken over and tried to avenge him. like in the end where he’s tied to something but they still try to come and blow stuff up.
Acording to Tyler, the bombings weren’t his idea, but some of the other kids going rogue while he was incapacitated, IF you believe him. He’s hardly trustworthy, but the show did introduce some doubt.
Thanks for that. I didn’t catch that line. In my defense, Tyler did get a bit mumblecore at times.
LOL so true. I only understood a few words in that conversation and didn’t know what he said until I read about it online. I love your insight about the Station Eleven’s similarities to late Shakespearean romance. I enjoyed the distinctive tone of the series but couldn’t find words to describe it. That comparison really clarifies it for me.
This is definitely what we’re meant to believe, the plot point just disappeared in quick dialogue amongst some bigger stress and violence after Gil is blown up. The girl at the end with the mines that Kirsten stops is either the splinter leader being referenced, or someone under their influence. I think the key to all this is in how the show uses the Station 11 book: as a metaphorical lifeline for remembering how to return to one’s humanity after “damage….then escape.”
Over and over we see the book take root in character’s minds, followed by them discovering the fervor and vision to stay alive and rebuild after trauma (in whatever way that character is compelled to act out). Even Jeevan and Clark. Just like it took Miranda years to work out on her own and put on paper. Miranda saying she knew how to finally finish the book comes when she realizes she doesn’t have to keep isolating herself, in fact she should help build… and then a week later the world ends. At that moment the drifting for her is over, and it’s the (emotional) path other characters take as well.I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the one character who read the book and didn’t follow the theme of the story was Tyler, because he read it as a kid and burned it, slowly twisting its memory. By the time he’s rallied the children, he doesn’t have the book to confirm or deny rogue ideas that come up, and his group takes on a life of their own. He’s become a fundamentalist, and when he’s reconnected with the book it seems to tame him, and bring him back from the brink.
my main issue with this is that tyler “lit the torch” to call all his minions to do… something. i was under the impression they were called to blow up the airport.
I’m coming at this way late (just finished watching) but I though he lit the torch so that folks would come to the airport to live. That’s what all the people streaming towards the airport in the final shots were. He wanted to end their isolation. Another thing that could have been made more clear.
I thought the horde of people were streaming away from the airport, along wit the children.
Surely we just didn’t see what the first question was! Presumably it happened soon after that long, evening hug.
Also coming at this way late, but I just double-checked and all those people were walking away from the airport! I got the impression the idea was “this cult he has is way bigger than we thought it was…”.
Yeah, I have to think that if he wasn’t telling the truth that the show would have treated him differently. In fact, I thiiiiiink it was the little girl who Kirsten talked to who was the mad bomber. They probably should have made that all clearer, because obvi not easy to root for a warlord with child soldiers.
The way I understood the show, the creepy Undersea girl whom Kirsten reads “Station Eleven” to outside Sarah’s wake, Haley, was the one who orchestrated the suicide bombings. She was going to use “beacons” (which I took to be mines) at the airport to guide Dr. Eleven home. Kirsten saves the Traveling Symphony and everyone else at the airport by showing Haley that it wasn’t a true prophecy but just Miranda’s graphic novel that Tyler had memorized.
Excellent! I’ll go with that. Like many others here- that was Literally the one event that made me furl my brow and ask “REALLY?”. The bombing seemed out of place and unnessasay… but probably won’t be on rewatch knowing it won’t turn into some Apocalypse Now revenge tale.
I didn’t catch that line in the episode when it happened, but it seems like something the show could have at least tried to reiterate more than once? Like the only reason I can get on board with his redemption is if I assume the children bombers weren’t his idea.
I wouldn’t be surprised if most viewers hated the show for that reason alone.
Does it matter that the bombings weren’t his idea? He kidnapped those kids and brainwashed them into thinking Station Eleven was a prophecy. They would be alive if not for him. He is responsible for everything that happened to them.
