Post 13: The Colony Season 2!

Unfortunately I missed it until it had already begun, but Discovery Channel is airing the second season of "The Colony". It's a reality show with a major twist. There are no competing teams in the normal sense, nor are there cash prizes or free cars being doled out.

"The Colony" is a social experiment where eight people from various background are selected to survive 60 days in a simulated post-apocalyptic scenario. In season one, they were put in the industrial section of Los Angeles near the LA river. In this season they're in a rundown section of New Orleans, near the bayou. Even though they're given medial treatment off camera, their initial 72 hour isolation period and then being dropped in a devastated area with no outside help, coupled with the stress, fatigue and desperation that ensues, makes it all too real of a thing for them. Each episodes is comprised of various Phases, in which they are given a task to accomplish, like building a smokehouse from wood or fending off attackers.

The first season was really interesting. They made it through the two months, but not without a lot of drama. People criticized it because it seem faked. The confession videos, which are used throughout the series, seemed to be more acted than genuine. The final episode, which featured raiders launching an all-out attack, a flamethrower built from scratch, and a heck of a lot of action, looked particularly scripted. However, my willing suspension of disbelief was in play and I didn't notice these things until after I had watched the episode and read others' comments on it.

Now season two. I missed the first two episodes so I'll have to catch up on those someday. I've already noticed some parallels between the two seasons. Each one has a relatively old dude. In season one, it was Vlad, the 60-something war veteran/oil engineer. In season two, we have Robert, a 70 year old. Both seasons also have someone who makes up ingenious plans to build things and do stuff. Season one had self-proclaimed mad scientist John Cohn, who I was intrigued by. Season two looks like George will assume this role. He even kinda looks like John.

Things like this interest me. As I child, I enjoyed - and still do enjoy - stories about people making it on their own. I liked books such as "Hatchet", "My Side of the Mountain", and "Ender's Game", where a young man had to make it on his own. These inspired me to write my first novella, where a young man and young woman survive in a world where the death of adults has created complete chaos. The whole post-apocalyptic theme leaves me imagining would could happen.