SNAPSHOT
Between is the story of a town under siege from a mysterious disease that has wiped out everybody except those 22 years old and under. The series explores the power vacuum that results when a government has quarantined a 10-mile diameter area and left the inhabitants to fend for themselves. (official synopsis)
Ever get those days when your body feels like it’s wholly made of creaky, painful bones?
Or you strain to remember who played whats-his-name in that really great HBO show um-you-know and come up wanting … repeatedly?
Well worry no more, especially if you’re over 22, and a resident of Pretty Lake, where everyone over the age of 22 – many of the synopses and articles refer to 21 but the trailer quite clearly refers to 22 – has succumbed to a horrible disease that kills quickly and without impunity, leaving children and young adult in an Under the Dome-situation, sealed off from a fearful world.
It all sounds quite intriguing, a mix observes Huffington Post of The Walking Dead meets Children of Men meets Lord of the Flies, with the potential to explore a whole range of pertinent social issues if it’s given the chance.
But there’s the rub.
According to Brian Lowry at Variety, who viewed the first “messy” first episode, it could be a case of Clever Premise, Not So Clever Execution.
“Nevertheless, the general look and tone don’t incubate much of a desire to slip back behind the show’s well-guarded walls. In fact, after one visit to Pretty Lake, there’s a pretty strong inclination to let the fresh-faced inhabitants, as the press release puts it, “fend for themselves.”
And let’s not forget Between‘s Under the Dome implications, not all that reassuring given how underbaked and half-done that show has been since almost its first episode.
Still, a clever premise remains a clever premise until it is not, and with Netflix using this show to depart from its usual bingeing model in favour of releasing an episode each Thursday at a set time, we could be in for an interesting viewing experience over the show’s short-but-potentially-sweet six episode run.
Between premiered 21 May 2015 on Netflix.