I think the bigger thing is actually having a structured community that actually educates its children on stuff to help them reproduce their society.

But they couldn't reproduce their society, as evidenced by how Tyler himself was alienated and how easily he turned other children against the original generation.

To me the real positive message is that these communities seem to be amalgamating now, the airport is opened up to new people and more lax social attitudes, and the theater troupe now has an alliance with a more stable developed community that can support them.

Absolutely. And I think the metaphor that comes out of Station Eleven is this belief that we're all trapped in an unchanging world. But the truth is that the world does change. The stories can endure, but they will reflect differently to different people in different circumstances. Before the pandemic, the story held a certain meaning for a woman trapped in a job with a glass ceiling. During the pandemic, it meant something else to a girl locked in an apartment against a terrifying outside world. In the wake of the pandemic, it became a grim prophecy for the children of the survivors.

The only thing I'm hung up is Tyler, okay he's redeemed, but to me at least it seemed like he was going off to lead his cult again and so the show was endorsing his pseudo primitivist worldview

I don't think it was endorsing a primitivist worldview so much as an expansionist worldview. One in which people aren't shackled to the past and trapped within the remnant of the last civilization. The fact that they were leaving, rather than hovering on the edge of the airport plotting revenge, illustrates their belief in a better future.

Either the kids should have been split between the theater troupe and the airport based on their sensibilities, or reunited with their families.

Maybe. I think the idea is that this was their choice. Clark expected them all to stay in his little archeology, but they turned him down as soon as they were given a choice to do otherwise.

Also didn't like how Clark was made out to be a tyrant for requiring visitors to quarantine for a few days before being allowed into his community. I mean, there was a global pandemic that killed 99% of people, I personally think it's a reasonable percussion. Sure in order to open up the community and have more contact with the outside it will likely have to be laxxed but that's a decision the community will have to make after considering the risk.

I think it was less the policies themselves and more his dictatorial control in enforcing them. Same with shooting the survivor who stepped off the airplane. It doesn't matter that the draconian precautions might have been reasonable in the moment. Its that they established unequivocally who was in control and what would happen to the disobedient.

You're not supposed to think these people are monsters. They're supposed to be relatable and worth of your empathy. But they're also supposed to be in conflict and for good reasons.