Certain scenes, characters and arcs are interesting. I loved the performances by the actresses who played young Kirsten and Miranda, and David Cross was delightful as always. Episodes 3, 5, and 7 were great (7 was amazing), pretty much everything that takes place before or during the pandemic is very interesting. However, it really suffers from a lack of direction or purpose when it comes to the the scenes from the 'present'. Basically, that part of the show is centered around the protagonist's interactions with a very weak villain with extremely vague motivations. He does evil things like turn a little kids into suicide bombers, but we're encouraged to believe he's flawed, philosophical and complex. However, the way the character is written is fairly shallow- he never lives up to the 'greater purpose' the story wanted us to believe he had. While I do appreciate that the author wanted to have something other than zombies, cannibals or a militia to be the antagonist in a post-apocalyptic setting, ultimately he just doesn't work, in my opinion.
There are other flaws too. The relationship between characters in the post-pandemic world feels shallow and weak, as are some of the performances. I can't feel the connection between most of the survivors, or the struggles they face, the bonds they form, the joy in living a life without society's constraints, and their plans for the future. I would have liked to see those things better fleshed out.
While there was a noble attempt and intersecting all the storylines of different characters, the contrivances that allowed it to happen were a bit much at times.
Again, I really wanted to like this show, and I watched it twice hoping a second viewing would change my mind. Character-driven miniseries based on books are my jam. And I did enjoy parts of it very much. There are some great ideas in there, it's competently made, some wonderful performances and dialogue. It just never totally came together for me due to some of the weaknesses I mentioned and ultimately, I feel this story could have benefitted from further editing and tweaking.
There are other flaws too. The relationship between characters in the post-pandemic world feels shallow and weak, as are some of the performances. I can't feel the connection between most of the survivors, or the struggles they face, the bonds they form, the joy in living a life without society's constraints, and their plans for the future. I would have liked to see those things better fleshed out.
While there was a noble attempt and intersecting all the storylines of different characters, the contrivances that allowed it to happen were a bit much at times.
Again, I really wanted to like this show, and I watched it twice hoping a second viewing would change my mind. Character-driven miniseries based on books are my jam. And I did enjoy parts of it very much. There are some great ideas in there, it's competently made, some wonderful performances and dialogue. It just never totally came together for me due to some of the weaknesses I mentioned and ultimately, I feel this story could have benefitted from further editing and tweaking.