Station Eleven is a post-apocalyptic series from HBO Max that manages to avoid genre clichés. The story begins with the meeting of two strangers who are forced to hold on to each other, having learned that the world familiar to them has come to an end. The plot develops non-linearly, so the idea of the series is not immediately revealed to the audience.

The series is based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Canadian writer Emily St. John Mandel. The book is set in a world where a new flu pandemic is killing 99% of the world’s population.

The showrunner was Patrick Somerville, best known for The Leftovers , Maniac and Made for Love projects.

Station Eleven starred actors Mackenzie Davis ( Blade Runner 2049 , Terminator: Dark Fate ), Himesh Patel ( Yesterday , Tenet ) and Gael Garcia Bernal ( Mozart in the Jungle , Old ).

The most intriguing feature of the series is the division of the plot into “before” and “after” the pandemic outbreak. We get to know the main characters, watch how they cope with the growing panic, stock up on food and try to isolate themselves from a potential threat. Then the story abruptly cuts off and jumps forward twenty years – now we have to understand how the world has changed, as well as find out what happened to the characters who tried to protect themselves from other people.

But this is not all. As the main storylines are revealed, additional flashbacks to the past will appear. Thanks to them, it will be possible to clarify the origin of Doctor Eleven, a mysterious astronaut who influences the outcome of events in the future.

The plot of the first series takes place in our days. The premiere of “King Lear” is taking place in Chicago. In the midst of a performance on the theater stage, the famous artist Arthur Lender dies. Sudden death causes turmoil in the hall and backstage, so 8-year-old Kirsten is left unattended. She is noticed by Jeevan, an unfamiliar spectator who shows sympathy and offers to take Kirsten home. Their lives change in an instant when Jeevan receives a call from the hospital warning that the flu is spreading too fast and any contact with strangers can be fatal. Without realizing it, the hero becomes the guardian of someone else’s child, whom he can no longer leave.

Watching the development of the plot can be a little creepy, but the memories of the first lockdown associated with the spread of the coronavirus are still fresh. However, in the series things are much worse. During the first 80 days of the pandemic, the world is changing beyond recognition – communications and electricity are lost in settlements, corpses are lying everywhere.

Interestingly, the streaming service HBO Max ordered the series in the summer of 2019. Production began in early 2020 – the creative team managed to shoot almost all the “before” scenes, and then was forced to put the work on pause, which dragged on for a year. Back on set, the cast and creators of the series rethought the script based on their own experiences of forced lockdown.

“Station Eleven” is significantly different from other series or films made in the post-apocalyptic genre. There are no situations here, because of which the heroes have to flee from time to time. The episodes are shot at a leisurely pace – almost like an auteur film, for which you need to be patient in order to get involved in the plot. Getting used to this approach is helped by the soundtrack, which adds emotional or unsettling notes.

And if the first series attracts with the circumstances in which frightened strangers fall, then the second episode causes a backlash – it repels with its content. Actions are transferred to the “after” period, where itinerant artists become the central characters. This is a post-pandemic Shakespeare company that calls itself the Road Symphony. Nomads dressed in rags devote all their time to staging a play, so at first this storyline seems very monotonous. However, it is worth a little patience, soon the Prophet will appear next to them. He is dangerous, unpredictable, and obsessed with words that only one person knows – someone who attended the King Lear performance many years ago.

The series constantly winds between events from the past and the present, and then suddenly discourages the assumption that something else may exist in our world. Showrunner Patrick Somerville intentionally confuses the series with visual additions to make it more effective towards the finale. So it turns out to look again at the children who stubbornly sought refuge in an imaginary world where they forgot about the terrible reality that made them grow up faster.

“Station Eleven” is controversial. The pace of the series may seem too slow. There are drawn-out scenes in every episode – the ninth episode shows the physiological process (which is usually shown more delicately), and some of the climaxes are presented in the form of a play.

But in general, this is a very interesting post-apocalyptic story that begins with the meeting of Jeevan and Kirsten – two confused heroes who evoke sympathy. The series has unpredictable twists, curious conclusions and non-standard secondary characters. Therefore, “Station Eleven” will interest those who are tired of the monotonous Hollywood films about survival.