Afterworld: Review

I finally finished watching Afterworld. At least I think I did. I eagerly rushed through the first season (130 episodes of approximately 3 mins) only to be left in the lurch.

Where, oh where, is season 2?

What is Afterworld?

Afterworld is a scifi webseries that depicts life after The Fall. It's not chirpy life after autumn or anything else that sounds like an 18th century historical romance set in September *shudder*.

Rather, it follows the story of Russel Shoemaker, a techno expert who woke up one morning to find the rest of the world had disappeared in a puff.

This series was a thriller to the end; the main protagonist embarks on a quest to find out why almost everyone disappeared. Almost every episode brings that much closer to the truth as well as putting him in life-and-death situations.

Almost all episodes. They seemed to lose their lustre closer to the end. As if the writers were a bit busy or perhaps had a bit of writer's block?

Maybe.

Nonetheless, there were some noteworthy points about this webseries:

a) A nice departure from big budget over-the-top science fiction series we are force-fed on telly (Joss Whedon's work are and will not be included in that run-of-the-mill list).

b) A thoughtful look at how a country tries to survive when all the rules, laws and insitutes that uphold are no longer in place. The human dynamics portrayed made a bit of social commentary - neither the very religious, academically minded or educational folk could rebuild the world on their own. Moral of story - there are extremists in all of these social spheres.

c) The 80s video game style story telling was fabulous. It brought back memories of Sierra games and Alone in the Dark (the Infogramme one and not the bastardised versions now).


Some shortcomings:

a) An overall fatalistic tone. That in itself is alright and a lot of people will probably not mind. This one is a personal preference where 'everything happens for a reason' is a theme I can tired of.

b) Another religious paralell - is it just me or are there comparisons or inspirations from Christian religion? I suppose if it was aimed at US audience that makes sense.

c) And perhaps a more realistic portrayal of women? Every female looked like a puberscent boy's fantasy.

Is there are season 2 of Afterworld?

I honestly don't know. I would welcome any input on this matter. Is there going to be a season 2? Will it be on telly? Did the writers get a tad greedy and sell out the story to networks? Or did they simply want to move on to newer projects or life get a tad busy?

Will keep you updated.