The Survivors - Season 1

The Survivors is set in Evelyn Bay, a town that was turned upside down fifteen years earlier after a stormy evening and is now once again faced with a mysterious drama. The new Netflix miniseries The Survivors has managed to attract many viewers in a short time. This originally Australian series with six episodes appeared on the streaming service in early June. The Survivors is about the residents of Evelyn Bay who are still struggling with the consequences fifteen years after a fatal accident at sea. In the village with only 1200 residents, everyone knows each other, which does not always improve the mutual relationships. When a body is found on the beach, this only fuels the mutual distrust. Who is responsible for the death of this victim and does her death have anything to do with the accident years ago?

A lot of supporting roles aren't very important to the main storylines and make it a bit unclear.

The main characters in The Survivors are the members of the Elliott family who are torn by grief, guilt and recriminations. During a storm in 2009, Kieran Elliott (Charlie Vickers) got into trouble and had to be rescued. He called for help from his brother Finn (Remy Kidd) and his friend Toby (Talon Hopper), who then went out into the water during the storm. Finn and Toby did not survive this rescue operation, but Kieran did, something for which some of the relatives have never forgiven him. That same evening, young Gabby (Eloise Rothfield) went missing. Gabby's disappearance did not receive the attention it deserved because of the boys' accident. She was never found, which still drives her mother Trish (Catherine McClements) to despair.

The Survivors can be described as a drama series with a crime component and also a touch of mystery. Many residents appear to have secrets and until the last episode it remains the question who is responsible for what. The acting is intense and realistic but therefore also uncomfortable at times. What it does to a parent to lose a child is actually unimaginable, but this cast still manages to express it in a very credible way. However, because of all these emotions, some details are lost. There is so much focus on the drama that it seems as if the makers have forgotten some practical matters.



Bronte (Shannon Berry) is Olivia's (Jessica De Gouw) roommate and is investigating the disappearance of her sister Gabby. She calls on Mia (Yerin Ha), Gabby's best friend, who is now with Kieran and is temporarily back in Evelyn Bay to introduce their baby to his parents. Mia and Kieran want to get home as soon as possible, but decide to stay longer. This gives Mia the chance to investigate Gabby's case, while Kieran can spend more time with his friends and demented father Brian (Damien Garvey). Kieran and his father have a good relationship, but the same cannot be said about his mother Verity (Robyn Malcolm). She blames Kieran for the fact that his brother died because of him.

Despite the fact that the place where the series is set is small, the story has many characters. A lot of supporting roles are not very important for the big storylines and make it a bit unclear. It doesn't help that several characters are quite similar. Personally, I found it quite confusing at times because of this and I also missed depth in the characters that had a less important role in the whole. The same goes for some storylines. In the end, some of these really turned out to be written purely to sow confusion. They don't add anything and only make it all more complicated.

Although I remained curious about the rest of the story throughout the series, in retrospect I was disappointed with The Survivors.

At the end of the series we get answers to the questions of what happened to Gabby, who is responsible for the body on the beach and whether all this had anything to do with each other. It is nice when a series has a clear ending. However, after this ending I am still left with a lot of questions about seemingly unimportant details, but subjects that concern me. For example, how could Kieran and Mia stay with Kieran's family for so long without informing work? Why was a demented man dragged into so many intense events knowing that this could trigger intense emotions in him? And where is Liam's mother and the rest of the family (Julian Weeks) anyway?

Although I remained curious about the rest of the story throughout the series, in retrospect I am disappointed with The Survivors. I found the final ending too far-fetched. Furthermore, I found the choices of the makers in many situations too complex and not really of added value. I have not read the book by Jane Harper, on which the series is based. However, I read online that a large part of the storylines that did not make a positive impression on me were added by the series makers and were not in the book. This makes me wonder whether I would have liked the series better if it had stayed closer to the original. Unfortunately, we will never know the answer to this. This film adaptation is certainly not bad, but I was not blown away by it either.