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Writer's pictureDenise Breen

The Rain - Episode 1 is difficult to watch but it gets better...just


Netflix commissioned this Danish apocalyptic thriller and it has become something of a cult series globally

The world as we know it has ended. Six years after a brutal virus carried by the rain wiped out almost all humans in Scandinavia, two Danish siblings emerge from the safety of their bunker to find all remnants of civilization gone. Soon they join a group of young survivors and together set out on a danger-filled quest through abandoned Scandinavia, searching for any sign of life. Set free from their collective past and societal rules the group has the freedom to be who they want to be. In their struggle for survival, they discover that even in a post-apocalyptic world there's still love, jealousy, coming of age, and many of the problems they thought they'd left behind with the disappearance of the world they once knew.

These days our expectations for Netflix-produced series is fairly high.. I found some of the acting and writing pretty poor. Yes, the cinematography, staging and production values are all very high. It's a pity that the rest let's the series down. The series is never sure what it wants to be. Is it a coming of age during an apocalypse story or is it a tale of human survival highlighting the best and worst of humanity in the same vein as The Walking Dead. In fact it borrows heavily from the latter. The plot is disjointed and motivation for some characters is sketchy.

One of the key things about science fiction, fantasy or apocalyptic dramas is that you must follow your own rules. By all means create fantastic worlds and situations but once you have set the rules - follow them. The Rain strays from its own rules which makes it difficult to watch at times. To say I was surprised to read it has been renewed for a second season is putting it mildly. I could quite happily not be troubled by a second season. However in the interests of my trade, I'll probably watch.

There's no satisfying some people.


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