Of course it matters. According to the show he told them a story and they just wanted to leave. He was assumed to be evil kidnapper and brain washer, but acvordingvto the show it turned out not to be true, as after she met him the show repeatedly tells us he never coerced anyone and they were always free to go. He said he knew a prophecy. Big deal, most adults tell children religious stories. If they asked him, and he didnt stop them, then yea hed bear responsibility as the adult. But no, if some kids runaway from him and decides to make smaller kids suicide bombers, he isn’t any more responsible than their original parents they also ran away from. I’m sure they were told stories maybe even Bible stories by their parents. If they then run away and decide they need to blow people up to make Jesus come back, it’s not the fault of the adults who taught them about Jesus and who they them ran away from.This is actually a problem though and that is that, the show yakes the position he doesn’t really coerce or trick them or say they need to follow or behave a certain. way for the prophecy. And that is just flatly unrealistic for children to want to runaway with some random young man. I mean irl he’d definitely get a % of teenagers a d young adults like Alex following him, who feel stifled, but young children don’t choose to leave their families, not even most abused children want to leave. So it’s just not a believable plot, and as a result, people return to the position that was assumed about him by Pingtree members, because that would make more sense in real life.The only thing I can think is maybe it’s a point about the need for religion. These communities don’t really have their own religious prophesies, rituals, prayers etc, so maybe it’s trying to make a point that the fact he did drew young people. I don’t think it really works.
So at best, he still kidnapped dozens of children, brainwashed them into joining a cult, instructed them to dig up explosives, and then was negligent in caring for the emotional and mental well-being of these children such that some of them started making their own interpretations of his pseudo-religion and became suicide bombers.
I honestly know nothing about Shakespeare as this is not my culture and had a bit of hard time following the text from the play but I still enjoyed the show very much. Also a special kudos to the music. perfect show. no notes.
Hi. The first review you posted had a B-, but then quickly the show jumped into A/B+ range. Just curious about your thoughts on that? Was it concern about that maybe they were botching the adaptation from the novel? Do you think you’d give it higher marks on a re-watch, or do you think those first episodes were just weak?
A heartwarming post-apocalypse drama? Yes!
When I saw the trailer for Station Eleven (I started reading the book several years ago, but found it too depressing at the time), my embittered first reaction was “who thought a post-apocalyptic TV series about a deadly flu pandemic was what the world needs right now?” But now I get it. The way it hit me was like, OK, what if COVID only gets worse and worse? Here’s a scenario where the world doesn’t completely descend into horror, and there are enough kind, decent people that civilization for the most part will carry on. It is actually rather comforting, even if I’m absolutely sure that I’ll be one of the 99.99% that don’t make it to that future.The whole time I was watching this, I thought about what the novelist Nick Hornby said about Cormac McCarthy’s The Road:But maybe when Judgment Day does come, we’ll surprise each other by sharing our sandwiches and singing “Bridge over Troubled Water,” rather than by scooping out our children’s brains with spoons.
As Warren Zevon said after his terminal diagnosis, “Enjoy every sandwich”.
You can really sense the Leftovers DNA—in this whole series, but in the finale especially. The emphasis on losing and finding people, the messiness of human relationships, and forgiveness—even when it’s unearned (can it ever be?)—are central themes in both. (Also cults/dogma as things that get in the way of those things.)If you like Station Eleven, you should check The Leftovers out!Definitely picked up on some thematic connections to Halt and Catch Fire that went beyond the Davis connection, too. I know “it was about the friends we made along the way” is a longstanding AV Club punchline, but man if it doesn’t hit just a little bit harder after the last couple of years.
I loved the book. This was a really interesting adaptation. They took the basic premise of the book and asked “what if Person A did Y instead of X” a whole bunch of times, but managed to do so in a way that didn’t betray most of the well developed characters in the original. I loved it… almost all of it.I liked that the prophet was a little less moustache twirling, although I don’t know if I loved that he just… got away with sending kids to their deaths as suicide bombers. That maybe was my one sticking point here. The atonement for who he became didn’t seem to line up with the horrible things he’d done.All in all though, they generated some spine-tingling, moments. Great show with one moderate flaw to me.
addressed in another comment but: he says that was the kids going rogue after he was stabbed, and it may be (I’d have to look again) that it was the particular little girl that Kirsten read the story to (and had a bag o’ mines) and doing that dissuaded her from lighting the “beacons”
Kirsten and “Midnight Train To Georgia”. Whoo whoo.
I know lol people aren’t reading the thread before commenting. There’s multiple conversations on this. I can understand missing it on the show, because it was explained briefly with 1 line, but then missing it in all these comments too is funny.
