Thursday, August 4, 2022

Emmy Catch-Up: Station Eleven

Station Eleven: Season 1, Episode 2 “A Hawk from a Handsaw” (B+)

I didn’t keep going with this show following its first episode back in December but then heard only very positive things about it, and now, even though it missed out on a bid for Best Limited Series, it’s up for a handful of awards, including for lead actor Himesh Patel. What this episode did which the first one didn’t is focus heavily on Year Twenty, with the Traveling Symphony being warmly welcomed in St. Deborah-by-the-Water. I’m a fan of Mackenzie Davis’ work from films like “Tully” and “Always Shine,” and she’s definitely delivering a compelling performance here as the adult Kirsten, who is not terribly trusting and who holds the people in her life very accountable for their loyalty and their decisions to abandon the troupe for a notion of a simpler life. I immediately recognized Lori Petty by her voice, and I think the role of the Conductor is just as fitting for her as her part on “Orange is the New Black” was. It’s interesting to see how free and open things are in this future in terms of gender roles and free love. Enrico Colantoni’s guest appearance as a man from an apparently secret community was certainly ominous, as was David’s threat to hurt everyone if he and Cody weren’t accepted into the community. The early days were also unsettling with the young Kirsten receiving texts that her parents’ bodies were at the morgue, something she reacted to with appropriate distress before getting ready to move on with her new family.

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