Release (TV)
“Release” begins streaming on Topic on September 3. While I would like to say it’s a fine piece of fiction that imagines a scenario we will never find ourselves in, the truth is that it is of the moment in its telling of six stories during a pandemic, from our introduction to it through its seeming conclusion. That writers Joe Penna and Ryan Morrison have chosen to tell this narrative in six, short vignettes rather than a larger-ensemble style like “Contagion” is why each story lands so effectively. This isn’t about the larger response to a pandemic, but how individual’s humanity, and emotions, are tested during it. On the surface, it’s easy to think that we would, or wouldn’t, make some of the same choices the characters make, but we cannot say for sure until put in the same situation. After five months of self-isolating, social distancing and mask wearing, I’d like to think I’d make the right choices. I’m not sure, though. Because of that, it’s hard to judge any of the characters for their reactions.
The first story deals with a prisoner being released from jail. She’s ready to head out of town, put her old life behind her, and start a new one. When the police bus she is being transported on gets in an accident, the other prisoners being released are ready to just flee, but when the driver gets infected by an airborne virus, signified throughout the stories by black blood, Maya has a choice which will define her, but it might result in her plans not going forward. Each story is about testing the character of its subjects, whether it’s a guy trying to get into a fallout shelter; a grieving mother facing the person who killed her daughter; two robbers looking to steal from a couple, or the couple themselves; two paramedics who are struggling with the grind of losing patients everyday to this disease; or a couple where the wife has developed agoraphobia during quarantine. None of these stories offer easy resolutions, but we should all be able to recognize the emotions being played out in each story, and empathize.
One thing I respect about Topic is that, for their original offerings, they are not afraid to go against the grain of structure and form. This feels like a season of TV, but it barely more than an hour. There’s no need for “Release” to be any longer than it is, because this isn’t exactly about a single-line narrative but individual short stories set in a common time. We get in, get a complete narrative, and get out, and it’s refreshing when filmmakers are able to do that without lingering on unnecessary details, or even feeling the need to include ones that could help establish the world these characters live in. We don’t find out the origin of the disease, and honestly, we don’t need to; that wouldn’t make the decisions these characters make, or don’t make, any easier. I can’t really say there’s a story I think is better than the others, because they all tell their stories so well. The last one, about the husband and wife, does stand out because of how personal it feels, and how very relatable it is right now. If you’re up for a series about a time and place not unlike ours now, “Release” can be cathartic, as well as entertaining.
