Grab your umbrellas, because Netflix’s original series The Rain is the latest sci-fi show set in the apocalypse. The Danish series debuted in May and a second season has already been announced. It follows siblings, Simone and Rasmus, who are in search of their scientist father who may have the answers to why the apocalypse started in the first place. Along the way they meet more survivors who join them on their journey. If you’ve had your fill of stories set during the apocalypse, I assure you The Rain is still one worth checking out!
Minor spoilers ahead!
The story starts with Simone’s and Rasmus’s father ushering them into an underground bunker as a storm heads their way. He warns them to stay inside before leaving them. What’s got their father so spooked? They soon find out after the rain falls. They watch their mother get killed out in the rain. The rain is affected with some sort of virus and anyone who gets caught in the storm suddenly dies. The brother and sister spend six years in the bunker, but realize they need to leave when their food and supplies start to run low. Deciding to leave their bunker, they are confronted with another group of survivors who are also searching for food and supplies. The group is led by an ex-soldier named Martin. With him are Patrick, Lea, Beatrice, and Jean. At first, the group wanders together for survival, but when Simone tells them she is on a mission to find her father, the entire group decides to join them. There are several twists and turns along the way, and the season ends in a great cliffhanger so I’m glad the show was renewed.
I admit when I first read the synopsis of the show, I thought it was going to be like M. Night Shyamalan‘s The Happening where plants kill humans (Oh, no!), but it turns out to be much more. Of course, it has to do with a government conspiracy, and I’ll just leave it at that.
The series is a quick eight episodes; each of them about 45 minutes. I think the shorter season creates tighter storytelling (although I could have done without the typical cannibal story line in episode five), and they do a great job with getting us to care about the characters. The show also does a great job with flashbacks. It doesn’t take away from the current story line but offers us a glimpse of each character’s life before the rain and ties it into that episode.
A lot of shows set in the apocalypse tend to lose their humanity (see The Walking Dead), and the characters in The Rain do go through that struggle, but in the end, they don’t become monsters — they become a family.
Season one of The Rain is on Netflix as of the date this is posted.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st6r-8mLW_o&w=560&h=315]
All images from IMBD.com
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