Lockdown 3 – The Miracle Of Science

And so here we are in another lockdown. It is officially ‘Lockdown 3’ in England, and we must distinguish between the UK and England, because other parts of the UK have been doing things differently, but with, it must be said, similar levels of success. Which is to say hardly any success at all.

‘Lockdown 2’ was really a half-hearted affair in which schools stayed open and it only lasted a month. If ‘Lockdown 1’ was the cinematic event of 2020, then ‘Lockdown 2’ was a straight to DVD affair, looking to cash in on the success of the first movie in time for Christmas. Of course there have also been the intervening ‘Tiers’ but I like to think of the tier system as a kind of spinoff TV series to the Lockdown movies. Sure, they were entertaining in their own way, but they didn’t have the same budget or narrative and sometimes the plot was a bit confusing.

‘Lockdown 3’ looks like the sequel to ‘Lockdown 1’ that we were all hoping for, in that it promises to be bigger and better than any of the Lockdowns that have gone before. We have a new bad guy in the form of ‘The New Variant’ but also an new hero in the form of the Vaccines. Of course they’re still running with the plot lines surrounding the decimation of the UK economy, the disruption to children’s education and the increasing divide between the most disadvantaged and the most privileged in our society, but to be fair those have all been cornerstones of the ‘Lockdown’ narrative since the beginning, so it only seems right that they continue to be incorporated into this latest story.

I am excited about ‘Lockdown 3’ but I don’t know if it can really ever live up to the out and out brilliance of ‘Lockdown 1’, which gave us not only the jeopardy of our actual Prime Minister failing to follow basic Covid 19 protocols, which resulted in him being the first world leader to be hospitalised with the virus, but also the incredible adventures of Dominic Cummings, which might have stretched the story beyond all credibility had the groundwork not already been laid by one of the most incompetent governments in living memory.

Of course Boris Johnson has signed on for ‘Lockdown 3’ but this time there will be no Cummings. We will still have Matt Hancock, Michael Gove, Dominic Raab, Rishi Sunak and the inimitable Priti Patel all playing the same roles that they have for all of the Lockdowns and associated Tier systems, but I wonder if there is room for a new breakout star.

Regardless, whether ‘Lockdown 3’ truly lives up to the hype or not, it is refreshing to see a much beloved franchise being given a new lease of life.

Let me know your thoughts on ‘Lockdown 3’ in the comments below and as always:

Stay safe and be guided by ‘The Science’