SURVIVORS
(2008)
Season 2

Dystopian future tale

Episode 1 - first transmitted January 12th 2010

Abby has been kidnapped, but the priority for the group of survivors is Greg, shot and bleeding. They find a safe location and Anya does what she can, but she needs proper equipment. A trip to a local hospital is a disaster as the burning building crashes down, burying Anya and Al alive. Max can't get them out alone and he hasn't got anything to barter with, but perhaps Sarah does.

SURVIVORS blasts back with an opening episode that doesn't even give you time to breathe as the cliffhangers of Series 1 provide a launching pad for an hour that (literally) brings the house down. OK, the piling of disaster on top of crisis on top of drama might be a bit much, but it's buoyed along by the pace, brio and some seriously epic destruction that is excellently realised by the special effects guys. There's probably more in terms of effects in this one episode than in the whole of the last series.

It's not just about the fast-paced plot, though. Whilst Greg lies bleeding on a table, he flashes back to his life before the virus to events that put his character a little more in focus. Anya and Ali lie trapped in the rubble and try to keep each other alive. And Abby, well she learns a bit more about the secret lab and their plans for her, plans that aren't necessarily in her own best interests.

There's also a mess of relationships as Sarah sacrifices all she has for a Max who is just devoted to Anya, though not above using Sam's talents either for himself or for his own purposes. It's not pushed down the audience's throats either, just sitting in the background, informing everyone's actions.

The story doesn't quite have the courage of its own convictions and wimps out on one point right at the end, but that's a quibble we can certainly live with when there is so much other good stuff going on.

SURVIVORS is back and not with a whimper, but with some bloody big bangs.

Episode 2 - first transmitted January 26th 2010

Abby has been reinfected by the lab techs who are astonished by her body's ability to develop anitbodies in the blood. They plan to keep her in a coma so that they can continually reinfect her to harvest the antibodies, but the head scientist's hidden wife finds that to be a price to high to pay. Meanwhile, the group search for the hidden lab in an attempt to find her and Naj refuses to go anywhere until she has been found.

This isn't a standalone episode, but a continuation of the ongoing saga. There is a plotline involving Tom stealing food from another group who then set out to take revenge, but the rest is all about ongoing plotlines that any newcomer is going to struggle catching up with, such as Sarah's trying to come to terms with the 'price' she had to pay to help save Tom and Al.

It's harder to suspend disbelief with hidden wives, and unlocked doors to escape through, cars that start first time even though they haven't been used in months and why doesn't Abby get some clothes at the same time that she's stealing car keys. Wandering around in an unnecessarily short hospital gown can't have been that comfortable. She finds the rest of her group thanks to Naj's citywide banners, so how is it that the lab's private army can't find them just as quickly with vans and helicopters and the like.

There's also a mess of relationships as Samantha sacrifices all she has for a Max who is just devoted to Anya, though not above using Sam's talents either for himself or for his own purposes. It's not pushed down the audience's throats either, just sitting in the background, informing everyone's actions.

Think about it and SURVIVORS sort of comes apart at the seams, but keep the brain firmly in neutral and there's enough action and character angst to keep it afloat.

Episode 3 - first transmitted February 2nd 2010

Now that Abby has been recovered, the family head off into the country looking for a place to hide from the forces of the Lab. Tom is arrested, instead, by the forces of Samantha Willis, the self-styled last remnant of government and put on trial for a murder he committed when last their paths crossed. Abby attempts to defend him at the trial, but Samantha has motives that are darker than either thoughts of justice or revenge.

If you didn't see Series 1 then the background to this episode will be lost on you, though it's not hard to catch up. Tom's past comes back to haunt him as he is forced to admit to past crimes in order to make things right with Anya, but the figure of real interest here is Samantha Willis. A government minister committed to rebuilding society, she is on a slippery slope, every decision she makes seeming to erode her moral authority, and her sanity, just a bit more. It's like Tom said, she's doing what she has to in order to survive, but is survival enough and what price our values in the face of adversity?

