In a world mostly wiped out by the plague and embroiled in an elemental struggle between good and evil, the fate of mankind rests on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abagail and a handful of survivors. Their worst nightmares are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the Dark Man.
A character who felt they were a bullied nobody before the apocalypse becomes quite violent towards others after the apocalypse. Another character is groomed from childhood to be a grown man’s “queen.” This character also does violent things toward others.
There are guinea pigs kept in the hospital rooms of patients. The guinea pigs survive, but they are there to act as an early alert system for a fatal disease (if someone sick were in the room, they would die).
A dog fights a wolf off-camera. The dog is okay. There are sounds of the fight and we can assume that the wolf is not okay but he is not seen. Dog returns a hero.
Kojak the golden retriever whines sadly at a character as they are considering taking fatal pills to kill themself. At the end of the episode Kojak whimpers during an explosion as well.
The character that has been sending messages to a woman since she was a child seductively whispers in her ear “I’ve always been there,” so it gave red flags at the very least.
In the beginning of the episode a character is chased by bullies while riding their bicycle. During their attempt to escape, they fall off their bike. Bullies surround them and proceed to harass them.
A woman is groomed from childhood, manipulated into sex, sees through the illusion, resists, but is forced while he holds her down and tells her to "shut up". Yeah that counts as rape, and SA survivors need to be aware of the scene.
A character is self described as “developmentally disabled” and struggles with social cues. This character repeats those two details frequently to other characters. Brad William Henke plays this character and is not “developmentally disabled” in real life.
Episode 4 Around 42 minutes a character says it over and over and tells a character to go and drink drain cleaner because they are “developmentally disabled.” The slur is also used a few more times through the rest of the season.
A female character who has been groomed by an older male character in a position of power performs sex acts on another male character because she is told it is her role to play. The male character in a position of power later tells the female character that because she did this for him, she can now be his wife. Unless there is another situation that might be cheating, I do not believe this counts.
Okay, this is a stretch but for those who know that the actor playing R.F. is Alexander Skarsgård, his brother Bill Skarsgård plays Pennywise the Clown in the new IT films. A scene towards the end, if you listen closely, RF starts singing in the Pennywise voice. Whether you find this comedic or triggering is, of course, a matter of personal taste, and might be a reach and a half, lol. But I thought I'd mention it because it was very much noticed and discussed with the people I viewed it with.
One of the main characters exhibits stalking behaviors towards another character. This character appears to be concerningly obsessed with the other character.
S1E1 (multiple attempts/successful suicides): Someone commits suicide over the radio about 25 minutes in. A character attempts suicide about 30 minutes in A character commits suicide about 45 minutes in.
A teenage/young adult boy goes to a woman’s house and watches her through her fence without her knowledge. The boy then pretends to approach the fence for the first time to encounter her and see how she reacts.
After realizing they will not survive giving birth, a pregnant character jumps out a window and falls to their death. Neither parent nor fetus survives. Not quite a miscarriage, but there is a loss of an unborn child.
The slurs “F**b” and “t**d” are used. Also “handy capable” is used by a disabled man when referring to himself (some consider this phrase insulting/patronizing).
A male character in a position of power tells a female character, “you saved yourself for me. You are pure. You can now be my wife” (or something along these lines). The male character proceeds to initiate intercourse and then sexually assault the female character.
Immediately after meeting a woman, a man turns around to discuss with another man that the apocalypse has made it so that he has far greater chances of being with a woman like her.
Sort of? The late stages of infection in a mystery flu include massive swelling to the neck. If fat suits are upsetting, the neck is definitely made to look similar to how necks are made to look with fat suits.
S1E1 35-38 minutes in a throat gets cut and someone gets shot S1E2 about 47 minutes a gross scene where a character images rats coming out of his mother’s mouth