Pretty much how I feel about it, too. The Tyler/Prophet storyline was weak, but the other ways that the show executed its themes and ideas were very good overall. I was talking with some friends earlier today and we all were sort of in agreement that the early reviews that talked about the show being uplifting were sort of confounding, as we all felt the show skewed much darker than the novel through eight episodes. Episodes 9 and 10 were a more hopeful course correction. That said, I feel in my gut that Tyler would have been better left un-redeemed. I could see a way that it could have happened that way: that Tyler gets some resolution to his trauma, but gets taken out by one of his child soldiers who realizes the fraud he’s perpetrated using the comic book. Then Alex and Elizabeth begin the project of redeeming the children, or returning them home. Either that, or leave him closer to the cult leader of the novel. To me, Tyler’s presence in the novel is a natural and necessary outgrowth of the pandemic. The novel shows the reader how people have adapted and coped: some travel the road, some have settled into makeshift towns, and some, as will happen, turn svengali. While the vast majority may work toward peaceful rebuilding, a character like Tyler shows how completely one malign influence can disrupt years of painstaking work.
Those are good points. I was also pleasantly surprised with the uplifting, but not saccharine, tone that the series concluded on. I think it did justice to the book, in which the symphony went on, as did the world, despite tragedies. The book just left more threads loose at the end.I feel like Tyler was two characters. One was a kid who went through some shit in his formative years, ran away, and spent his time vowing revenge on his perceived sources of shit. This person was redeemable, and the redemption arc Tyler went through is satisfying for this character.
The other character is a child manipulating/child stealing despot who at best brainwashed a bunch of kids as part of a cult that led to parentless children, childless parents, and kids making terrible decisions beyond his control. At worst he is a despot with little regard for the welfare of the kids he brainwashed, and willfully sends them to their deaths.I did appreciate the complexity they tried to bring to him. I think The Prophet was the least developed major character in the book, and fell firmly into the despotic post apocalyptic cult leader character above. He worked in how St. John Mandell used him, but he was more scary than interesting. But it was hard to reconcile the two things.
In the TV version they make a point to say he actually didn’t coerce any of the kids, they simply followed him, and he never said they had to do anything.Its unrealistic, as only some teens might do that, but that is the TV shows position. According to the “text” of the show, he is suspected and assumed to be killing and brainwashing and coercing people, then we find out they just wanted to follow him and liked the story/prophecy. It’s just bad storytelling.
Acvording to the show, Tyler was not behind the child soldiers. It was a splinter group. For the 20th time in this thread.
Your assertion is, in my opinion, an incorrect reading of the show and what happened. In the show, Tyler only makes one reference to a splinter group of child soldiers, when he blames the country club bombing on a breakaway group. But the narrative never actually confirms that independent of Tyler, and he isn’t exactly a reliable narrator. He’s trying to get Kirsten to help him, so he has an incentive to lie. I think it’s far more likely that he ordered the bombing than that a group went rogue, but it doesn’t really matter. The show leaves the unresolved. So what we have to go on is all the other context surrounding Tyler and the children. Throughout the show, he is shown with a group of children, ostensibly leading them (whether they are coerced or simply lured by his cult-leader personality doesn’t really matter, either). We see him as a youth in the “Dr. Chaudhary” episode trying to claim the baby Alexandra at the birthing center. He has collected these children on his travels, become their leader, and radicalized them. They protect him, they do his bidding. They bring Kirsten to him when commanded. They march to the Museum of Civilization when he lights the torch. They bring the landmines that they say he made them dig up from the fields. At the conclusion, many children follow him across the field. When you take all of this into account, then yes, Tyler was absolutely the leader of a group of child soldiers. Their ultimate attack was only spoiled by Kirsten introducing them to the Station Eleven book, showing them proof that the prophecies weren’t Tylers’. I watched the show closely given that I teach dystopian/apocalyptic fiction. I’ve watched the series through twice now so that I could consider its potential for use in my classes. I’m confident in my reading of this particular dynamic in the show.
