Dhruv Trivedi
‘Station Eleven’ is set in the aftermath of a disastrous pandemic that kills off most of humanity. Twenty years after the tragedy, the Travelling Symphony, a Shakespearean artists’ troupe, struggles with the death of their former director at the hands of a brutal Prophet.
Episodes 6 and 7 of the heartfelt post-apocalyptic drama delve into Kirsten’s journey across two timelines — one where she chases the Prophet with the intention to kill him and the second where a much younger Kirsten takes shelter with Frank and Jeevan. The episodes give us a lot of intricate details about the expansive plot of the show, so let’s make sure we’ve picked everything up. Here’s a detailed look at ‘Station Eleven’ episodes 6 and 7. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Station Eleven Episodes 6 and 7 Recap
Episode 6, titled ‘Survival is Insufficient,’ opens in the aftermath of Gil’s brutal death. As the Travelling Symphony mourns, Kirsten heads out to locate and kill the Prophet once and for all. The rest of the artists’ troupe heads towards the next town but is inundated by rain. Like clockwork, the mysterious man from the Museum of Civilization arrives to invite the group to perform at the “museum.” The members of the Travelling Symphony, with some hesitation, finally accept his offer when he mentions that there is warmth and safety at the museum.
Meanwhile, Kirsten is ambushed by a group of children who lead her to the Prophet. Realizing he is already injured, she lunges at him, but the Prophet quickly tells her that the Travelling Symphony will never survive if he dies. He then informs Kirsten that her group has been taken hostage by people from the museum and offers to take her there. Accompanied by a group of children, to who he regularly narrates the story of the Station Eleven comic, the Prophet and Kirsten set off. However, they are soon attacked by a group of Red Bandanas, who kill one of the children and shoot Kirsten with a poisoned dart.
Episode 7, titled ‘Goodbye My Damaged Home,’ opens with Kirsten feeling the effects of the poison as a gruesome blue rash slowly climbs up her arm from the injury. She hallucinates seeing her younger self and is led back to her time with Jeevan and Frank in the latter’s apartment. The rest of the episode is then set in the early days of the pandemic and follows Frank, Jeevan, and Kirsten as they begin to make sense of the apocalyptic tragedy from the high-rise apartment.
Station Eleven Episodes 6 and 7 Ending: How Does Jeevan’s Brother Frank Die? Does Frank Have a Drug Problem?
We see the three unlikely companions spend Christmas together and get glimpses of the two brothers talking about how Kirsten’s parents and their sister are dead. As the weeks pass, the power and telephone lines are destroyed, and the three are forced to live on bare rations. Kirsten begins working on a play even as Jeevan gets increasingly agitated about remaining in the apartment. He finally opens the barricaded apartment door and steps out to explore the rest of the building.
The next day, Kirsten performs the play with Frank and Jeevan. However, during the scene in which Frank’s character dies, a stranger wielding a knife enters the apartment. Frank sacrifices himself by attacking the stranger first and getting stabbed, and Jeevan eventually takes the intruder down. After laying Frank on his bed, the grieving brother and Kirsten pack their belongings and leave the building once and for all, looking for food and shelter.
Thus, Frank does die and actually sacrifices himself for Jeevan and Kirsten. However, the inevitability of Frank’s death is also hinted at on multiple previous occasions when he refuses to believe that they are running out of food and insists on staying put in his apartment. It is gradually revealed that Frank is a shut-in who has not ventured from his apartment in two years. Frank suffers from a permanently disabled leg following an injury due to an explosion. The accident seems to have resulted in him getting addicted to painkillers and eventually heroin, which Jeevan finds out and is shocked.
However, Frank staunchly refuses to leave his home or stop using the opioid, saying that it helps him write. Thus, as supplies begin to run out, it becomes clear that Frank means to die in his apartment despite Jeevan’s frequent pleas. The fact that Kirsten casts Frank as Lonagan, the character who is killed in the play, also foreshadows that Frank will die and even subtly hints that perhaps Kirsten knows it.
What is The Play?
The play that Kirsten works on while at the apartment with Frank and Jeevan is based on the Station Eleven comic book. She seemingly picks a particular part of it and makes an elaborate production that includes homemade costumes. As has happened multiple times, the story of the esoteric comic loosely matches actual events in the narrative, and Frank is stabbed by the intruder soon after his character, Lonagan, is killed.
Unfortunately, since she pleaded with Jeevan to spend another day at the apartment before leaving it for good, Kirsten blames herself for Frank’s death. She thinks that had they left the previous day and not done her play, the encounter with the intruder wouldn’t have occurred, and Frank would be safe. So tortured is she by the memory that in her (poison induced) hallucination, the grown-up Kirsten implores her younger self not to write the play so they can leave a day earlier.
Read More: Where was Station Eleven Filmed?
