Survivors

So I've been watching this BBC show I got through Netflix. The premise is simple enough - we follow a group of people who have survived a fast spreading global epidemic. 99.9% of the world's population is dead in less than a week. Those who are left are to foraging in the wilds or shifting about through what's left in the cities. Of course, we want to know how it all got started and how will our little group survive.

The group is made of misfits so of course there'll be drama, but...

The real fun of a show like this (or any of the survival stories - Robinson Crusoe, Castaway, Survivor, Gilligan's Island etc) is to see whether the cast goes about things in the way I would. Security, food, water, medicine, shelter (maybe not in that exact order). If they depart from the things I would do, there needs to be a good reason.

The problem so far is that these people can't get their act together - especially, they can't seem to be bothered about providing for their security - they get attacked by guys with guns, they get their food stolen, people from the group get kidnapped, but nobody in the group seems to want to arm themselves. Except for the murderer... He gets a shotgun.

Now I know England isn't wallowing in guns like the US is. If 99.9% of my neighbors died tomorrow, I don't doubt I could go into empty houses and find a dozen long guns in an afternoon. I live in the suburbs - nice neighborhood. Not that many hunters, but enough of them. And of course, every police precinct (there's one a mile away) has a stockpile of guns. My entire town being reduced to about 9 people means there's probably about 1,000 guns per person. That's enough, isn't it?

In any event, my quibble isn't with the lack of guns so much as with the lack of practical security measures on the show. I mean these people haven't even thought of carrying a sharp stick with them. In fact, one young lady saved the life of the shotgun wielding murderer by brandishing his shotgun at an attacker. Then she told him she never wants to see the gun again. They make her sick for some reason. She would, in fact, prefer to live in a world where only the truly evil people have guns.

Now I'm no gun fanatic. I don't have a gun. Never have. I think the NRA goes a bit far in securing gun rights. But in a world where there are no police, no army, no government and the bad guys do, in fact have guns, well, I think it's reasonable to want to be armed myself. Even if I had no family to think of, I still wouldn't want to become the sex slave of some very desperate man with a gun.*

Otherwise, the show is very good.


* I imagine myself weeping as I'm forced to asked over and over "is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" as a toothless Ernest Borgnine smiles and says "BOTH! Now suck it!"