This production
is making the most of a story most people watching would know something about
and is doing so by showing just how chaotic and dangerous things are on the
ground. Every shot we’ve seen so far of the Martian war machines has been from
a character’s perspective and this aspect is carried through in the second
episode’s signature sequence in which hundreds of panic stricken people on a
beach are attacked by one of those machines. It’s a brilliant miasma of fire,
panic and mayhem set against a backdrop of plumes of black smoke over a choppy
sea. Just to add to the cinematic feel of things, George and Amy’s reunion
takes place across the upturned wreckage of a boat; remind you of a major film?
Likewise, George’s initial view across the beach is a homage to Dunkirk, both
the real thing and the movie. Moving back and forth through time, the story
unfolds gradually yet if you were to look at synopsis very little happens. This
is more than anything a mood piece- every scene could be an album cover or a painting.
