As the 5th episode of Station Eleven begins, we hear Tyler Leander (Julian Obradors) playing with a lighter while reading the Station Eleven novel. Elizabeth (Caitlin FitzGerald) tries to talk to him using the radio in hopes of calming him down. As she pleads with him, Tyler is shown carrying a gas can toward a stopped plane in front of him. She explains it is just grown-up stuff and Clark (David Wilmot) is worried about him as well. We jump back in time as Clark plays with the lighter on a plane. It is day one as Clark agrees with another passenger that it is a weird time to fly. When they see Elizabeth in the distance, the female passenger with the baby recognizes her from Alpha/Beta. Clark tells the passenger she is a friend before calling for Elizabeth to come join him. Elizabeth sits down elsewhere so Clark suspects she never heard him. Later, a soccer ball rolls through the aisle so Clark decides to get it and use the opportunity to confront Elizabeth.

They talk about how shocking Arthur’s death was. Elizabeth says her lawyer called her during the layover and Tyler doesn’t know yet. She doesn’t think Tyler can hear them because he is wearing headphones and watching a movie. Clark explains he is going to Chicago because he was still listed as an executor of Arthur’s estate. He reveals he is responsible for getting Arthur’s body back to Mexico. Elizabeth wants to if it was hard for Clark to remember all the names of the women Arthur had slept with. He claims he was never aware although she doesn’t believe that. He asks about Tyler who isn’t doing well but won’t admit it. Brian (Enrico Colantoni) walks by and stops to ask if Clark is bothering Elizabeth. A man on the loudspeaker confirms they’ve had an issue and will be diverting the plane to the Severn City Airport. Brian encourages Clark to leave first-class, but Elizabeth says it is okay since he is just a fan.

Once Clark gets off the plane, he texts Tim admitting he shouldn’t have left and will try to get home as quickly as possible. Clark walks over to the receptionist desk where Elizabeth and Brian are arguing with a woman about her being a United Nations Ambassador. Clark tells her he is going to get a rental car and offers her a ride. She refuses since her assistant is going to get them a jet. He is introduced to the nanny Shay. Clark hears a man screaming so he quickly turns around and bumps into the security guard Miles. He apologizes and learns there are no rental cars before the security guard promptly deals with the disgruntled worker. Clark looks around and seems to realize something is going on. He walks over to the television where several others are watching too. The host breaks character and instructs Cain to take the kids to his parent’s place immediately and only use back roads. Clark is shocked although the nun next to him suspects God has a plan.

Clark receives a call and reveals he doesn’t have his phone charger so he’ll have to borrow one. He also believes the flu is substantial. After the call ends, Clark watches through the window as another plane arrives. The nanny, Shay, walks up to him and says she just heard they’re not going to let the passengers off because they’re sick. Clark argues they still have rights and should get medical attention, but Shay says it won’t matter because the flu kills everyone. She believes everyone will die if the passengers are allowed to come inside. Shay asks Clark if he would die for a stranger and he admits he probably wouldn’t. Clark sits down and checks his phone briefly. He walks over to the balcony and looks over while Elizabeth is approached by a fan who asks for a picture. He talks to the female passenger with the baby again and jokes that Elizabeth won’t be very famous if everyone on the planet died. Next, he approaches Tyler and asks whether he remembers him.

Tyler is reading an article about the high fatality rate of the flu. Once he sits down next to Tyler, Clark tells him he knows he is smart so he believes he knows what the call was about. He admits he doesn’t know what is going to happen with the flu, but he wants Tyler to know he is always going to be Uncle Clark. Later, Clark drinks, repeats lines, and hears a woman scream for her mother. He asks the security guard, Miles, whether the woman needs help, but he doesn’t know or care since he quit his job a few hours ago. Miles believes this is really happening because he can see the glaze in people’s eyes. Clark says the people on the other plane are heroes and he suspects they’ll get through this. His optimism is intact although Miles suspects it might be liquid courage. Then, we jump ahead to day seven of the event.

People are still living in the airport. As Clark wakes up, two women nearby argue about the television. A man approaches and tells Clark he can’t smoke in here. He asks about his business with Goldman Sachs. The man is wearing a jacket that says Homeland Security on the back and reveals he is looking for skilled people who can help him. When Clark asks what he is talking about, he says zombies. He tells Clark to stay out of his beach community. Once he leaves, Clark asks Miles who that guy was. He doesn’t know either. The next day, the man is introduced as Agent Nick Roker over the loudspeaker. He asks everyone to be a little more respectful of the facilities. Clark looks in the trash and finds a keycard so he decides to enter the restricted area. He enters the control room, plays with the radio, and finally gets a signal on his phone. Tim has left him a message saying he wishes he was there. He is coughing in the message and sounds sick. He admits he is sick and has it while Clark remembers asking Tim to come with him.