The only problem I had with the Prophet in the book is that he didn’t seem all that remarkable apart from his connection to Arthur. I guess it probably wouldn’t have been that great to make him a super-end-level-boss but the way it was written it just sort of seemed like the type of drama with the Prophet is something that everyone just sort of deals with once ever few years. Selfish egotistical dickheads being fairly common.
Gonna make this quick because I have to leave for work, I might have more to say later when I get home.This was better than I ever hoped, with the source material it would have been very easy to screw it all up.Miranda on the phone with the pilot is the first time a TV show or movie has brought me to tears in a very long time.
This was an amazing mini series, once again M Davis shows that she works on quality projects (Halt and Catch fire forever!)Jeevan is now one of my all-time fav characters (his fear/damage added to his realness for me)All around awesome!
Halt and Catch fire for all time!
When Jeevan says, “I was scared…all the time” my heart just broke.
never read the book but thoroughly enjoyed this series. thought the hamlet scene was quite gripping and i will admit i wept when kirsten/jeveen finally spotted each other. similarly i do wish they had devoted a few minutes to them catching up but i suppose it’s fitting they did not as the embrace said it all.i also kept thinking the kid bombers were going to just blow the entire airport up and ruin everything but they didn’t.
My understanding was that Kirsten saved everyone at the airport by showing creepy Undersea girl Haley that “Station Eleven” wasn’t a true prophecy but just Miranda’s graphic novel
I stopped breathing when Kirsten and Jeevan saw each other- I finally breathed again once I started crying. That moment was PERFECT. For me this show entered out of nowhere, and I am so thankful it did. Just magnificent.
I loved this show, but felt the final episode was rushed. Felt like three episodes worth of stuff crammed in.
Whatever is going on with this lead photo—it looks like cgi to me. Like a Last of Us screenshot.
I’m really happy with how this turned out. The opportunities for fucking it up were immense. The casting was good, and they resisted the temptation to make the characters too pretty when you consider their situation. They made most of the men appropriately shaggy, although quite frankly shoes and clothes should be a bit ragged 20 years later, even if you can still pick them off the shelves of abandoned stores.I’m going to bring up something here that I already brought up in the Dr. Who recaps because it seems to be part of an ongoing sea change in the casting of actors with visible physical handicaps. This is the 4th show I am watching this year that cast an actor with a visible handicap (or whatever word I should be using, I’d be happy to be corrected), but did not make a “Very Special Episode” about it, or for that matter even mention it at all. They just cast them without comment.1) Prince Amponsah as August. He’s a victim of a catastrophic fire, and everything you see with him is real.2) The lady in Dr. Who who was missing a forearm and hand.3) The receptionist in the police station on Dexter who was missing both legs below the knee.4) Maya (Echo) on Hawkeye. Everyone made a big deal about her deafness, but she also has a prosthetic leg that wasn’t originally part of the character description, but they just rolled with it.These were all speaking parts. I’m 56 and I have seen more physically disabled actors this year than I have seen in the previous 50 put together. Previously I can only think of the Coroner on CSI(prosthetic legs), Darryl Mitchell on NCIS:NO (wheelchair), Geri Jewell on Deadwood and Facts Of Life(Cerebral Palsy). Hopefully in the coming years this will become common enough that I don’t notice anymore.
You missed one, but it’s a deep cut—Victoria Ann Lewis, who played Peggy (Mac Mackenzie’s secretary) on Knot’s Landing from 1984-1993.
Well, theres all those “one-legged doctor” shows.The Dr on ER who used a crutch.Dr. House on House MD who is missing half his thigh and can’t walk without a cane (though the downstream trauma and opioid addiction from it play a huge role in the show).Dr. Arizona Robbins on Grey’s Anatomy has to have an above-knee amputation after a car accident. I think there was one more?Its kinda weird now that I think about it. I guess some kinda collective unconscious “physician heal thyself” archetype. But always the leg.
Ah, but the actors did not share the handicap. I’m talking about shows actually casting amputee actors, or otherwise physically disabled actors to play the part. They actually “cured” the doctor on ER because hobbling around on the crutch was causing her actual physical problems.
That headline is a spoiler, in the sense that if you read it before you get a chance to watch you’re probably gonna figure out who was reunited.
