Containment was an American limited series, based on the Belgian TV series Cordon. The show was officially ordered as a series by The CW on May 7, 2015, and aired from April 19 through July 19, 2016. The series follows an epidemic that breaks out in Atlanta, leaving a section of the city cordoned off under quarantine and those stuck on the inside fighting for their lives. Major themes in the series are love, loss, and duty. It's basically Outbreak meets Atlanta (minus the humor), meets Under the Dome (except the dome is replaced by a barricade of freight containers).
On May 12, 2016, The CW announced that Containment would not be renewed and would remain as a limited series
This show contains examples of:
- Atlanta: The American remake translates the action to Atlanta, Georgia, the setting. The viewer may want to read these notes to get useful background information, or aspects of the series might remain opaque. The subtext is altered to reflect American fears and suspicions. The initial carrier of the mystery disease becomes a Syrian Muslim, and the economically disadvantaged district cordoned off is a largely black ghetto of Atlanta.
- The Conspiracy:
- Corpse Land: Everywhere within the cordon. Some even piled up in parks and even within Midtown Hospital where parts of the hospital is a makeshift morgue.
- Definitely Just a Cold: Several characters try to pass off their contraction of the virus with this excuse, owing to the cold-like symptoms (runny nose, sore throat, coughing) which characterize infection. To heart-wrenching effect.
- Jurisdiction Friction: Between the Feds, the local beauracracy and local LEO.
- Just Following Orders: The mantra of a lot of people in the show.
- Lockdown: The complete containment of an entire city district drives the plot.
- Vast Bureaucracy: There's some elements of this going on behind the scenes. Usually mucking things up like the food drop off for the Cordon.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: How Lommers defends her covering up the entire accidental outbreak. As she puts it, the budget to prevent a viral outbreak or bio-weapon is a pittance compared to developing a single nuclear weapon when a virus can be far deadlier than a nuke. Thus, this entire public event will give her the budget she feels is needed to prevent a true terrorist attack in the future.
