I'm halfway through the series, and wow, I think I've never been so moved and played by a show. I'm not usually especially triggered by specific subjects, but the ambiance, the way we jump back and forth in time, the way the stories are so expertly intertwined, how the score just prefectly syncs with the screen, my heart races as I expect some sordid conclusions of a scene or as I feel empathetic with some character or scene in the overall drama (I cried with Kirsten as a kid and as an adult, for example). DEVS comes to my mind as a sort of comparison in terms of ambiance and uneasiness on entertaining what's at stake, what's happening, but even it is well below Station Eleven. I had to stop watching after the 5th ep, take a break, many breaths and calm down. Yet, this is no horror show, no gore thriller, just a masterpiece of scenario and direction crafts. I'm very looking forward to watch the rest but I first need to sleep on it.
They've done the homework and this show is starting really good. Tiny (and less) details scattered and alluding to what's to come, for those who already read the books. Smooth cuts from present to past, and I like how they intertwined infinitesimally small and infinitely large scales, showing once more they got the point.
A refreshing series, funny and just the right amount of serious. After each episode, I'm left feeling good and smiling.
The scenario, what scenario? It's almost a reading aloud of the book and of the moments that should have been scripted, rendered cinematographically. A flat "film", based on explanations by characters and incongruous scenes, rather than on plot, perspective and character development.
