Earth Abides | Episode 1 BREAKDOWN, Deep Dive & Theories | MGM Plus

Join Ben as he reviews and breaks down MGM's latest series, Earth Abides - starring Alexander Ludwig.

Plot: 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.

EPISODE 1: Alone

[ij]

I don't think the couple were interested when Ish showed up, because they knew that there were likely to be other survivors (given that they were randomly in the same hotel and were still alive) and it didn't matter because they had already decided their course of action. The lack of bodies didn't surprise me particularly, if people are dying from an acute illness they are more likely to die at home, in a hotel room or in a church or hopsital than outside or in a casino.

[DrewD]

Vegas devoid of any bodies was indeed very odd. Even with the two survivors saying the bodies were there, just all in their rooms and that once the generators gave out you'd smell their presence. Generators or not, rotting bodies would give off a stench no matter the condition. Ish must be good at siphoning gas from vehicles or non powered gas stations as he drove around with wreckless abandon, even through the desert where one flat tire would have doomed him.

[virginiapickles]

I read the book fifty years ago when I was a teen in rural California close to where the book takes place. I loved it. I don't subscribe to any streaming series so I can't watch the series. All I can do is watch videos like this one. It appears that although the series follows some portions of the plot closely, it also deviates significantly in places. I am glad that then book was made into a series. I was valedictorian of my small town high school where valedictorians often went to UC Berkeley where Ish was a graduate student. I understood some his feelings of isolation among other people. I was the egghead who was never asked to dance at dances so I didn't go to them. I wasn't interested in geology as much as I was in plants, animals, ecology and the science of evolution. The book was written by an English professor at UC Berkeley who went to talk to professors in the various fields of science--botany, zoology and geology. Today zoology and botany come under the department of evolution and ecology at least they do at UC Davis. It is fun to watch these videos as they remind me of one of my favorite books. I fear, that between endless war and global warming made much worse by endless wars, that my children may be living through global warming and scenarios which may have some parallels to this book and series. Don't believe me. Wait a few decades. You will know that I am right. Hopefully by then I will have died from old age.

[fergieferg]

I hope it improves over the next few episodes

[flowerspringtime]

I think the Steven king depiction of world ending apocalypse was good, in the stand rotting bodies everywhere

[xiongboon]

Here's my opinion on this series. Please bear in mind I didn't read the book.
My only gripe with this show/series is that Ish doesn't even try to talk them out of their suicidal path. They are literally the first alive humans he meets and they tell him about how they are going to kill themselves soon and all he ever said was "the world is big", like bro, give them some hope, even though it is bleak, the fact that the three of them are alive means there some others who are alive. But nope, he just leaves them to their mission, and acts sad and mad that he drove off leaving them to their fate.
But, wait, whats, this? He stops himself from running over a, potentially feral, dog and takes it in as a pet, but those two human back at Vegas, fuck them. Yeah, I ain't even going to try to watch the second episode, already saw the trailer for it and it's already stupid. Like, oh look another human, I'll save/stick with this one human. but those other two, screw them.

[ElGatoBlanco]

How did he drive back and forth from Vegas and San Francisco? Where was he getting ⛽️

[LNVKRmusic]

will definitely watch the next episode but first episode gave me nothing atall

[djrudd]

I always give a new show three episodes to hook me in and if it hasn't by then I'm pretty sure it's not my cup of tea. It's not looking good for Earth Abides, this was the least interesting premiere of a show I think I've seen in a decade, I don't know if it's because it's based on an old book or the genre is played out but this all just felt so generic, cliche and predictable - no disrespect to the actors, the did what they could with it but the material was just nothing compelling. I'll give it two more eps to convince me, but this wasn't a good start (perhaps that's why MGM felt they had to piggyback it on the excellent From). Thanks for the review, I appreciate you taking such a balanced approach, you helped me see some positives I didn't see myself :)

[eugenej.]

I feel like this show was insanely hyped up. The filmography is stunning but the writing leaves a lot to be desired.. entirety of episode 1 is a whole lot of nothing. The whole Vegas sequence that lasts for half the episode could've been cut out and it wouldn't have changed anything. Show's incredibly boring, what a waste..

[asmoday]

the problem with that kind of show is we already know what going to happen ....survivor fighting each others and of course one big bad wolf with a big team that want to rule over the

[rachelvoiles]

Maybe the people in the hotel moved the bodies out. I mean, it would be extremely hard to live in the hotel for 3 weeks if rotting bodies were inside.

[higgsmerino]

Unwatchable, silly nonsense - can humans be this dumb?