‘Station Eleven’ episode 10 final synopsis: Will Kirsten and Jeevan reunite?

The following contains spoilers from the January 13th season of HBO Max’s Station 11 limited series.

With the 10th and final episode releasing this Thursday, HBO Max’s Station 11 close the book on its incest story about the consequences of a brutal pandemic.

In it, we learn that Jeevan (played by Himesh Patel) is the doctor called by the Severn City Airport community to check on, and eventually rest, conductor Sara (Lori Petty); Kirsten (Mackenzie Davis) has arranged for Elizabeth (Caitlin FitzGerald) to play the role of Gertrude in the Traveling Symphony’s Orchestra. Hamlet, as a means by which she can finally talk to her long-lost son Tyler (Daniel Zovatto); Clark (David Wilmot) recognizes exactly who Kirsten is; and Miranda (Danielle Deadwyler) are revealed in flashback to have quietly played an important role in saving lives early in the pandemic.

TVLine spoke with host Patrick Somerville and fellow producer Jessica Rhoades about adapting — and making significant changes to — Emily St. John Mandel, and some of the biggest moments of the finale.

TVLINE | Looking back, do you give advice before the first episode, saying Hamlet asked to read?
PATRICK SOMERVILLE | [Laughs] Absolutely not. I think what we’ve always tried to do is make a show that if that’s your thing, you get more context in the process, but if it Not your thing, you definitely don’t need to hold Hamlet knowledge to gain experience. And if you watch the show, they just do one This scene repeats itself over and over, and that kind of teaches you the scene along the way, through our characters. That’s always the important thing – don’t bother me for the sake of the “capital of S Shakespeare”; interests me because I care about Kirsten and because I care about Tyler.

TVLINE | I got it Star Trek Easter Eggs in the first episode, based solely on the Stardate wiretapping on TV [from the episode “The Conscience of the King,” about a traveling Shakespeare troupe]. Whose idea was that?
SOMERVILLE | Well, in Station 11 book, the phrase “because survival is not enough” actually comes from an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, and Matt Webb Mitovich Emily talked about how it was a perfect demonstration of the highs/lows of Station 11and how valuable things can come from anywhere, whether it’s Shakespeare, Star Trek… Like, you can get it anywhere, as long as you use it properly. And then the great advantage of showing with your studio as Paramount is that you can have more access to some of the things that you can put on the screen. So I knew about that popularity Star Trek practice on Shakespeare and it’s time to find out which episode [young] Kirsten is watching, it’s just a little nod to the fact that Star Trek existed in Station 11 novels, and here’s another way to do it.

TVLINE | How did you decide all that to add to the TV series that wasn’t in the book, such as the extended isolation with young Jeevan and Kirsten, or the pregnant woman episode?
SOMERVILLE | We were always looking for ways to connect Jeevan and Kirsten’s story together a little more deeply, and that’s because Jeevan, in the novel, is a very compelling character, and the novel also returns to Jeevan at the end, because it’s compelling enough to go back and check on him. Since that is the case already in the book, it feels like a green light to find ways to weave their stories together more intimately. Also, when translating novels to TV, you only need to have specific stories with people together.

It’s also an opportunity to get Jeevan out of his own head in Episode 1 and have someone to play with in a conversation, and it’s a way to complicate the brothers’ dynamics with Frank and Jeevan. , to add a stranger and to see a group of people forming a new family. And when you have an incredible actor like Matilda Lawler (Young Kirsten) and an incredible actor like Himesh Patel, you put them together as much as you can. You also combine Himesh with Mackenzie as much as you can for the greatest success for your money.

TVLINE | You started production of this product just before the COVID pandemic began. Is the scenario always the scenario, or at any point after the pandemic actually hits, do you redial anything, to make it happen a little closer to home?
JESSICA RHOADES | [Episodes] 1 and 3, which are the most pandemic follow-ups, I would say, were completed when our real pandemic hit and we were stopped, and we ended up going back and shooting during the pandemic. I’d say the script and story are still almost entirely as they were originally designed, because our show’s pandemic is a lot more “end of the world” than, thank god, life. our reality, so I don’t think we feel the need to adjust our actual response to the pandemic. But it’s important to us that we all internalize what we’ve learned as humans, about emotions, and what we know about being isolated. We see how great it feels when you figure out how to build community, connect with people, to have ordinary moments, big or small. The show always lives in big and small [moments], but I think we’ve all learned that, ourselves, through our own experiences.