One thing that struck me as odd is that no one asked for or was given any explanation of where they’d been or why they disappeared. And no one seemed especially amazed at the near miraculous reunions with people they believed were dead. Wouldn’t Clark have been more astounded when he found out who Kirsten was? His reaction seemed more in line with someone who figured out that a person he just met had attended the same university that he graduated from—sort of interesting, but no big deal. And did anyone ever make the connection between Alex and Tyler?Also, wouldn’t the first question out of Kirsten’s mouth to Jeevan have been “What happened to you?” Or “Why did you just disappear and leave me all alone?” Something along those lines?
This is a good comment, the topic of which I’ve been thinking about for a bit. Only 1 in 1,000 survived the epidemic. And if one survivor happened to know another survivor in the before, it doesn’t seem that coincidental they would randomly reconnect in the after especially if they were both in the general orbit of lake Michigan.
That the first question out of Kirsten’s mouth wasn’t “where the fuck were you” isn’t surprising. This is typical of television shows most of which trade quality writing and realism for melodrama/dramatic peaks. Never mind the realism of the pandemic (which was fine, IMO), the behavior of the main characters in this show was ridiculous, Kirsten in particular.
I’m fairly certain the girl that Kirsten stops from bombing
the airport is the girl who originally used suicide bombs at the
country club. Not the Prophet. If it isn’t the same girl, it’s at least a
placeholder amongst the kids for this idea that the show keeps
referencing: Kirsten helps The Prophet stay alive because if she
doesn’t, the (at the time) unknown splinter leader would take over and
continue to use the kids as an army. He says “she changed the story” in an earlier episode, after he disappeared from his knife wound. The girl now shows up to the airport with mines/bombs,
we see the flashes of Kirsten and other characters during the Station
11 quote about recognizing something about oneself in another person.
Kirsten has an emotional realization, and she manages to wriggle her
away from violence by showing her that the story the prophet has been
telling is real, and doesn’t go the way she was about to take it. All
along, the prophet was angling to sneak in with the symphony to destroy the museum, not necessarily kill anyone.
Though we’re lead to believe he would have happily killed Clark if he
hadn’t been shown an alternative by the new people around him.
The Station 11 book acts like a miniature museum of civilization, because the metaphors and abstractions of Miranda’s story lets it work as a parable for coming back from the brink. Over and over we see it work like an emotional lifeline for people on the verge of losing their humanity. It’s interesting to me that the Prophet gets closest to losing touch after he reads, but then destroys, the book earlier in his life.
I wonder if the writers know how the comic book story goes. I found the bits and pieces of story strong enough to satisfy me, but I wonder if they ever sat down and figured out the story at some point.Regarding this stray observation, Patrick Somerville told Alan Sepinwall they actually wrote the entire comic book!
I think if you read the whole thing cover to cover, you would like it. And we, in fact, wrote the whole thing cover to cover, in order to make it real for us.I so want to read it now 🙂
I lost it when Kirsten and Jeevan found each other again. I haven’t read the book, so I don’t know if it’s the same there, but I absolutely loved how they reconnected right after Kirsten stopped herself from chasing after the little girl who stole the book.
Kirsten couldn’t let go of Station Eleven for 20 years. She lost Jeevan 19 years earlier in part because couldn’t let go of the book and then immediately found him again when she stopped chasing it.
Oh I hadn’t made that connection! How beautiful! Thank you.
I read the book last month — prior to even KNOWING that there was a TV series! All the more intense! Now need to re-read. The cast … ++
I guess I’m in the minority that thought this show was mediocre at best. I didn’t think anyone besides Jeevan was likeable. The music in the show was annoying (not the pop songs that played, but the show’s music backing emotional moments). The whole comic book thing was frustratingly lame (as was Miranda and Arthur’s plot, though I like the actors). The actress playing adult Kirsten was very limited in her abilities to portray anything beyond ‘concerned deer in headlights’.
There were some stand out moments though, and some moments where genuine emotion shown through. I wish we explored more of Jeevan’s story and spent less time with adult Kirsten and her band of merry drama nerds. I think the finale did a pretty good job of wrapping things up, but I wouldn’t recommend this show to anyone.
Can I ask what you liked about Jeevan that the rest of the show didn’t provide? I think Jeevan and Frank made the show for me, but I also get kind of feeling that the rest of the show was take-it-or-leave-it.
