The Space Between – Episode 2 begins with Isherwood ‘Ish’ Williams (Alexander Ludwig) meeting Emma (Jessica Frances Dukes) after following the smoke trail to her house. He and Lucky briefly find themselves held at gunpoint before she apparently believes his story about being lonely and invites him inside.
It nearly only takes a single cup of tea before the two of them become extremely comfortable around each other. Before you know it, they have shared their entire life histories with each other. By the time Ish attempts to leave, Emma invites him to stay. He considers it for a few minutes and by the end of the evening, he’s asking whether or not her stay is permanent. Although she claims her visit is only temporary, she immediately accepts his offer to move into his house. They make the transition first thing the next morning.
One of the first things Emma notices is his collection and love of books. After briefly learning of the backstory of his love for books, she inquires about the yard. As he serenely watches her evaluate the soil, he remembers the noose he put in the attic and immediately rushes to cut it down. He accomplishes the task but soon learns they have more immediate problems when Emma calls his attention to the mice-infested pantry.
With the knowledge of the mice problem, Emma and Ish race to the nearest hardware store to collect the necessary items of destruction. While there they do some additional shopping which also reveals that the big market retailers are not unaffected by the evolving rat infestation. Emma also happens to see and mention several solar panels that Ish will come back later and collect.
After their trip to the retailer, Ish makes Emma his favorite dinner. Despite this, the event leads to a rather macabre discussion about the earth self-correcting and possibly over-correcting itself with the plague. As time passes, Ish does some fishing and works on a side project while Emma enjoys nature, forages, and gives Ish a makeover. Once time finally returns to a normal pace, Emma jokingly teases Ish about his first chicken coop endeavor. Despite the initial joking nature of the conversation, things turn serious when they begin sharing theories about why they were saved. This ultimately leads to them being in bed together. Emma falls asleep afterwards and Ish writes in his journal.
Sometime later, they find themselves on the patio where they briefly discuss the turned-over ice cream truck and whether or not to make their stay permanent. Although a decision is not ultimately made at the moment, Ish is shown fixing up an old truck, picking up the solar panels, and installing them. Before he can complete the project, he falls off the roof and injures his ankle. One night during Ish’s recovery, Emma sneaks away to enjoy what appears to be photos of her family before the pandemic.
Ish recovers rather quickly, but the solar panel installation doesn’t appear to be going fast enough for Emma. Ish flips out when he later learns that her concern with time has to do with an expected birth. He doesn’t come right out and say it, but it’s clear that he’s worried about bringing a child into this new world. Armed with the discovery, Ish and Lucky visit the library the following day to acquire everything they can find on childbirth. This outing also reveals that the rats are working their way through the library.
By the time Emma’s third trimester arrives, Ish appears to be completely at ease with the thought of bringing a child into the world. His chicken coop has even attracted an unexpectedly welcome list of guests. Despite all this, Emma still appears to be a bit down. She soon contributes this to the lack of meat, real protein. Unfortunately for Ish, this means his first hunting trip.
Although Ish easily tracks down several cows, he has an extremely difficult time bringing himself to kill one. He eventually works up to the kill but has an even harder time trying to field-dress it. Despite all this, he returns to Emma with as usable parts as he can carry in a cooler. She agrees to handle the remainder of the prep but has a bit of fun with him first by making him think he needs to take a bite of the raw heart. It appears that he would have done so if she didn’t choose to stop him.
Not very long after his hunting conquest, Ish manages to get power to the house. Unfortunately, his good news is overrun by Emma’s procurement of a super rat from the upstairs bathroom. The thing was so big that a trap wouldn’t kill it and they didn’t have near enough poison for a lethal dose. Even though Emma managed to drown it in the toilet, it fought with every ounce of energy it had. She warns him that it might come down to an ‘us or them’ situation.
It is only several minutes later when Ish discovers that it is the trash that’s attracting them. Ish sets out to burn the trash in the street while Emma holds off the incoming rats with the rifle. After several depressing minutes of this, Ish ends up realizing that it is the cow meat that’s driving them crazy. Although he burns the meat, he and Emma end up fleeing inside and sealing off the house. At one point, they have to break one of their seals and save Lucky. Lucky manages to survive but it does take him some time to recover.
On the night of the infestation, Ish tells Emma about his fear of losing her during childbirth. She practically guarantees him this won’t happen because she’s already done it twice before without any prior complications. It takes nearly 2 years into the infestation before the feral cats kill out the rats. This just happens to be on the same day Emma gives birth. The birth is as complicated as Ish had imagined and things get really dicey when the baby initially comes out shoulder first. Emma manages to talk Ish through how to fix the breach. Luckily it isn’t long after correcting the breach that Emma delivers the baby successfully and safely. Much to Ish’s surprise, Emma tells him to name the baby Heather, after his mother.
The episode ends with a few scenes showing the young family growing and enjoying life. When time returns to a steady paste, Emma is briefly shown spray painting their address on the side of a building, inviting all survivors to stop by. It is suggested that a stranger watches this from afar.
Earth Abides Review
Compared to the first episode, episode 2 was a night and day difference. I didn’t think that I would enjoy an entire episode based on the bubbling relationship of a man and woman at the end of the world, but this somehow worked. It wasn’t that the two were such total opposites or even similar that made things work. I’m not sure how to explain it but at times, it felt as if I was sharing the connection with the two leads.
What’s even more surprising is that Emma’s backstory, although extremely useful in a time of despair, would not have been one I would have picked. I wasn’t really digging the rat invasion either, but I can certainly accredit the creative team for trying something a bit different. For that, I’d give the episode a 5.7 out of 10.
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