The CWAfter watching the premiere of The CW's scary new outbreak show, Containment, we were left with two lasting images. One, the bloody, mucousy, disgusting mess that people devolve into as the deadly, unidentified virus takes hold in the city of Atlanta. Two, the beautiful vision that is reluctant hero cop Jake (Chris Wood) in a tank top.
Seriously, though—there have been a lot of bloody scenes on The Vampire Diaries and plenty of terrifying moments on TVD, The Originals and any of the DC superhero shows—but none of them have come close to the frantic, frightening, nerve-racking opening to Containment (from TVD's Julie Plec). We found ourselves 13 days into the outbreak, in full-blown disaster mode, before going back to the beginning as elementary school teacher Katie (Kristen Gutoskie) takes her class for a tour of the local Atlanta hospital.
Just a normal school day! When the doctor who was supposed to show them around disappears, we know there's something seriously wrong (she is VERY SICK and bleeding from her face, like all the other coughing, sneezing victims we see throughout the episode) but no one else does. The government is already meeting about the disease, but everyday citizens are just going about their lives. By the end of the episode, we see a fence erected around the city, the 4,000 poor souls quarantined inside until the disease dies out (including Jake and a small handful of cops—i.e. not even slightly enough people to police the cordon). No one gets in and no one gets out.
See? Scary stuff!
The unnamed disease is really gross, spreads through bodily fluids (stay away from anyone with a cough, okay?), and kills people within 48 hours. The government promises the cordon is only until those 48 hours pass and the disease dies out, but, like, duh, that's not happening (both because there wouldn't be a TV show without it and because we see most of our main players in the chaotic opener that takes place two days later).
You have many more disgusting moments to look forward to (the network sent seven episodes of the thriller to press), but also regular sightings of a buff Jake in that same tank top. At least there's balance, right?
In all seriousness, it was a really promising start and a new direction for the CW. But it is the CW, after all, so let's just appreciate the network's ability to objectify a beautiful man amid such chaos.
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Containment airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on the CW.