Drama
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Captain Pike finally gets his time in the Star Trek spotlight, but his story is one filled with tragedy and foreboding.
We’ve all done things we regret. But most of us probably don’t regret something as seriously as Kieran does.
There isn’t much for a teenager to do in the Australian town of Evelyn’s Bay. So Kieran goes exploring in the seaside caves nearby, despite strict instructions from his parents to stay away.
Turns out his parents’ warnings were for good reason. Kieran is caught in a devastating storm, and he seems doomed to drown in the tumultuous waters.
Until his friend Toby and his brother Finn arrive to save him. For a moment, a happy ending seems within grasp—and then the rescuers’ boat flips on the cave’s rocky coast.
Kieran survives. Finn and Toby don’t. And every single person in Evelyn’s Bay knows that it’s Kieran’s fault.
Hated by his parents and shunned by his community, Kieran bolts out of town as soon as he possibly can. He’s joined by his girlfriend Mia, whose best friend, Gabby, went missing the same night as the storm. With their hometown now tainted by guilt, regret and bad memories, Kieran and Mia resolve to leave it all behind and start a new life in Sydney.
That was 15 years ago. Now, on the anniversary of Finn and Toby’s deaths, Kieran, Mia and their newborn daughter return home to visit Kieran’s ailing father.
It’s not exactly a happy homecoming. Most of the community still blames Kieran for what happened, making him an outcast in his own hometown.
And it doesn’t help that right after he arrives, a newcomer to Evelyn’s Bay is found dead on the beach.
It turns out that the victim, a woman named Bronte, was investigating Gabby’s disappearance and presumed death…which raises a few questions. What really happened that night 15 years ago? Why is someone trying to cover it up? Kieran and Mia are going to find out—if they’re not run out of town first.
The Survivors feels a bit like two stories mashed into one, with each one fighting for dominance. On one hand, there’s a deeply personal tale of survivor’s guilt, as Kieran faces a situation that seems impossible to navigate. How does one make amends for a stupid mistake that tore apart an entire community?
On the other hand, there’s a classic small town murder mystery. Dark secrets lurk beneath a picturesque seaside landscape, and everyone has something to hide. In a way, Gabby’s disappearance and Bronte’s murder seem tacked onto the rest of the story, like two puzzle pieces the showrunners couldn’t quite seem to fit together.
As a mystery, though, The Survivors keeps explicit content reasonably contained for a TV-MA show. There are some distressing situations to be aware of, like repeated flashbacks to Kieran’s near-death experience, but very little violence or gore.
The same is true of sexual content. Suggestive references are made, and our central characters don’t exactly live their lives within God’s laws (Kieran and Mia have a daughter together even though they’re not married), but nothing gratuitous is shown onscreen. Foul language, however, is fairly frequent.
The Survivors may be a bit thematically confused, but it stays on the conservative side of its TV-MA rating. Still, be on your guard if you pack your bags for Evelyn’s Bay (and not just because of the murderer wandering the beach).
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
Fifteen years ago, Kieran Elliot inadvertently caused the deaths of his brother and friend, and another friend went missing in a severe storm. Now, on the anniversary of their deaths, Kieran comes home to find another murder has shaken the town of Evelyn’s Bay.
While the episode isn’t necessarily violent, characters find themselves in a few tense situations. We see a flashback of teenage Kieran nearly drowning in the ocean and calling for help; his friend Toby and Kieran’s brother, Finn, arrive to help him, but their boat flips on the waves, killing both young men. We don’t see their deaths onscreen. The body of a young woman is found on the beach, and we’re shown brief closeups of her hands, feet and face before she’s covered up.
Kieran and his girlfriend, Mia, have a daughter together, but they aren’t married. Mia wears a low-cut blouse that shows her midriff; a few people comment on it, and she asks Kieran if she looks “slutty.” Kieran’s friend Ash jokingly volunteers to be a nude model for a female photographer.
Kieran and his friends drink beer at a pub and Mia has a glass of wine. A drunk teenage boy drinks liquor from a bottle. Ash gives Kieran a marijuana joint in a plastic bag, which Kieran jokes he’ll need to deal with his mother.
The f-word is used 13 times, while the s-word is used three times. “A–”, “d–k” and “b–tard” are all used once. God’s name is taken in vain three times.
Lauren Cook is serving as a 2021 summer intern for the Parenting and Youth department at Focus on the Family. She is studying film and screenwriting at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. You can get her talking for hours about anything from Star Wars to her family to how Inception was the best movie of the 2010s. But more than anything, she’s passionate about showing how every form of art in some way reflects the Gospel. Coffee is a close second.
Captain Pike finally gets his time in the Star Trek spotlight, but his story is one filled with tragedy and foreboding.
Apple TV+’s take on Isaac Asimov classic sci-fi series takes some unwanted liberties with the source material.
Based on novel by Jenny Han, this series follows the complex love life of Belly, a young girl caught between two boys who are childhood friends as she joins the world of debutantes.
Violence and explicit images remain at the forefront of Dexter: Resurrection, which continues the murderous protagonist’s story.
