The whole circus portion dropped it down a notch for me. Jeevan and the girl right after the event with the brother and stuff was the highlight and peak TV.It didn't, but a lot of what makes these stories stick aren't about the zombies/infected. It's about how the "event" changes human behavior and how survival takes the highest priority. That's where I felt Station Eleven was dope af at, but like I said in my edited post... I feel like Station Eleven pulled some inspiration from TLOU on the survival tip. TLOU will explore a lot more than the dangers of the infected.
I agree the circus was hit or miss overall. I got the message for it. But yeah