Only a meteor can do that

The final episode of the 4-part TV series Meteor was aired last night. (As usual, I watched it on the way to work this morning)

In my opinion, it certainly isn't one of those series which you will remember after a while. The premise of its storyline was pretty cliched and predictable - a meteor being deflected off its supposed fligth path and headed straight to Earth (hence the title); people panicking and trying to hang on to their lives and their families'; while others try to "hang each other". =P

I felt that the acting was quite poor, in fact some of the sequences were a little laughable - there was this ruffian-like character who started the show acting like the town's bully, tough guy and all. Yet, after being chided by an elderly policeman over a minor matter, this guy suddenly becomes one of the heroic and self-sacrificing townsfolk, risking his life for the rest. Sounds a little stretched?
How about this father and son gang who charges $25 for a bottle of mineral water (supplies were depleted, and people were desparate); but along comes one of the heroes (protagonist) of the show, gave him a lecture for showing a "bad example" to his son, and miraculously the guy thanked him for the lecture and offered to give him a ride to the nearest town. I think the scenes were funnily bad.. if you know what I mean.

Still, the series did bring out an important and realistic message - that people in extreme adversity tend to show either their BEST or their WORST.
Maybe we can think of it as showing one's "true self" or "true colours", if you like.

In the series, there were many examples of people exploiting the situation (the World was gonna end....) and fellow human beings. People started breaking the law, looting, robbery, raping, etc. became more commonplace. Yet, there were also another group of people trying to keep things calm, maintaining self-control and in the process hoping to restore some civil order to a strained society on the brink of supposed destruction. The rest of the people were just trying to save themselves and their loved ones - something I'm sure many people would be able to identify with.

When I look at what's going on in the real world, the same 'pattern' can be observed. Nations squabbling with one another over trade issues, human rights issues, arms issues, environmental issues, religious issues, and the list goes on. On a higher level, you have the so-called "Developed" countries versus the so-called "Developing" counties; the West versus the East; and on a closer (country) level, you have spats between neighbouring countries over territorial (borders, islands, what-have-yous) disagreements, and fighting within a country due to the use of a (religious) word.
This goes on everyday, it seems. Well, at least if we are to trust the news that we read, that is :P

Yet, whenever a terrible natural disaster strikes a nation - be it first, second, third, fourth, etc. world - all other nations can (at least temporarily) put aside their quarrels and unite to show compassion and empathy towards fellow human beings suffering under the natural-caused calamity. Look at the recent earthquake in Haiti. All at once you have countries across the globe offering aid, both financially and logistically.

It seems like people cannot bear to see other fellow human beings suffer at the hands of a common "enemy" (in this case, Mother Nature); yet they are willing to kill and destroy one another fighting over an something as abstract as a belief or a word. How strange we are indeed.

This recent earthquake also highlighted the BEST and WORST in us. The "best" in the sense of how people all around the world has come together to aid the poor and disaster-strickened Haitian people, most of who you've never even met and will likely never meet for the rest of our lives. The "worst" of people is highlighted for those terrible acts of plunder and murder commited on the lawless streets in the same desparate nation, as many of its people now live on without adequate food, water, and hope.
See the similarities between reality and the TV show now?

Hmm.. maybe Meteor isn't such a bad show afterall.