The opening segment sets up a premise that the last people on earth are of two kinds -- one, represented by the protagonist, named "Ish" (short for Isherwood?) who is a survivalist, and the only other two, Ann and Milt, who are both fatalists, preferring to get drunk instead of doing something to improve themselves or at least provide for a positive outcome.
These three personalities clash in a completely empty Las Vegas (MGM Grand Hotel), and Ish is entirely ready to ditch the two and go off on his own, to whatever fate he expects to find.
The opening is unusually quiet, reflective, and poetic. It is suffused with the rare quality of a European narrative, one in which personalities are used as a kind of metaphor for larger explorations of humanity's purpose.
The story avoids any of the usual man-versus-man, where everyone approaches each other at the barrel of a gun, the typical apocalyptic storyline. This one allows each of the characters a quiet space to present their individual purpose, and then allows them to go wherever that purpose leads.
When we see the lead character Ish at the end, it is clear that he is going to be the kind of personality that endures, and will find a community that accepts him and is willing to take the necessary steps to go forward in a positive direction.
This series has a great deal of similarity to one which was made in the 1960's in England called "Survivors" which was remade again in the 2000's as the same name, but on a much less thoughtful scale. The original Survivors was presented a microcosm of humanity under a pandemic and showed the few immune characters as a community that needed to establish law and order to enable civilization to begin over. In the re-make, the storylines revolved around guns, and who was more violent in the attempt to take over.
"Earth Abides" seems to follow more closely the original "Survivors" -- an intelligent discussion of the outcome of a pandemic in which only a minuscule number manages to remake society and how they can do it cooperatively.
