June 6, 2021
The US was being ravaged by a deadly epidemic called H5G9 for 10 years now. At around the same time the disease blew up, the babies being born during this chaotic time were part-human, part-animal hybrids. As the relationship between the hybrids and the epidemic remained unclear, humans feared them and a ruthless group called the Last Men hunted them down. There is still no known cure for the epidemic.
During the onset of the epidemic, a deer-boy hybrid male child named Gus (Christian Convery) was brought by his father Pubba (Will Forte) to a makeshift home in the forest to hide him and raise him there for safety. One day 10 years later, Gus met an ex-football player Tommy Jepperd (Nonso Anozie), who reluctantly agreed to help Gus find his mother Birdie (Amy Seimetz) whose last known location was in Colorado.
Meanwhile, there was also a young woman named Aimee Eden (Dania Ramirez), who turned an abandoned zoo into the Preserve, where she kept some hybrids safe, including a female pig hybrid named Wendy (Naledy Murray). There was also a Dr. Aditya Singh (Adeel Akhtar) who had been keeping his sick wife Rani (Aliza Vellani) alive using experimental meds given him by Dr. Bell (Sarah Pierse), who had a terminal illness herself.
The series mainly followed Gus and Jepperd's adventures and how they overcome initial differences to develop a genuine connection with each other. Gus's adorably innocent appearance can immediately trigger us to be protective of him, even if he can be delightfully annoying sometimes. They would encounter a group of adult-hating teenage rebels called the Animal Army, who aimed to rescue hybrids. This Army was led by a tough girl named Bear (Stefania LaVie Owen), who would later also decide to join Gus on his journey.
It may take some time to build its fictional state of the world, but the premise about a viral epidemic that caused apocalyptic changes (called the "Crumble") in human life and society can grab attention because of its timeliness. There are several scenes where we can hear familiar paranoid reactions and arguments about quarantine regulations, which we also hear currently. The series depicted an unsuccessful governmental response which led to lawless anarchy, which can make us reflect on what is going on around the world now.
When there are theories being floated that the cure for the Sick could be derived from the hybrids, they became prey for heartless hunters like General Abbot (Neil Sandilands), regardless that that these hybrids were only innocent children ten years old and below. This was an extraordinary emotional touchstone which can grip our attention and compassion up to the very end. The final sequence promised more stories to come from the situations writer- director Jim Mickle had set up in the eventful 8 episodes of this first season. 8/10.
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