The trial goes pretty much as expected, although it turns out to be a bit shorter, but after that the twists start to pile up as Dexter, Samantha's enforcer, starts his quest for control, Greg follows his moral compass and finds that it might be pointing him onto the reefs and the real purpose behind Samantha's actions become clear.

It all rips along at a cracking pace, ensuring that it doesn't hang about for long enough for plot cracks to be spotted and ends on a cliffhanger that promises more of the same to come.

Episode 4 - first transmitted February 9th 2010

Abby's family group work out where Tom and Greg are being held and set about hatching a complicated rescue mission. Things, though, do not go according to plan.

Slavery is immoral, but it does work and early civilisations were built on it, that's the basic dichotomy behind this storyline, but the morality of the piece is purely background for the main plot to unroll in front of.

That plot starts from the end point of the last episode with Greg and Tom in chains, but then goes off in a number of directions as various plans are hatched, most of which go horribly wrong until finally coming back together for the big finish. The pacing seems a little off as the rescue goes nowhere fast, stalling around a dinner table where the rights and wrongs of slavery are discussed, but things pick up for a rousing end.

The character drama, though, is saved for the very end as Tom does what he has to, what nobody else can. And then there's a twist right at the end that rather makes you wish Tom would people's names once in a while.

Episode 5 - first transmitted February 16th 2010

Greg tries to unravel the mystery behind the mysterious numbers on a postcard whilst the rest of the new family relax at an idyllic commune. Unseen dangers lead to tragedy for the group and a threat to everyone.

SPOILER ALERT! - it's hard to review this episode without giving away a major spoiler, so stop reading if you intend to watch this.

Greg's quest in search of the mysterious numbers remains obscure after a frankly bonkers encounter with a deranged would-be passenger. This is clearly going to be explained at some point, but here it just sort of happens and moves nothing forward very much. Because the numbers thing has been kept very low key and in the background it's a bit late to be making a big deal out of it now.

Events at the farmhouse, though, with the resurgence of the virus are more dramatic and make for upheavals in the relationships between the characters. It is curious that the group's doctor, Anya, makes no attempt to confirm the nature of the disease beyond asking 'what are the symptoms' and hearing that it's a bit like the virus that killed everyone. Surely there are lots of viruses that have similar symptoms and the fact that it killed all the chickens which the last virus didn't suggests at least the opportunity that it might be something else.

Although the tragic loss is predictable, not least in the way that a love interest is introduced in order to have it dramatically ended, it is pretty well played and the changes wrought as a result are at least believable.

The final trip to the lab, though, is a ten minute set up for the next episode.

Episode 6 - first transmitted February 23rd 2010

In the devastated lab, the family find a lone survivor who is working on a vaccine that she has managed to perfect by comparing Abby's blood to that of her son. Whilst Abby lets Tom try to get the information about Peter's whereabouts from the lab's chief, Al agrees to be the human guinea pig they test it on. A break out leads to a showdown that reveals the truth behind the origin of the virus at last.

There's certainly a lot of plot to get through in this series finale as the plot threads that have been left hanging finally come together. The lab, the airfield, Peter and the mysterious man on the screen come together in a final shootout and deluge of information. Characters get shot, but this mainly seems to happen by accident.

There is still time for character interaction, but this is mainly just a series of about-faces from their normal behaviour. Anya immediately decides that Tom isn't the man for her despite the events of the last episode and Abby is willing to sacrifice all her strongly-held beliefs in the hope of getting her son back.

None of this is very believable, but it does at least provide enough movement to keep disbelief at bay (just about) until the end.

The show has abandoned the simple story of trying to survive in a new world for a series of event-filled conspiracy storylines that it believes it needs in this day and age, but which wasn't needed in the original. Perhaps in the new series they can get back to what worked best.