With some of the best directors in Spanish cinema and a post-apocalyptic story taken from a successful ‘podcast’, there are plenty of reasons to get hooked on ‘Apagón’.
Sometimes the science fiction we see on the screen is so realistic that we find it difficult to think of it as a genre work. It is the case of one of the most interesting miniseries outings in the last year, a Spanish production that poses an apocalypse that is not entirely impossible and, therefore, terrifying. This impressive work is titled Blackout.
Fran Araújo acts as showrunner in this particular proposal that can be seen on Movistar+, developing five different stories united by a common phenomenon such as the fall of civilization. She has for this some of the best directors in this countrywho each direct one episode: Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Raúl Arévalo, Isa Campo, Alberto Rodríguez and Isaki Lacuesta.
The series is told in a thriller key, based on the podcast of the same name and which is set in a Spain where April 11, 2018 occurs a solar storm that disables all satellites and various electrical systems. The world now has to face a reality in complete darkness, without phones, internet, television or, most importantly, light.
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The plot follows the story of five characters who try to maintain a balance between their instincts and their fears to fulfill their needs in a new reality without telecommunications or transportation. An authentic look at a humanity in check when society collapses and it has no choice but to fend for itself.
Although it never feels overly sci-fi, the basis of Blackout It is sustained mainly on the bases of the apocalyptic side, where technology completely leaves our equation and forces us to completely rethink our situation. But before that we are plunged into absolute chaos, as reflected in the first episodes.
‘Blackout’: a realistic apocalypse
The first of all, the one that introduces us to the story, is a great exercise in a Sorogoyen trademark thriller, following a person in charge of emergency services when a solar storm threatens to jeopardize all our systems. That oppressive feeling is horrifying because it has a realistic element that leads you to think that you can see yourself in that situation.
It is one of the best miniseries in recent years: a journey through the most explosive parties in Spain through characters you will fall in love with.
The rest of the episodes alternate between continuing with that anxious feeling before the collapse and trying to propose different scenarios towards which we can move in such a situation. Small halos of hope in the midst of really intense and dark emotions, which the series handles wonderfully. Although not all episodes work the same, they get you hooked.
You can see Blackout in Movistar+.
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