I saw After Armageddon last night. Didn't even realize that it was going to air. Since there was some question about the topic when Dagny first posted about it, in this fictional, worst-case scenario, a global pandemic wipes out most of the population in a few months, much the same way that the Black Death left only a fraction of Europe's population alive in its wake.

Keeping in mind the limited budget of a TV episode and the limited time, I thought that it was actually a well thought out and pretty comprehensive episode. Short on details so don't expect a tutorial but covers a lot of topics. The fictional scenario not only included approximately three months of the pandemic, but also the weeks and months after the pandemic burns out and what survivors are faced with afterwards.

I'm always a bit annoyed with the fear-mongering nature of much of what we see and read, especialy with 2012 being the new Y2K, and this show does show looting and crimes, but in this case, I think it was a pretty good balance of showing the risk of violence without going over the top with it. I appreciated one of the experts talking about balancing Mad Max visions of the future with a more balanced possible future after such a disaster.

Just my personal take, but I was a bit disappointed that the very last two scenes--which occur 25 years after the pandemic--still show people armed and obviously on the lookout for imminent danger. Not Mad Max, but not Little House on the Prairie either. The scenes leading up to the end of the show imply a more pastoral future and you don't see the guns until the very end of the show. Gotcha! Personally, I just would've appreciated a more optimistic ending, but that's just me. OK, group hug everyone!

The episode was actually quite practical in the topics addressed. For example, how people have to cope with lack of flush toilets. Not our favorite topic but something we would ALL have to face. Or what to do with all the dead people and the fact that the air could reek from the smell of rotting flesh or that we could see a lot of dead bodies. Or some of the psychology that could be involved.

Since I live in Southern California, the fact that the main characters are living in Los Angeles when the pandemic starts hit a little close to home.

Oh, I know Martin F. has mentioned this in the past, but the show also came to the same conclusion that he does about who eventually survive and live on--small, organized communities of people, not individuals or individual families holed up in their fortified homes with a million rounds of ammo.

Anyway, I think this is one show that probably needs to be seen more than once to catch all the things covered. Not everything is pointed out by the narration or dialogue. I would recommend the episode since it's not just simplistic fear mongering but does cover a lot of legitimate topics.