Earth Abides Miniseries

[Searchboss]

Last week I watched a series of six episodes of a show called Earth Abides. https://myflixer.today/tv/earth-abides-117817

Below is a description:

After months of isolation, Isherwood "Ish" Williams, learns that most of the world has fallen to a mysterious illness. Yet, despite his instincts to further isolate, Ish leads the charge to develop a new civilization.

In this post-apocalyptic series, survivor Isherwood "Ish" Williams navigates the desolate remnants of civilization after a mysterious illness decimates humanity. Despite his initial instincts for seclusion, Ish faces the challenge of rebuilding society and fostering community in a world that has drastically changed.

Earth Abides is an American post-apocalyptic science fiction drama television miniseries created by Todd Komarnicki, and starring Alexander Ludwig and Jessica Frances Dukes. It is based on George R. Stewart's novel of the same title. The series premiered on December 1, 2024, via MGM+ in the United States and Stan in Australia.

It was an interesting take on a post-apocalyptic theme. In the story, there are very few people left alive so there is a plethora of resources available for the taking everywhere for the survivors.

Although the setting was sometimes challenging to follow, I enjoyed it, but I was frustrated by many scenes that just did not seem realistic or were not well portrayed. I did not take notes, so these are just some things I remember in no particular order. Keep in mind the story shows the characters are in California.

• ?         Throughout the series, which covers approximately 50 years in the storyline, none of the characters ever wore a pistol in a holster, despite many constant known threats from wild animals and occasionally other survivors. Most of the time it looked like they were wandering around unarmed. They sometimes had a pistol tucked inside their belt or pocket. To give them some credit, they eventually did take a rifle, usually a bolt action hunting rifle with a scope, with them when they explored.
  
  ?         In one scene a character is cleaning a rifle by pulling a bore snake through the barrel from the front to the back. While that will work, I was taught to always follow the path of the bullet when cleaning a weapon.
  
  ?         Without getting into what types of weapons I and most preppers I know may have in their homes, it just seemed incredulous that given the timeframe of the story, none of the characters ever found an AR-15 or similar style weapon, or a holster. I would think that if you could scavenge through all the houses in a random subdivision you would find a few.
  
  ?         Early in the series the protagonist installed what looked like eight or ten 150-watt solar panels on his roof after reading books from the library. After that, they always had plenty of power as demonstrated by all the lights on after dark.
  
  ?         They built what looked like a really complicated tube-based ham radio setup from drawings that one of the characters made after reading some library books. It showed them putting up a homemade discone antenna. I doubt that most non-hams would have, or be able to find the parts, much less build something like what was shown. Given the scenario, it would have been much easier to simply find a ham radio shack somewhere in the surrounding neighborhoods that is usually easy to spot due to the tall antenna mast in the yard. Then they could simply use that or move the equipment to their compound along with the mast and antenna if needed. They eventually communicated with another group on frequency147.225.
  
  ?         It did look like that at some point they found what looked like some FRS radios for use around their neighborhood/compound. Finding and charging batteries was never addressed.

In one of the scenes, a new group of people drove up to their compound after reading their address that they had painted on the side of a building in the town. This eventually added more people to their group, but the new group leader raped one of the young original members. The original group decided to kill him when he refused to leave. Then they banished a second man who stood watch outside the building as the girl was raped. This was a good portrayal of how difficult decisions must be addressed when unexpected things happen.

Although it was an entertaining miniseries, I constantly took exception to the many common things that the story took for granted.

• ?         They lived in a subdivision throughout the series.
  
  ?         They always seemed to have plenty of food available.
  
  ?         They always had running water to the houses.
  
  ?         The sewer system always seemed to work.
  
  ?         They always seemed to have gas to drive their vehicles.
  
  ?         They always had electricity to pump water, run the refrigerator, make ice, etc.
  
  ?         Although they had a backyard garden, it did not appear to be large enough to feed the number of people present.
  
  ?         They never showed regular scavenging expeditions, stockpiling of canned foods, home canning, or other food preservation.

Maybe I am overanalyzing the storyline. I hope you enjoy the series if you decide to watch it.

[JohnyMac]

Thank you Searchboss for the link to the mini series. Like you did, it might be interesting if a few of us watched it and posted our thoughts too. I suspect that many of the ones you posted we will find cumbersome to get over too. Probably many more. 

[Felix]

I too enjoyed the story, most of all because it assumed an adaptive "normality" using the resources unique to the location they settled on.    My view from the book, not a film/TV adaptation.
 
They lived in a subdivision throughout the series.

Sure, why not if it offers relative advantages?

?         They always seemed to have plenty of food available.

I'd suppose that in a pandemic (or any catastrophe) that plunges population fast enough, there would remain widespread stocks of "shelf-stable foods", not to mention gardening and hunting bonuses.

?         They always had running water to the houses.

Yes, gravity fed from reservoir quite some distance away - but which, as systems are wont to do sans maintenance, developed a leak which ended that easy source.   

?         The sewer system always seemed to work.
Gravity assist once again - with minimal "input" considering the "adjusted" numbers using it.

?         They always seemed to have gas to drive their vehicles.

Yup, stretched a bit.   Again, things like "Stabil" would be available in quantity but for how long would _those_ chemicals be able to rejuvenate varnish?

?         They always had electricity to pump water, run the refrigerator, make ice, etc.

Hydro-electric - also failing eventually due to lack of maintenance.    I don't recall mention of wind or solar... was there any?

?         Although they had a backyard garden, it did not appear to be large enough to feed the number of people present.
Size matters.

  Given the unknown variable, ?     I do know that that section of California is able to grow things pretty much year-round (depending on crop).

?         They never showed regular scavenging expeditions, stockpiling of canned foods, home canning, or other food preservation.
Not so much.

But the other part I liked was the organic transition to "making do" with what was available as one-by-one the technical goodies failed.   Even the youngsters transitioned to bow and arrow as ammunition ran out.
All in all, it seemed to account for life moving forward though at a much less "technical" pace.    While hints of reconstruction were given.   A feat which might not be possible if too much infrastrucute and knowledge are lost in something like a nuclear war.