WRITER: Simon Tyrrell[SPOILERS] I so wish the characters were more developed, because they're often put in situations that would be lot more gripping and emotional than they wind up being. We just don't know much (if anything!) about their lives pre-virus, as the show could have done with some Lost-style flashbacks early in its lifespan...
DIRECTOR: Farren Blackburn
GUEST CAST: Morven Christie, Kevin Doyle, Nicholas Gleaves, Theo Barklem-Biggs, Benedict Sandiford, Danielle Henry, Christine Bottomley, Emma Lowndes, Sean Rea, Paul Copley & Jack Richardson
What we have, at best, is vague information about stubborn mum Abby (Julie Graham), the reason for criminal Tom (Max Beesley) doing time, and recently learned about Greg's (Paterson Joseph) cheating wife. But the majority of the ensemble -- Anya (Zoe Tapper), Sarah (Robyn Addison), Al (Phillip Rhys) and Najid (Chahak Patel) -- are essentially still stuck as "lesbian doctor", "sulky bimbo", "Indian playboy" and "irritating Muslim boy" after nearly 12 hours of television. That said, this fifth episode was a series highlight, if only because it pushed the mytharc on (setting up an area for series 3 to explore, in the process) and gave us a genuine sense of sorrow and lost love...
In the penultimate episode, "The Family" (as press kits annoyingly refer to them) help rescue a small group who were run off the road by raiders, and are rewarded for their actions by being taken to "The Valley" -- a safe haven inaccessible by vehicles where survivors have created their own self-sufficient rural community. The idea of finding a group with an apparently idyllic lifestyle post-virus is nothing new (in fact, it's in danger of becoming shopworn now), but this group really do appear to have found their own Garden Of Eden. However, while the gang are wined and dined as guests of honour, Al and Sarah publicly announce their relationship, and Tom gristles at the fact Anya fancies a lesbian woman (whom we know is gay because she wears a lumberjack shirt and ties her hair back), it's not long before fate swoops to kick over the apple cart.
While visiting a nearby farm to check on the chickens, Sarah discovers the fowl are all dead in their coop, and upon venturing inside the cottage she's told by the sickly farmer inside (Paul Copley) that a mutated strain of the virus has infected and is killing his family. It's a terrible twist of fate, as Sarah realizes she'll have to quarantine herself to prevent this new strain spreading any further, and protecting her friends and the wider community may cost her life. This, naturally, puts a dreadful strain on boyfriend Al, who joins the others to camp outside the cottage and keep a vigil on Sarah's daily health from a safe distance...
In a fun subplot, Greg takes Abby to where he used to live and we return to the storyline about the mysterious postcard marked with numbers and the phrase "Hope Never Dies." Greg suddenly realizes the numbers are coordinates and they trace the location to an airfield, where they discover a very anxious man called Mr. Stevens (Kevin Doyle) who's been patiently waiting inside and mistakes Greg for the pilot who'll whisk him to safety away from the killer 'flu pandemic. Apparently, others who were given the postcard (with an accompanying e-mail Greg didn't receive), have already been flown to safety, and it crosses Greg's mind that maybe his wife, her new civil servant boyfriend, and his children managed to escape the virus this way...
Both stories had their good and bad points. It was about time we got back to the mystery of Greg's postcard, which itself indicates a fresh branch of the Survivors mythology that appears to indicate the government were aware of the doomsday scenario that was unfolding and have flown a chosen few to sanctuary. Those evacuees are probably the ones relying on Dr. Whitaker's team to find a vaccine so they can all return home, which explains the mysterious man Whitaker has been seen giving updates to on his computer. Anyway, it's arrived so late in the series that I think we'll have to wait for the next series to fully explore this new avenue.
The more emotional moments obviously involved Sarah's predicament, which was quite a distressing example of extreme bad luck, even if the cynic in me began to question the likelihood of Sarah and Al existing as a couple for very long the moment they started canoodling. Tearing a happy, fledgling relationship apart with a shock death is just too irresistible in a drama like Survivors. I thought Addison and Rhys did a commendable job with the script, which didn't quite manage to wring every ounce of emotion from the event. And as I mentioned earlier, both characters are too anemic to feel that pit in your stomach the episode shoots for. Even this series' continuing redemption of Sarah after her mistakes last year didn't land any kind of cumulative punch. But it did enough to elicit some emotion, as the circumstances were so regretful and the final sequence, with Abby entering the cottage after a few days of silence, to burn the deceased Sarah in her bed and torch the cottage to destroy the contagion, was very well handled.
Overall, while it's a crying shame Survivors characters aren't complex or developed enough to make threats to their lives anything but a kink in the plot to stumble over, episode 5 handled things as best it could, and it was a relief to see they haven't forgotten about some of the background mysteries. I know it's only been three episodes since Greg's postcard was introduced as a clue to something bigger, but for some reason three weeks seems a lot longer in the slow-burn world of British six-part drama.
This episode ended with Abby deciding to return to the sinister lab to be tested on (with certain conditions), now that there's a mutated strain of the virus that's threatening survivors of "the first wave". But once there the gang found the building deserted, before noticing her son Peter (Jack Richardson) being hurriedly led away outside on CCTV. Quite how Peter came to be in their possession is anyone's guess, as he was last seen with trucker Billy last week, but hopefully next week's finale will reveal what we've missed.
Asides
-- It was strange that the gang's latest member, Sally (Emma Lowndes), was pushed so far into the background here that you'd be forgiven for forgetting she's now part of the team. I do wish there was a stronger sense of cohesion between episodes.
-- Why must Anya be bisexual? Oh yes, to give Tom someone to fancy who isn't totally off-limits. It still feels like Anya's sexuality is just a way to give her character an unusual flourish, but the writers can't quite bring themselves to deny Tom's character some lovin' by making her purely lesbian, so bisexuality covers all bases.
-- Please, please, please, we've come this far and Julie Graham's been largely tolerable as Abby compared to series 1, but this episode ended with her once again screeching "Peter! Peter!" I got flashbacks.
16 FEBRUARY 2010: BBC1, 9PM / BBC HD, 10PM
