Marked by wooden pegs with numbers upwards of 45, abnormalities — suspected to be bodies — lay underneath the soil of what seems like such a peaceful place in the middle of the woods. However, when a gravestone comes into view, you know something is off. 

Doctor Dennis Carroll and his team stood on the chilling grounds of a gravesite used in the 1920s during the Spanish flu outbreak. With only one gravestone to spare for countless deaths, more than 45 bodies were crammed under the soil — a space that could not have been larger than the average front yard. 

As he looks upon the scene, Carroll explains how there will be another influenza virus that will be more lethal than any previous ones. 

To him, it’s not a matter of if, but when.

And with over a million cases of the coronavirus, it is scary to say that he was right. 

“Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak” is a Netflix original docuseries about influenza around the world and how doctors and scientists are dealing with it. One team of scientists introduced the notion: what if there was a vaccination that could defend against every single type of influenza, and we could wipe it out from the face of the Earth? One-shot that would cure you forever.

That’s the plot, right? Wrong. 

It turns out that this plot was only one of many. The docuseries followed many different characters at the same time, including a doctor and his assistants in India, a team of researchers in Africa, the only doctor in a hospital in Oklahoma, and many more. As a result, it couldn’t hold my interest. 

Just when one plot was starting to get interesting, it was cut away to another. By the time any episode circled back around to the first plotline they mentioned in that episode, I had forgotten about it and had to reintroduce myself to what this subject was addressing each time. 

To be fair, “Pandemic” opened with a strong first episode. It introduced the Spanish flu, and how one day, there is going to be another sickness that the world won’t be prepared for. Since there are now more people, it will be more lethal. This episode was a strong one to set up the rest of the docuseries, and admittedly, I was into it at that point. 

From an editor’s standpoint, “Pandemic” was a well-executed; managing all of that footage could not have been easy. The effort the creators also put into it — how they went all over the world to collect data and different perspectives — was impressive and respectable, and that shouldn’t go unnoticed. Other than that, not much else was engaging.

But then, cue episode six.

For what it had to wrap up, the final episode was a nice summary of all the plotlines, especially in the final minutes. This was the best episode by far — it had my jaw dropped at certain points. In this episode, someone’s pregnancy was announced, and someone retired their job as a doctor in favor of saving her marriage. 

After viewing this, it’s clear to see the many positives and negatives of “Pandemic.” Although, I often found myself bored and struggled to watch this. It deals with a serious topic, but it didn’t interest me — maybe because, again, there was so much to keep up with, or because medical dramas aren’t my cup of tea. 

I think it’s only fitting that I remind everyone to be smart, stay safe, and wash those hands.