The final episode of BBC’s version of The War of the Worlds ends on a whimper, fitting for such an underwhelming series.
During the alien invasion George (Rafe Spall), Amy (Eleanor Tomlinson), and Frederick (Rupert Graves) find refuge in a building with a sick woman and a young girl. Whilst in the post-apocalyptic aftermath George Jr. (Woody Norman) falls ill with typhoid but this could lead to Amy finding a way to save the planet.
The War of the Worlds‘ second episode of the miniseries was a more action-ordinated episode and this made it more engaging. The events in the final episode were more horror based. The main characters were trapped in a building that’s surrounded by aliens. There was no escape route and the aliens were encroaching on the survivors. On paper this sounds like an excellent tension-filled story and was in keeping with events in the novel. The mini-series wasted this potential.
This setup was ruined by the way the show was structured. Audiences know that Amy survives this event, so taking away most of the tension. Most of this episode relied on dialogue – it was just actors talking with each other. Barely anything happened and it seemed like the show’s special effects budget ran out. There weren’t even any attempts by the characters to fight back, make defences, or risk life and limb to get food or resources.
This episode ruined the twist of the first episode. At the end of the first episode, Amy and George Jr. go to the Admiralty building in the hope that they might meet George Sr. In the final episode it’s revealed that Amy saw George die before her eyes, so makes all her efforts and raised hope pointless. This wasn’t a clever subversion or misdirection, it was just bad writing.
The final episode also had a focus on philosophising. During the invasion storyline George believes the alien attack was punishment for English foreign policy which is fair enough because the novel was seen as a criticism of imperialism. In the aftermath section of the episode, there’s a priest preaching that God offers humanity’s salvation because crops grow in church land. The showrunners were going for a religion vs. science theme with things that were interpreted as supernatural when the real explanation was scientific. But the episode ironically became preachy.
The BBC’s War of the Worlds can be best-wasted potential. It took a great novel and made it boring. This show can serve as a case study on how not to make a TV show. The final episode was the worst episode in a bad series.
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