• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, October 8, 2024

In the new disease-based, apocalyptic series called “Teacup,” domesticated animals such as horses and goats are kicking up their heels and hooves in ways that their human owners do not understand.

The newly nervous animals are either afflicted with a rabies-like ailment or they are restless and spooked by unseen animals who are. 

The germ of the story is that the animals have begun transmitting this pathogen to humans.

But as far as Episode One is concerned (the episode the TV Blog previewed on Monday), the animals are way ahead of the humans, who are not yet wise to the idea of a disease spreading through the animal kingdom.

After watching the first episode, a number of questions arise. Why is the music so old? The selections include “The Loner” by Neil Young (1968), “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” by Neil Young and Crazy Horse (1969) and “The Point!,” a Harry Nilsson album from 1970.

The LP jacket of “The Point!” is shown in a scene-setting sequence near the beginning of the episode. One of its songs, “Think About Your Troubles,” is played near the end.

I couldn’t quite make the linkage between the songs and the story, but true confession: I didn’t try all that hard either. I enjoyed hearing them anyway.

Another question: What does the show’s title, “Teacup,” mean exactly? A teacup is seen early in Episode One when a mom, Maggie (series star Yvonne Strahovski), captures a live, buzzing insect (possibly a wasp) with a teacup against a windowpane.

After showing this to her young, wide-eyed son, Arlo (Caleb Dolden), she releases it into the sky. 

Maybe the animal-borne illness is being transmitted by flying, buzzing insects such as the insect captured in the teacup -- hence the show’s title.

If so, the panicky insect trapped in the teacup is a tempest in a teacup and Mom Maggie actually describes it this way to Arlo. 

Come to think of it, “Arlo” is the name of another music star of the 1960s, Arlo Guthrie. Maybe everyone in “Teacup” will eventually seek refuge in Alice’s Restaurant.

Another clue giving credence to the theory that this animal epidemic is carried and transmitted by wasps comes from the source material on which the series is based -- a novel called “Stinger” by Robert McCammon.

What is the show’s time frame? That’s a little unclear. No one is seen in the entire first episode using a cell phone or clutching one in their hands.

Cars seem vaguely out of date. And then there is all the old music. And yet, Mom Maggie’s teenage daughter is seen using an iPad. 

Well, if anyone can unravel these premiere-episode mysteries, then it will likely be Maggie. Why? Because she’s the local horse doctor!

But in the episode, it is reasonable to question her competency as she misses the cause of a horse’s bleeding that should have been obvious to her -- namely, a conspicuous piece of wood sticking out of the horse that she simply hadn’t noticed.

Last question: When or if it becomes known that the wasp the veterinarian allowed to escape was carrying and transmitting a deadly infection, and she treated a horse for an injury she didn’t see at first, will the community lose faith in her as an animal doctor and take their business elsewhere?

“Teacup” starts streaming on Thursday, October 10, on Peacock.