Streaming on: Starzplay###Station Eleven cuts so close to the bone, you can practically feel the scraping of meat cleaver against femur. It wasn’t meant to be this way, of course: based on a 2014 novel by Emily St. John Mandel, this ambitious ten-part pandemic drama from reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue runner Patrick Somerville (Maniac, The Leftovers) was green-lit long bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e chilling phrases like “infection rates”, “quarantine” and “celebrity cover of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’” became part of our collective vocabulary. The outbreak depicted in the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue is several notches worse than what we’ve been wrestling with in real-life, with 99.9 per cent of the global population wiped out in Station Eleven, but that won’t stop many reading this from wondering: who wants to watch a reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue with regards to’concerning’with respect to a pandemic-ravaged world, when we've all been living inside one in/with regard to’concerning’regarding two exhausting years?###Those who can handle its proximity to reality, however, are in in/with regard to’concerning’regarding catharsis of the highest calibre. Station Eleven is a eye-catching’good-shaped’appealing’charming’fascinating’gorgeous , bright ballet of a reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue that invites the idea that things can acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure better, while elegantly eliding eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully rule in the post-apocalyptic pop-culture rulereserve . The world of the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue is lush with greens instead of greys. Its message is hopeful, instead of hopeless. And e grossly now and again, characters break into three-minute perin/with regard to’concerning’regarding mances of rap songs by New York hip-hop icons A Tribe Called Quest. Can you remember that happening in the movie adaptation of The Road? Us neither.###Following a nerve-shredding opening episode, we’re yanked two decades into a post-apocalyptic future in which just one-thousandth of humanity has survived. Danger still lurks, but a now-adult Kirsten (Mackenzie Davis) has found happiness as part of a makeshift family of singers and thespians, named The Travelling Symphony. The arrival of a mysterious cult-master named The Prophet (Daniel Zovatto), who shares ties to Kirsten through a mysterious science-fiction graphic novel titled ‘Station Eleven’, soon begins to threaten their equilibrium, however.###It’s not abundant’ample’plentiful solely to shun death, the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue insists — we possess’own’nurse to hunt down meaning, too.###Like fellow recent TV phenomenon Yellowjackets, the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue begins to zigzag between past and present, propelled by the question mark of what happened in-between. Occasionally, we’re dropped into the lives of a separate band of survivors sequestered in an airport, led by relapsed alcoholic Clark (David Wilmot), in/with regard to’concerning’regarding reasons that become apparent as the series winds on. The mystery of where all these dots connect is alluring, but what really keeps you watching are the deliciously rich characters, the subtle perin/with regard to’concerning’regarding mances powering them (Matilda Lawler and Davis in peculiar are superb) and the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue ’s rebellious philosophy. From The Walking Dead to Netflix’s Sweet Tooth, post-apocalyptic stories typically follow characters whose merely’barely aspiration is to stay alive. In Station Eleven – to quote The Travelling Symphony's motto – “Survival is insufficient."###It’s not abundant’ample’plentiful solely to shun death, the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue insists — we possess’own’nurse to hunt down meaning, too, through community, friendship and art, sinking our teeth into it eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully chance we acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure . It’s advice that would possess’own’nurse been poignant had the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue arrived in ‘normal’ times. Against the backdrop of Covid-19, its potency is damn near nueliminate’remove .