Watching the TV series that predicts Australia’s future

Seeing reality cross over with sci fi in Stan's 'The Commons' was disturbing but not depressing for this apocalypse-shy viewer.

We shut the curtains on the hot and burning world in the week after Christmas. Avoiding the supermarket, eating leftover pavlova from the fridge, we turned on the TV in search of streamed fiction to take us away from endless updates about the inferno: the suffering animals, homeless humans and corrupt politicians.

Our 16-year-old son was starting to question the point of living, arguing he should be allowed to get drunk on New Year’s Eve ‘because it’s the end of the world anyway.’

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Rochelle Siemienowicz is Screen Content Lead at Screenhub. She is a writer, film critic and cultural commentator with a PhD in Australian cinema and was the co-host of Australia's longest-running film podcast 'Hell is for Hyphenates'. Rochelle has written a memoir, Fallen, published by Affirm Press. Her second book, Double Happiness, a novel, is out with Midnight Sun on October 1, 2024. Instagram: @Rochelle_Rochelle Twitter: @Milan2Pinsk