The Survivors Season 1 Review: A Different Kind of Main Character

The magic of The Survivors lies in the beauty of its scenery and everything that makes the town of Evelyn Bay a beautiful destination. The show does a great job of making it very clear that the main character is Evelyn Bay.

The characters, murders, secrets, and lies make the storyline, but it is Evelyn Bay that holds it all together. The town is so deeply rooted in every character that one terrible storm over a decade ago changed the destiny of everyone living in it.

And this shines through in every nature shot that showcases the beauty of the town, but also highlights the dangers of the ocean. We get a close view of the caves and the waves, highlighting that as pretty as Evelyn Bay is, it is also a dark place, submerged in death and secrets.

Every nature shot is accompanied by the perfect soundtrack to make us feel the ominous secret that looms over the town.

Every character we meet is connected to that terrible storm from years ago in one way or another. Brontë, whom we only meet briefly, is the one who catapults the town back in time as she digs into what happened. Her death is a direct result of this.

Because the story is being told in the present time, and everyone talks about what happened the day of the storm, the flashbacks to that evening are key to the show’s success. Without viewers seeing what actually happened, it would be impossible to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

While the truth inevitably comes out, the characters beat around the bush too much and are never straightforward. It is through flashbacks of every character’s movements on the day of the storm that we can finally understand what happened to Gabby.

Ironically, Brontë accuses the town of having forgotten Gabby, but it is through memories that we finally know Gabby’s real story. The memories of the guy who abandoned her in the caves are what finally give closure to her disappearance.

But it is also through Brian’s memory that we discover what happened to Brontë. The one character who has a memory disease (never given a name other than “losing his marbles”) is the one who lets the viewer in on the story as we see the flashbacks of what he remembers seeing that night.

The flashbacks are just as important as Evelyn Bay itself.

From the moment The Survivors starts, viewers can tell the characters are hiding something. They all carry a secret that is tied to the day of the storm because one event destroyed the entire town and buried it under lies and grief.

There are two particular moments throughout the season that highlight this feeling of secrecy, desperation, grief, and pain. The first one is Kieran’s panic attack when he goes diving with his mom, Sean, and Liam.

It makes perfect sense that the panic attack starts underwater. That was his brother’s habitat, the place where he spent most of his time, and where he died. As Kieran watches the people he loves mourn the brother he still blames himself for losing, it all becomes too much for him.

The scene is filmed beautifully underwater, allowing the viewer to feel Kieran’s desperation. By focusing entirely on him and what he sees, we can also feel the tightness in our chest and the guilt that is suffocating him.

That pressure becomes too much, and he yells at his mother. It is the first time that he is able to do that, but he doesn’t go as far as telling her exactly how he feels. That is saved for later when they are both ready to face the truth and eventually forgive one another.

The second moment happens during the memorial football match. As Trish confronts Julian and Verity about her daughter and their sons, the tension rises and expands toward the football field.

At the same time, Ash and Kieran begin to fight because they have been carrying animosity toward one another from the moment he came back to town.

However, the fights happening simultaneously and the camera panning from one argument to the other is the perfect representation of how broken the town is. Everybody is fighting over something that happened 15 years ago instead of coming together and realizing they all lost someone that day.

The individual experience of grief is much stronger than that of the town. Every character has chosen to put their grief above the rest, believing their pain is worse than the one the other parents, siblings, friends, and son are experiencing. That is what broke the town, not the event itself.

In the end, protecting yourself is what led Sean to never speak of Gabby and eventually kill Brontë for figuring out the truth.

The Survivors is a sad show. There is nothing about it that could leave the audience with joy or comfort. Not even discovering the killer can make up for the darkness that surrounds the show, but that is what makes viewers feel what the characters are feeling.

It’s like Mia says, when she and Kieran returned to Evelyn Bay, the sadness swallowed them up. That sadness is Evelyn Bay’s characteristic, and is what we feel from the moment we press play on episode one until the show ends on episode six.

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The Survivors is available to stream on Netflix.

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