He is asked why he didn’t call. Clark thinks about the way they departed. Clark goes outside to confront Elizabeth in hopes of convincing her that the private jet isn’t coming. Although it looks bad, she would rather freeze to death than be part of the community inside. Clark warns her that powerful people usually crash hard when huge pockets of false reality come down. As a corporate consultant, he sees it all the time. He believes he can use what he knows to protect her and Tyler who needs attention. Elizabeth says Tyler is fine. Clark doesn’t so he responds the boy is sitting in front of a plane of corpses. Shay tells Tyler they need to get out of here. As Clark goes back inside, he finds Nick bothering a group of girls. Later, Clark uses the bathroom and finds an ID for Jerry Mercer who is Nick. The main difference is that he is a custodian instead of an agent with Homeland Security. He also finds a bag full of pills in the same pocket.

He gets high and hangs out in the lobby for a while. On day nine, he finally gets up. He learns that Nick went around and told people he liked he was heading to a better world or Miami Beach. Shay and Brian went with him although Elizabeth and Tyler stayed. Clark learns that he took mostly women and the whole soccer team besides the goalie. Clark gets everyone’s attention and says this is the best thing for everyone since they left because they thought they were better than you. He says they were in it for themselves, but they were taken in by a conman. He shows them the evidence that Nick was a fraud. Miles and the others listen as Clark says Nick took advantage of their fear. When he learns it was Elizabeth’s pilot, Clark says it is good that the pilot is gone because you only need one when there is a place to go. He claims they have to forget their future appointments since they’ve won the post-apocalyptic lottery by getting stuck at the airport.

He goes on to say Jerry Mercer effectively tripled their food supply by leaving and taking so many others with him. Clark says they have shelter, food, and a place where no one is ever going to find them. Clark shows Constance the ID card to prove what he is saying before Miles supports it too since he knew Jerry. He thought Jerry was harmless until he said something that caused Jerry to threaten his life. Elizabeth stays Jerry offered to take her, but she’d have to leave her son behind. Clark claims he confronted Jerry with Miles and Elizabeth yesterday so Jerry ran away and refused to face everyone else. He calls the group a family that is in this today before leading a chant against Jerry Mercer. Elizabeth tells Clark that he played that well and calls him a star now. Later, the four of them sit together and Clark says they really have something here. Clark says people still look up to Elizabeth because of her fame. As for Miles, he is a natural leader thanks to his link to a federal institution.

Clark explains the importance of leadership to Tyler and how they need to repopulate the Earth. However, Tyler wonders if they should repopulation. Tyler reveals his hotspot still works at night thanks to a German satellite before offering to use it to download Wikipedia pages and other stuff. On day 10, Clark learns the children are in the tower as we hear them talking about Santa. Tyler tells the other kids that Santa talks to dead people and they’ll feel better if they talk to him. Clark approaches them and asks them to go downstairs since they’re not supposed to be up there. Tyler isn’t happy because his idea was working. Clark tries his idea, puts on the headphones, sits down, and begins talking to Arthur. He tells Arthur that his son is being a real nob because he is asking the other kids to pretend although he won’t play the game. When Tyler puts on the headphones, he tells Arthur he is sorry he never got the chance to see his play in Chicago. Elizabeth had a night shoot and really tried. Regardless, Tyler thinks it is cool that his father did King Lear.

Tyler is glad he saw Arthur last month, but he wishes he could see him again. When he finishes, he takes off the headphones and won’t tell Clark how it felt. Next, Miles tells everyone that the electrical grid has gone down so they’re going to be using the generator sparingly. They run through the rules before everyone learns that the Internet is no longer accessible either. Miles takes Clark to the hangar to explain they were planning on installing solar panels on the roofs. They can use them and the batteries to rig something up and maintain electricity. Clark is impressed that he knows how to do something like that. Miles says they could possibly last forever before trying to kiss Clark who stops him and says he is in mourning. On day 12, Elizabeth decides to give her son the gift from Arthur which turns out to be a copy of Station Eleven. Before his hotspot stopped working, he downloaded a page on capitalism and contemplates deleting it. Elizabeth says they shouldn’t because people would just create it again anyway.

Elizabeth explains that what Arthur did really hurt her and she believes something good is happening here between them. Tyler believes it might only feel that way because Arthur is dead. She gives him the book and says it is more of a symbol than anything else. Tyler admits the art is cool. He learns the MC on the cover is for Miranda Carroll who was Arthur’s first wife. Elizabeth got it a few weeks ago and kept it from Tyler. That is something she has been doing for years since Arthur has been sending him letters since the divorce. She burned them because she is selfish. When Elizabeth walks away, Tyler looks at the plane full of sick people outside. Elizabeth returns to Clark and admits Tyler knows when people are lying and she lied that Arthur kept trying. Tyler goes outside, sits down, and reads the book he just received. He watches as a man climbs out of the plane full of sick people. He walks toward the Gitchegumee plane as the man struggles to stand up.

