So my mom actually found this teenage, apocalyptic show through online recommendations and suggested we watch (my brother and I). In essence, the show is about a small, East Coast town on the brink of new beginnings—the senior class is about to spread their wings and graduate. At the same time, a stinky fog hangs over their heads, literally. There is a horrible smell that the townsfolk are desperate to get rid of. At the beginning of the series, the high school teens are excited to go on a trip that will take them away from the horrid smell, but when their trip is cut short, they come home to find things greatly changed—everyone is gone. Now they are tasked with building a new society while they figure out why exactly this has happened.

My brother sat through one episode and was done, but I binged the whole season. Both reactions are valid and I’ll explain why.

What I like about this show

• The exploration of the victims of domestic violence is so well done. In fact, all of the dark themes are handled really well. Sexual assault, toxic masculinity, murder, and religion are all explored in a pretty respectful way (meaning all opinions and perspectives are explored).

• The show made me question a lot. I think every generation believes as soon as they get the power, they’ll do things differently from the evil older generation. This show explores just that— when the teens are the only ones left, can they make a better society than the one they left behind? I think we all believe we can, but as the leaders of the new society see pretty early on, it’s not that simple. How should you handle crimes, if there are no police? How should you handle leadership, if there is no democracy? How should you handle medical situations, if there are no nurses or doctors? Initially, the idea of no authority seems fun to the kids in the show until things get real.

• There were so many twists and turns. This show is probably the least predictable show I’ve ever watched. I really struggled to not look up spoilers just because of how suspenseful this show was. Characters were always doing out-of-character or risky things that I never saw coming, which made it pretty fun to binge.

• The first season focused less on “how did we get here?” and more on “what do we do now?”, which I found very relatable. Maybe the next season will deal with the initial question more, which the finale hints at, but for the most part, the kids don’t really learn much about their strange circumstances in the ten episodes we get. I liked this aspect, maybe you won’t.

• I genuinely appreciate the writing. This ties into the above point, but the premise is awesome. The situation these kids are in is so intriguing and the exploration of human psychology is equally as compelling. There were maybe one or two snoozers in the ten-episode bunch, but other than those, you shouldn’t really get bored.

What I don’t like about this show

• If you’re looking for an escape from the stress of the pandemic, this is NOT the show for you. When I tell you this show raises the blood pressure, I mean it. The whole premise is about how people react under extreme, high-stress situations, and news flash—it does not bring the best out of people.

• Most of the romantic relationships are poo. If you’re looking for teenage romance, turn away. The relationships are mostly cringey and built on shaky foundation. There were many episodes that I wished they had taken the romantic parts out of completely. Sometimes it felt like an unnecessary time-filler.

• There is barely any diversity. There is one black male character and the few lines he has are tied up in a love triangle between two, conventionally attractive white girls. This same character is a foster kid, who seems to initially struggle with the fact he’s never had a family, but at the same time, the show doesn’t really explore this struggle. I don’t think I saw one black girl and if I did, she was in the far background. Any other minorities are also minor characters who serve little to no purpose, except probably for the show to claim that there is in fact diversity. I hope next season they explore other people of color in the town.

• Sometimes the acting is meh. The writing is *chef’s kiss* and I talked about that above, but sometimes the acting is comme-ci comme-ca (French for so-so). Especially in the beginning, I found myself wondering if some of the characters were written strange or if the actors just played them that way.

So that’s my review of The Society. If the pros outweigh the cons for you, by all means, watch. I love politics and when all the science fiction is stripped away, it’s a show about politics, morals, and choices. If you have any recommendations, leave them below in the comments section!

Peace and blessings, Dom