TVLINE | The moment in the finale, where we realize that Miranda phoned pilot Gittgegumee, that’s not in the books. Talking about the decision to put it in there, because it was as if an emotional blow, recognizing this incredible yet silent role she played in saving so many lives.
SOMERVILLE | And in a really difficult way too. That appeals to me for so many reasons. There’s something about the whole show about how artists are living in a different world, and how you would be marginalized in our society for being professional artists. That’s how they usually come to you, like, “It’s great to just put on makeup and not care about the real world.” I was a little confused about that difference, because Miranda To be in the real world, and she’s doing Thing [Station Eleven] in the real world, and I really like the idea of ​​a two-part story for one character – the first part is the time she fantasizes about, and possibly some of the devastation caused in life. her personal.

But that story doesn’t do justice to me unless there’s a Season 2, that’s when she’s done [book], she opened her eyes and looked out into the world, seeing she had only a few hours to live, but what can you do to help? Now that that project is complete, what do I have to do to make a difference, somehow make things better? And in terms of total hours alive and well done, the second half of the Miranda story is completely brave and courageous. I think she wouldn’t have been able to do Season 2 if she hadn’t done Season 1. It always felt like Miranda needed to have a causal effect on the characters we already knew, in order to really accomplish what I thought it was. is more a portrait of an artist.

TVLINE | Something I tweeted to one of my peers, early in the season, is how I love the idea that the one thing that exists after all of this is live theatre.
SOMERVILLE | Well, it makes sense. One of our writers, Sarah McCarron, is in the theater. She’s a mime actress, and she’s done performing all her life, and she’s always said this makes sense because you don’t need anything to put in Shakespeare. That is why it is resistant to pandemics. You don’t need a set, you don’t even need a light. Like, it’s all here. Yes, [Shakespeare] says a lot, has a lot of words, but thanks to that you can do it anywhere, with anyone, in any context, and it works – and there’s something wonderful about it. that for me. It’s not just because Shakespeare loves it, it’s here. That’s because Shakespeare is kind of anti-apocalyptic. You don’t need a lot of money to put it on. You just need some people who can read and remember.
RHOADES | Live music also exists. Hootenanny gathered around the fire, telling stories. And the original music, folk songs sung by the Traveling Symphony, these songs were written by Patrick and Dan Romer. Those are original songs because artists will create ways to tell the story of what they’ve lived, as people’s songs always have been.

TVLINE | So I was watching the finale, and when Jeevan and Kirsten had that near-miss in the future, I yelled some profanity at my screen. Will they always reunite in the finale, or have you entertained any irony, tragic situation where they didn’t?
SOMERVILLE | They always hug each other. The Monday the idea is to add almost miss. I’m not the kind of narrator who would hang it and then not give it, but I think it’s hard to come up with a satisfying way of wanting unless you’re talking about the dangers of a near miss, because We all know that, you know? There’s no way I could have done the show without that hug.

TVLINE | I was hoping we’d get a little dig from each of them – like, “I have to tell you about the wolf, and the department store is full of pregnant women, and…”
RHOADES | But you know they did it. That happened.
SOMERVILLE | Overnight. But the reason it’s not on the show is because you already know it. We didn’t have to see that, because you saw it, so we ignored that and went to say goodbye, instead, to the heart of the matter, because I think it’s the new thing. for both of you, a chance to say goodbye know they are saying goodbye to each other. That’s what each of them lost [20 years ago], so the final scene on the show allows our two leads to get something that everyone else doesn’t.

TVLINE | We saw Kirsten talking to a bomb girl, Haley, not doing anything she was going to do, but the previous scene shows several children marching towards the building with landmines. Do they just bail, or did I read that wrong?
SOMERVILLE | No, you didn’t. They were there at the end when Clark said goodbye to Elizabeth and Tyler, waiting for an order that never came. And the reason it never came is because Kirsten had that conversation with Haley.

TVLINE | And finally, for each of you, what is your favorite sequence in the series?
SOMERVILLE | My favorite scene in the entire show was the last scene of the show. [Kirsten and Jeevan] walk away and say goodbye.
RHOADES | There were a lot of scenes that moved me and pushed me to tears or made me laugh, but for me, it was the whole “Midnight Train to Georgia” – from the moment Deborah started singing, to her reaction. with “Pips” behind, all through a hug, and even within a hug. Again, I can only appreciate this on 11k views, but for me, in the back of it, you see Dan, the new member, hugging Cuc… Like, this is a family Live suspension, and for me, every moment in that sequence strikes a chord.