I thought he was the only character to have much of a character arc. Kirsten did, too, but it wasn’t really satisfying as child Kirsten didn’t really have the neurosis that adult Kirsten had. Jeevan was also likable and damaged (along with Frank who I liked, too). Again, I wish they explored that character more!
yeah, you’re definitely in the minority, and I feel the majority should exile you to the Severn City Airport.Sorry, I just loved it.
I’m with you. Jeevan was the only character who wasn’t absolutely dripping in pretension. Call me crazy but it’s hard to get on board with a show that’s basically a bunch of self-righteous ‘artists’ getting slathered with praise at every turn. The only reason anyone turns against the Traveling Circus or Whatever is because they’re TOO good at plays. Ugh. Might have helped to have more of Jeevan’s approach throughout — people who see these actors as frivolous drains on resources (when he looks at the comic and snarls “Argh so pretentious!” is about the only moment I identified with in the whole series). At least that way there’d be some actual conflict.This whole show is so up its own ass I considered it an act of masochism to watch the whole season. I get that expressing oneself can be an important part of healing trauma, etc, etc, but this show is just so self-important and self-serious that the message is lost behind fifteen layers of saccharine schmaltz. Needless to say, I didn’t cry once.
I didn’t get the hype either, to the point that rather than watch the last few episodes I just read the recaps to see what happened. And I’m usually a completist. The show just never connected with me outside of a few moments, all of which were pre-pandemic or the early portion of it. Did not care even slightly about anything happening in the present and frequently found it frustrating on a number of levels.
I thought the first five episodes were outstanding. I thought the last five episodes were ridiculous. The story arc with the prophet was just stupid and entirely ruined episode 10. The murderer/cultist/possible child rapist (he is in the book)/terrorist? Sure let’s include him in the play and give him a knife. Why did Kirsten follow him around and in some cases conspire with him against her “family?” JUST because he was Arthur’s kid and also knew the comic? The book is pretty good but much, much, much simpler and more compact. The adaptation of the book was a two hour movie at best and that would have been perfect. Expanding it into a 10 episode mini-series meant that the showrunners had to add dramatic peaks along the way. When they expanded on backstory that was already in the book (Jeevan and Frank, Miranda and Arthur, the airport, etc.) it worked. When they added story arcs, it sucked hard, adding shitty, shitty writing to what was already a tight, well crafted plot.
Interesting. I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that maybe this is just one of those shows that doesn’t work so well as a show? I don’t know, I didn’t read it, but frankly I don’t miss it.
I think if they had kept the main story the same as the book but expanded the backstories it would have worked. If the prophet had stayed a horrible cultist pedophile villain they overcame on their way to the airport where they were welcomed. They could have kept the Jeevan/Kirsten story (not in the book — Jeevan drops young Kirsten off at her house and that’s that) and it would have worked.
I think the show’s strengths are on the emotional level. I think the actress was going for a child who’s emotionally stunted after a childhood spent with absent parents who basically parked her in activities, then the apocalypse, then isolation with two adult strangers upon whom she had to rely and who themselves weren’t great at empathy or parenting. Then the implication is she spent some time alone just surviving while nearly going feral before finding the troupe. That’s not a person that will have normal, expressive, emotions. She is indeed a deer wrapped in wolf’s clothing, in headlights.
The comic as a mechanism also annoyed me, but this article helped as I somehow hadn’t connected that the graphic novel was about Miranda processing her own loss finally (it makes Arthur’s revealed betrayal at the dinner so much more intimate of a violation than a base affair).
Random question: I’d have to go back and rewatch, but was there an implication that Cody was Rose’s son?
I cried several times as well. Living in the moment of the plot allowed me to carve out the problem scenes but also may was also be in line with post-pan morality. The overall timbre of the show was very satisfying and I wish it was longer, looking at other relationships with the pandemic.
So, what’s the deal with Alex? She’s all about joining the cult, but says she’s not. She may have helped the suicide bombers, she gives The Prophet a knife before the play. Seems like she just wants to watch the world burn… and Kristen doesn’t see it or doesn’t care?
