We’ve been buzzing about the post-apocalyptic surge of shows on the CW, namely The 100 and Star-Crossed. Both shows touch on feelings of alienation, rebuilding a life after shattering events and the sense of community. The devices used to develop these themes range from the abstract to the literal. We’re going to break down the two shows a little bit and see what works and what doesn’t.

DRAMA:

While Star-Crossed is a little further into the season, from what we can tell, it’s the soapier of the two shows. Star-Crossed really dives into the high school of it all, and uses the alien race as a metaphor for, well, feeling alien in high school. While the drama is ripe in terms of romantic back and forth, The 100 has every second unfolding in a life or death struggle. To us, that makes the drama in The 100 more gripping and more effective.

VISUALS:

While both shows have to contend with the budgetary constraints The CW has been rumored to impose, we’re going to have to call out The 100 for awful graphics during the crash landing. Star-Crossed’s visuals are superior to The 100’s. The 100 tries too hard to connote FUTURE with graphics, while Star-Crossed keeps things mostly familiar and uses creative and artful tattoos to highlight the attractiveness of the players and show that they’re in fact aliens.

MYTHOLOGY:

While both shows imaginatively explore what happens in a scary and distant future, Star-Crossed tends to waver away from the fact that the alien races put pressure on other groups and survival is at stake. The 100 keeps the fact that resources are ever-scarce and if the experiment fails, everyone will die either way. While The 100 can be a little overly reminiscent of Lost at times, the reason why that was such a mega-hit is that it tapped into the very human fear of survival on a basic level.

Do you think one of the shows is doing more than another one? Will you keep watching both? Let us know!