Back inside, Clark walks up to Miles and admits the last two weeks have felt like an eternity. He kisses Miles before Tyler enters with the sick man. Tyler tells them it is okay because the man survived, but the others are worried about getting sick. Tyler says he is immune and people out there have survived. Miles pulls a gun and points it directly at the sick man. As the man hobbles forward, Miles shoots him in the head killing him. Elizabeth rushes to Tyler’s side while the others contemplate what to do with them since they could be infected now. Although some people want them killed, Clark decides to quarantine them in the private plane in hanger G for a month. They’ll have everything they need there. We jump ahead to day 30. Constance preaches to a small group of survivors while Elizabeth and Tyler hang out in the private plane.

Elizabeth tells Tyler he hasn’t looked up from the book in three weeks. He says, “There’s no before” over and over again. On day 42, they’re allowed to leave the plane although they’re asked to wear masks to make some of the others more comfortable. On day 100 and the vernal equinox, Clark places their electronics on the desk and says he is creating a museum. He tells Elizabeth it reminds them how good they used to have it so they’ll have something to aim for. She says Tyler has stopped sleeping and this brought out something in him. Clark believes he thought the quarantine was a personal humiliation and he’ll need to grow up and get over it. Elizabeth accuses him of hating Arthur and Tyler although he denies it. He says he beat Arthur to get the role of Antonio in The Merchant of Venice so he wasn’t jealous of him. He describes Arthur as a B-list loser who surrounded himself with C-list trophy duds like her. He goes on to say Arthur was a crappy father and husband who threw away the only worthwhile wife he ever had Miranda.

Arthur died on stage in a puddle of his own urine while desperate to be taken seriously. Despite everything, Clark still loved him. Elizabeth says everyone loved him. As for Clark, it takes every ounce of his energy to get anyone to even like and listen to him while Art never had to try. Clark believes Tyler will thrive here before taking credit for saving their lives. He blames Arthur for damaging all of them as we see that the radio is turned on. Clark doesn’t want a child to play them against one another. Tyler walks toward the other plane with a can of gasoline and a radio. He plays with Clark’s lighter while reading the book on the plane. Later that night, Clark tries to talk to Arthur through the headset once again. He says he regrets what he said the last time they spoke in Chicago and promises he tried to protect Tyler. He just doesn’t know how to do that anymore. He is like Arthur since both are indifferent to authority.

He goes on to call Tyler a destroyer although Arthur was never that. Clark believes he means something to the people here and hasn’t done anything wrong. He thinks it is time for Tyler and Elizabeth to go through. Tyler calls for Uncle Clark on the radio before saying he is in the death. Clark quickly radios Elizabeth, Constance, and Miles to get help dealing with Tyler. When Clark asks what he is doing on that plane, Tyler says he is setting all of them free. Clark runs outside, but it is too late since the plane is already on fire. They have to hold a sobbing Elizabeth back to keep her away from the plane. Tyler watches them from elsewhere as the plane burns and his mother cries. Then, we see Tyler or the prophet at the play performed by Kirsten and her friends. In the past, he walks away from the plane and the episode ends.

 

Station Eleven Review

Episodes like this seem like separate side stories that should’ve been condensed to keep the story moving along at a more interesting pace. It has been impossible to care about these characters because we’ve only been given a few minutes to get to know them. For a show that is supposed to be deep and thought-provoking, the viewer needs some type of sympathetic relationship with the characters. The acting has mostly been decent so the actors and actresses shouldn’t be blamed for our inability to care about their respective characters.

I suspect the problem here has a lot to do with the lack of character building and the show’s refusal to stick with any specific storyline. It is all getting tiresome as I often just wish the episode would end and move on to something else. While I’ve never read the book, the story sounds fascinating. If they’re going to convert a book into a television show, it should be easily accessible for viewers on both sides.

If reading the book is a prerequisite, what is the point of creating the television show in the first place? I am positive everyone involved wanted the show to be a hit among readers and nonreaders so this is likely not the case The Wikipedia entry is far more interesting than the Station Eleven television adaptation has been so far. The show has failed to add so many unique details that would’ve enhanced the story. On top of that, the show just hasn’t provided a story coherent enough to make anyone care.

As someone who actively practices art, I can’t imagine how this series has anything to do with art whatsoever. It is foolish and stereotypical to suggest only artists, actors, and actresses will understand or enjoy this show.  It is quickly becoming meaningless drivel that will leave viewers frustrated and angered. It is a shame really because the story could’ve made for an outstanding television show that gripped viewers and pulled on heartstrings. We are now halfway through the series so it is time to buckle down and focus on what really matters.

The episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of Station Eleven are available here on Reel Mockery.