I loved that Kirsten came in and just totally took over the play’s production. “Wait, but I’m the director,” says the aging actor who always wanted to direct.“Not anymore, you’re Gertrude. Oh and by the way, you over there, you’re Hamlet.”She doesn’t even have to state her bona fides as a playwright and producer since the age of 9. She simply takes control.
Do you write anywhere else? I just love your brain haha. I hope you keep writing. Yes this show is so endearing and even more than endearing it is so generous with it’s reinforcing symbolism. Like you really start to feel like you are in each character’s head in a very familiar way at first. Emotionally you can connect with them, like when Jeevus hears the story about Yoo-Hoo from his sister Siya and then he sees the You-Hoo at the store. At first you relate in this obvious but heavy emotional moments.
Then we start to relate to the comic book abstractions just like the characters too. There are so many subtle moments. Like when the lights go out in Chicago. Kirsten, Jeevan, and Frank are looking out of Frank’s lakefront apartment at night. Kirsten says it looks like a spaceship now. Their reflections in the window make them look like they are floating without gravity in the darkness. You start to feel how when the lights go out, which would be a super traumatic moment of concern on top of traumatic moments are not overwhelming. The care these men have for Kirsten conquers all of this anxiety. It allows them to suspend disbelief with her. It is such a beautiful moment of being there for each other in a hard situation because the actors are so soulful as said. It is so quiet and subtle and that is only one example. The show is littered with similar examples, and I mean “littered” in the best way possible.
At first I was so sad when Kirsten and Jeevan parted ways at the end. Now I think maybe it is him doing the same thing he and Frank did for Kirsten from the start. Jeevan calls them Kirsten’s family, and I think she sort of needed him to believe and confirm that too before she was able to let him go the other way. It was almost like full circle.
I *loved* the book and I *loved* this show, with a few caveats. I was one of those who noticed the Prophet saying someone else made the decision to send the suicide bombers — but, honestly, if it wasn’t going to be part of why the prophet is evil, I don’t understand why they had this plot point at all. Knowing that it wasn’t him who sent the suicide bombers (and that we’re obviously supposed to absolve him of it happening) it just feels cheap. It literally added NOTHING to the plot — except for annoying/confusing a ton of people in the AV Club comment thread.But I loved the show so much that I allowed myself to suspend disbelief and buy into most of the rest of the Prophet story.
There were so many parts of this show that I loved as much as the book (which I would count among one of my favourite books), and many I loved more (most of all Kirsten and Jeevan, obvs). And, aside from the casting of Arthur (as noted by the reviewer: an incredible actor, just didn’t have good chemistry w Miranda and maybe GGB wasn’t right for that part), I thought all of the other casting was incredible. Even The Prophet — while I might have switched out the hipster overalls, I did love how warm he was, and the way he was so affectionate with the kids (…that he stole, I know, I know).
And there were so many lovely little touches of realism! When Frank is wearing the space helmet, he goes to scratch his nose, realises he can’t from the front and switches to pushing his scratching finger up inside the helmet. When Miranda’s colleague hands her his wallet for the credit card, he says, “use the blue one.” Small touches that were in no way necessary but so beautifully lifelike.
Thanks Sulagna for these brilliant recaps. And thanks to everyone in the comments for your insights!(I appreciate that most of you might not see my thanks, 4 months later!)
I just finished this show and this was really something special; didn’t expect a random pick from a random reco to land this hard for me. I did cry more than once; and more than in the ending. It helped me reconed with the the moment we’re living (we’re still in a pandemic in 2024; yes; a neverending one; and the threat of the “end of the world” through climate collapse is still very much looming). We need fictions like this; not gritty “after the event every man for himself and people show their worse”; but how people build community and hope. This show is also very much about how art can literally save you in a time of crisis, how it can open doors to other realities when the present one seem dimmer and dimmer; how; as Deleuze puts it; you can meet a book as you meet a person, how those stories can help you process your own reality. In this show every star is aligned and everything feels right; the actors performances; the relationships between characters; the emotional tone; the whole aesthetic (muted for the event; vibrant and exuberant for 20 years later); the music (the music is incredible in this); and the mysterious book you never quite understand but which poetry infiltrates every pore of the show. a true masterpiece (in a year where “The Curse” happened; this easily tops it); and shows like “the last of us” feels incredibly pale and shallow in comparison (and it’s not bad by any means).