Thursday, June 6, 2013

Genre Character of the week: Greg Preston

As much as I love a good show about zombies (why won't October come sooner The Walking Dead?) I  am a fan of all sorts of post-apocayptic set ups, and today I'm thinking specifically of the pandemic scenario, wherein a fast moving disease drops the world's population by a huge amount.  In books like The Stand and Earth Abides, or television shows like Survivors.

Which brings me to this week's genre character, Greg Preston.

Before the influenza virus wipes out most of the world in the story, Greg was a systems analyst, not necessarily what you would expect when you think of post-apocalyptic survivor, but what sets Greg apart almost immediately is his initial quick thinking, leaving a city filled with the dead but making sure to stop at a Camping supply store first.

Played by Paterson Joseph Greg comes across as a man doing his best under extreme circumstances.  Initially he plans to go it on his own, but after meeting with a woman named Abby Grant, he joins a small band of survivors, trying to make their way in this strange new world.

If you haven't checked out the show yet (which itself is a reboot of a series of the same name from the 70s), it's well worth the watch, very intense, and leading to a lot of self examination, if almost everyone around you had died, what would you do?

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