Station Eleven plays with comedy and tragedy this week – The A.V. Club

Himesh Patel stars in Station ElevenPhoto: Ian Watson/HBO Max

For weeks, Ive been wondering how Station Eleven was going to work as a show. Reading the book has been both a blessing and a curse. I read Station Eleven before the pandemic but after Trump became president, and I found it comforting during that seemingly apocalyptic event. It has the kind of optimism Ive found to be anathema in most TV dramas, which favor nihilism, cynicism, and an anti-hero complex that I havent enjoyed since 2016. Even Patrick Somerville being showrunner didnt give me much hopeI also read The Leftovers before I saw the show, and I couldnt stand the latter. Not because it wasnt good (I didnt watch far enough to have an actual opinion), but because I couldnt stomach the despair or gray morality of the characters when I had to spend more time with them outside of Tom Perrottas text.

But with this weeks episodes, Whos There? and Dr. Chaudhary, the show has both met and exceeded my expectations. Adaptations are tricky thingsthe best ones become more than the sum of their parts, but usually fall into the trap of merely summarizing the story. When I wrote about Gael Garca Bernal not fitting the character Arthur Leander in episode three, it was because I was expecting the show to go the way of the book. But, like casting Captain America Chris Evans in Snowpiercer and Knives Out, the show works to subvert our expectations while staying true to the book.

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I read the book on Kindle, so I had the advantage of seeing what people had highlighted in their copies. In the book, Clark has the same jobdoing assessments of CEOs. But the book includes a flashback to when he went on one particular interview that stopped him in his tracks. Dahlia, who hes meant to speak to about a CEO, tells him that said CEO is a joyless bastard. Adulthood is full of ghosts, she says.

Im talking about those people whove ended up in one life instead of another and they are just so disappointed. Do you know what I mean? Theyve done whats expected of them. They want to do something different but its impossible now, theres a mortgage, kids, whatever, theyre trapped. Dans like that.

You dont think he likes his job, then.

Correct, she said, but I dont think he even realizes it. You probably encounter people like him all the time. High-functioning sleepwalkers, essentially.

What was it in this statement that made Clark want to weep?

Was it the show that had me on Clarks side, or this particular sequence? In the book, published in 2014, Clark is a distinct figure because hes gay, outside the heterosexual mores of Miranda and Arthurs relationship. But in the show, hes something darker. As one of the only white adult characters from pre-pandemic times, hes showed as having money, status, romantic success, and so on, but hes still bitter about Arthurs success. Arthur, in turn, is a friend who actually likes Clark, and is shocked at his misplaced anger. And it turns out his relationship with Miranda was a lot more troubled and full of misunderstanding than Clark, Tyler, Elizabeth, and even Miranda understood.

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The subtle way this episode clears a lot of my confusion about the rest of the show is masterful. While in the book, the above conversation grants Clark a release from himself before the pandemic, in the show, Clark still does not seem to have learned this lesson. Clark is the figure to be wary of here. He acts like Arthur is the source of all his anger, his problems, his bitterness, and he acts like Tyler is yet another Arthur he so personally dislikes. The museum is less a source of safety and kindness and more a way for Clark to rule with an iron fist and hang on to his sleepwalking life with an even stronger grip.

Another thing the book doesnt have is Elizabeth. Knowing that she wasnt sleeping with Arthur before Miranda burned down the guesthouse explains more of her character, and even more of how she and Arthur struggled to find understanding. She, like Clark, was unaware in the old world, but in the post-pandemic times, she is much more understanding. I can understand why she holds Tyler at the end of the first episode and says, in an almost childlike way, He came back.

Beyond Clark, Whos There? doesnt completely workI absolutely do not understand how Kirsten went from being so wary of Tyler that she stabbed him for freaking her out, to listening to him. The main problem is the way that Tyler terrorizes the Traveling Symphony is enough for Kirsten to not like him. Or did I mistake that sequence where he uses a child as a suicide bomber? Maybe its because she doesnt trust the museum and some of the Tylers frustrations with Clark are legitimate? Not all of them are. Maybe its because hes the only other person whos read Station Eleven. Even Kirsten has a weakness.

Ah, and then we get to my favorite, favorite episode of this series, and the one Ive patiently been waiting for: Dr. Chaudhary. In the book, Jeevan is important in the beginning and a footnote in the ending; but the structure of the show lets Jeevan be his own, totally new character. Hes a coward, plain and simple, not unlike Dev Patels character in The Green Knight. While both PatelsHimesh and Devhave luxurious hair and British Indian origins, its the fidgety, awkward, and ultimately, really funny way they shrink back from responsibility that really gets me.

Jeevans episode is by far the funniest and perhaps even the most relatable sequence of the show. Hes bogged down by the responsibility of Kirsten, protesting that he needs other adults and she needs other kids and he cant stay in the cabin all winter. He hates the book shes found solace in, throwing it away in one scene. He hates how much she better related to Frank and how much they both so obviously miss him. Most of all, he hates that he has to be strong for Kirsten yet he actually cant be strong for Kirsten.

In Whos There?, when Clark meets Kirsten in the before times of the play, Arthur tells him that Kirsten apparently has a bad home life. Theres an implication that Kirsten had survival instincts long before the pandemic, although why and how we may never know. But certainly its in strong contrast with Jeevans wishy-washy awkwardness. He even lies over the radio about being alone and being a doctor, which is what ends up separating him and Kirsten, but also what helps him grow the fuck up.

Even the little tribe that Jeevan finds is hilarious. Of course Kirsten knows his old pre-pandemic nickname, Leavin Jeevan. Of course he falls in with a bunch of would-be moms in a Y: The Last Man-type sequence (Brian K. Vaughn did say that the comic was about Yorick learning he had to grow up from the strong women around him). If theres anything that can get a man to grow up, I guess it would be seeing several live births over the course of a day or two. I knew, I knew, that the pregnant lady he fights off was going to end up being his partner. Somehow, every part of Jeevans experience with the pandemic is comedy over tragedy, through a combination of dumb luck and almost over-the-top sincerity.

Pairing Jeevans episode with Clarks is great: While Clark is barely holding it together, ready to go on a bender from even the smallest perceived slight from Arthur, his emotions packed inside him like sardines in a tin can, Jeevan is constantly spilling his emotions everywhere. The main problem is he cant lie, and if he tries to lielike when he initially shrugs off Kirstens protest that he got rid of the bookhes too obvious about it.

But its the moment he does lie, when he understands suppressing his emotions in order to hold someone elses, that he finally blooms. Its when hes helping a doctor help a girl give birth, and things are not looking good. Hes there for her till the end, finally showing up instead of shrinking back. The baby doesnt survive, and its Tyler who shows up as the Dave the now deceased mother was looking for. He doesnt get to keep the baby, but he does give you a chill down your spine as you get to see exactly how intertwined the characters are.

From there, every moment of his happiness feels earned. He earns the home he makes in the cabin with his partner, his three adorable children, his actual work as a doctor. Hes off to make a housecall. Hm, I wonder if there was a character whos in a hospital bed who needs some assistance.

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Station Eleven plays with comedy and tragedy this week - The A.V. Club