Short Take: “The Apocalypse Hive: Episode 2: The Armageddon Thrones: Season 1,” Sam Witt

Pros: I do have a soft spot for bio-thriller/horror
Cons: The series is awfully bumpy so far
Rating: 3 out of 5

Sam Witt’s The Apocalypse Hive: Episode 2: The Armageddon Thrones: Season 1 feels like a game of air hockey between two players who aren’t very good at it. In it, agoraphobic Izzy is forced to try to leave her apartment in order to rescue her husband, who has apparently been caught up in the start of the bio-apocalypse. Unfortunately, even her husband’s safety isn’t enough to get her out in the open once she overhears the neighbors killing people and sees blood streaks in the building hallway right outside her door.

I realize this is an attempt to tell a story in a TV-like style: season by season, episode by episode. But I find it very unfulfilling. I’d much rather see it released season by season, with the (however many) episodes tucked inside. I probably won’t try to keep up with this series, even though I really loved Witt’s Pitchfork County series, and even though bio-thrillers are pretty much my favorite genre.

Witt does do a great job of developing Izzy’s character and setting up her story, but he takes us just up to the point where a major thing will have to happen and then leaves us hanging. Since episode 1 was totally different and covered totally different people, I have little hope that it’ll pick up on Izzy’s story next time.

I loved the opening of this one, though, because it delved into some interesting parasitology aspects (the fact that some parasites can basically take over the mind of a creature and cause it to ‘commit suicide’ in order to spread the parasite further).