It’s enough to suggest the varied and quirky ways the miniseries will approach material that feels so delicate at this moment in time. The second takes us into the future timeline where the adult Kirsten is with the Traveling Symphony, while the third revisits the pandemic from an entirely different angle, following Miranda (Danielle Deadwyler), a shipping logistics expert who also happened to write the sci-fi graphic novel that has become a lifetime obsession for Kirsten, and was briefly married to Kirsten’s mentor Arthur (Gael Garcia Bernal). Smartly, HBO Max is dropping the first three episodes all at once. There are some interesting inversions of what we know from Covid times - a young Kirsten (Matilda Lawler, expertly matching Davis’ expressive and eerily composed performance) and her accidental guardian Jeevan (Himesh Patel in an effective everyman turn) go on a shopping spree at a grocery store devoid of people but full of food - but it’s still rough sledding even in the age of vaccine boosters. The first episode in particular feels like a high barrier to entry, albeit a necessary one, as it depicts the period immediately before the apocalypse and then the terrible day when the world seemingly dies all at once. And the exploration of what art can and cannot heal, as well as what pieces of society could - and should - potentially survive such an apocalypse, feels even more relevant and powerful than when the book was published in 2014. Many viewers may simply not have the tolerance for scenes where people cough in public spaces, hoard supplies, or debate the efficacy of masks against an airborne plague.īut the majority of the limited series - adapted by Patrick Somerville ( Maniac) and primarily directed by Atlanta’s Hiro Murai - takes place 20 years in the future, when Kirsten ( Mackenzie Davis) tours the Midwest with a company of actors and musicians (the “Traveling Symphony”) who perform Shakespeare for survivors eager to experience any bit of culture from the world they once knew. John Mandel’s acclaimed novel, about the aftermath of a flu pandemic that wipes out most of humanity, arrives while we are still fretting about the impact each new Covid variant will have on our lives. The timing of HBO Max’s Station Eleven is either unfortunate or spectacular, depending how you look at it.
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