Summary
Earth Abides risks becoming too dull with a conflict-averse Episode 3. Despite some tragedy, there’s not enough meaningful danger or human drama here to give the show’s apocalypse an edge.
While I totally get what Earth Abides is going for with its realistic portrayal of an apocalypse, especially in how it pits largely decent human survivors against an uncompromising Mother Nature, I’m starting to find it a bit dull. Episode 3, “World Without End”, moves the timeline further along and introduces a few new characters, but things still seem to be going too right too often for any real edge to take root in the setting.
There are some moments when things don’t go well – particularly the tragic loss of Lucky and a last-minute cliffhanger that doesn’t build much tension given how unlikely it is that the show’s protagonist will be killed off so early – but they feel tame in the face of humanity’s overwhelming sense of ingenuity and togetherness. The coincidence of everyone in the nearby vicinity mostly being pretty reasonable is a reminder that stories thrive on conflict, and this show doesn’t have enough of it.
Community Expansion
Case in point: The second episode ended with some survivors finding Emma’s graffiti which welcomed people to their home address. Episode 3 picks up a few years later, with that couple, Jorge and Maurine, having happily moved into the house with Ish, Emma, and their now two children.
At the top of “World Without End”, Ish seeks to expand the community further when he bumps into a little girl named Evie after accidentally knocking down a baby mountain lion (RIP). Evie is near mute, almost feral, and doesn’t respond well to Ish’s initial efforts, which basically amount to inviting her to live with him out of the gate.
Evie eventually accepts an apple and jumps into the back of the truck, where she’s welcomed with open arms by everyone else, especially Maurine, who seems to relate to her on a very personal level pretty much immediately. A letter in Evie’s things reveals that her mutism was brought on by her father’s constant abuse, and her dying mother implores whoever finds her to take care of her. Maurine, who has her own scars indicating a similarly abusive past, makes it her personal mission to do so.
Soon after this, another group – two women, a man, and a child – turns up and they’re all treated with similar hospitality, despite Ish’s reservations.
Milania Kerr in Earth Abides | Image via MGM+
Earth Abides Should Lean More Into Ish’s Paranoia
Despite how quickly Ish formed a relationship with Emma, how willingly he welcomed Evie, and how successful it was inviting Jorge and Maurine into his home, he’s wildly suspicious of this new group. He starts hyper-fixating on perceived weaknesses – like a former drug addiction – that may threaten the new community and starts longing for the kind of isolation he experienced in Episode 1 when he thought he was truly alone. But Earth Abides doesn’t commit to this idea in Episode 3.
What I was hoping for was a genuine push and pull between Emma’s idealized vision of a new community with diverse and valuable survivors and Ish’s fear of losing the community they have already built by trying to make it larger. But in classic “happy wife, happy life” fashion, Ish eventually just relents, the survivors all prove themselves honest and useful, and Maurine even has a baby, adding another mouth to feed.
Some Late Peril Doesn’t Feel Like Enough
“World Without End” only introduces some real jeopardy towards the end. Dog lovers need not apply, as resident good boy Lucky ends up dead, crushed beneath a tree uprooted by a nasty storm. It comes out of nowhere, but it’s undeniably effective watching Ish cradle his dead body in his arms – or maybe that’s just the dog lover in me.
The cliffhanger is similarly abrupt. Ish is out with Evie and his son when they’re set upon by a mountain lion, and he’s forced to defend himself against it while the kids flee. Since it’s a mountain lion it easily overpowers him, which is where the episode ends, but I, for one, don’t expect anything bad to happen to him so early.
I almost wish it would, though. This show could really use some surprises and sudden moments of drama, and if it’s so intent on making every human character unproblematic kings and queens, then the least it could do is have a lion eat someone. At this point, I’ll take whatever I can get.
