Review: Z Nation Season Finale...and Beyond

http://www.syfy.com/znation/photos

Well, the ending of Z Nation certainly didn't hold anything back. The introduction of a human "big bad" who was most likely the father of the zombie pandemic, further de-evolution of Murphy, the death of Cassandra (probably?) and, of course, lots of freaking nuclear warheads. It left many viewers wondering...where do you go from here? It's kind of like if there had been a season six of Angel. How do you explain away a situation that would seemingly have to kill almost everyone in the show? It's a big question and it presents a big challenge to SyFy, one that they could either really nail or totally screw up.

Although the situation seems pretty futile, I have some ideas for how they could go on with the narrative.

Idea #1: Only Murphy Left Alive

http://www.syfy.com/znation/photos

Murphy is the only person from the show that could even plausibly have escaped the blast zone if, in fact, the nukes do detonate. If they follow through with that idea, then he could hypothetically find a new group of survivors or the next season could be a lot of him exploring his role as "king of the zombies". I would applaud the idea in some sense because I really am a fan of the realness of the narrative in which lots of people die because, you know, it's the freaking apocalypse. Also, Murphy is the best character, so keeping him alive would give the show the opportunity to create new characters that match his level of intensity. I would especially miss Citizen Z if they did this, though. Citizen Z is a good tool for the writers to be able to see the scale of the zombie plague and comment on larger themes about humanity (aka: Citizen Z's reaction to the nuclear launch: "What is wrong with us?"). It would be a daring turn that might lose a lot of fans for them though. Not sure if they are willing to take that chance. Also, I'm really worried about how Murphy is going to look sans skin. I'm just not sure they're going to be able to pull that off without it just looking hecka silly. They've done very well with his makeup effects thus far though, so hopefully that's a baseless concern.

Idea #2: Hackers Save The Day

http://www.syfy.com/znation/photos

In episode 9, Citizen Z thought he was being hacked by someone else. At the time, I attributed this to the fact that he was suffering from oxygen deprivation and was clearly experiencing some powerful hallucinations. But...what if that part was real? If he was, in fact, being hacked, that means there's another facility out there with the same (maybe even better) capabilities as Citizen Z. That person could potentially scramble the nuclear warheads, causing them to veer off of their targets and detonate somewhere that would cause less damage (the upper atmosphere, unoccupied tundra in Canada, the desert, etc). That could really set season 2 up for some interesting conflict for Citizen Z, who is also one of my favorite characters. How does he deal with the idea of not being the only one watching, the only one in charge? How might he like it when his privacy is in jeopardy just like all the other people that he watches, hacks, and follows? That would provide an excellent opportunity for theme and plot, so it might be interesting to go that route.

Idea #3: Citizen Z Saves The Day
This one is probably the least likely since he seemed to flee his computer console pretty quickly, but what if there was a scene that we didn't see where he scrambled the warheads just like in my last idea? Again, there's not much in the episode to support this claim, but I did keep wondering why, if he's such a computer genius, he didn't at least try, especially once his life was at stake.

Additionally, there are some other elements of the finale that are worth examining. First, how/why is Mack still alive? I thought he got shot. If he didn't get shot, what the heck is he doing? His reason for leaving the group was to stay with Addy, but he doesn't seem to actually be in the compound or attempting to get in. Given, we only see him for a second, but I was a little disappointed to see him alive, not because I don't like him, but because it seems to take some of the impact out of the earlier episode.

http://www.syfy.com/znation/photos

Also, there's the issue of Cassandra's transformation. I'm not 100% clear on what Murphy's bite does, but we seem to have a little bit of contradiction on that matter based on the handful of examples the show has given us. At the very least, we know it puts them under Murphy's control. But with Cassandra, it also seemed to turn her into a mini-Murphy, but also into the hotter, cheaper version of River Tam from Firefly. If she basically becomes like Murphy though, is there a chance that even a nuclear explosion at the facility wouldn't kill her? After all, think about Murphy 1.0 (aka: that rotting pile of yuck draped over the lab counter). Seemingly nothing except a headshot can kill Murphy's breed (which, on a side note, I'm salty about because that's one of the details of a YA zombie fiction piece I'm working on). If that's the case, could we see Cassandra down the line, walking around the planet killing doctors in the name of Messiah Murphy?

http://www.syfy.com/znation/photos

And, sadly, we have to discuss Doc. Now, I know that SyFy is very good at explaining away logic, but the man took a bullet to the chest. That often equates to death, even in a world with emergency rooms, surgeons, anesthesia, and antibiotics. In the world of the dead, not only do you not have medical attention, but you also have nowhere to rest or recover. That can lead to things like infection and a weakened immune system, even if they are somehow able to keep his organs functioning and stop the bleeding. If the show goes on and the nukes don't kill everyone, my guess is that he'll live, but I'm already side-eyeing it. Not because I don't love Doc (I do), but because it's just a little ridiculous. Kind of like Carl getting half his face blown off without dying or suffering severe brain damage...but hey, another comment for another day.

Whatever the writers decide to do going forward with the narrative, they'll certainly have to do something because season 2 of Z Nation is greenlit and has been since October. That means they've had time to plan ahead and are probably already working on the next step in the journey. Knowing SyFy, we probably won't find out until Fall 2015, but I'll certainly be tuning in. Will you?

Review: Z-Nation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_Nation

Oh Sy-Fy...

I love syfy. I've religiously watched many of their show, those of quality (BSG) and those of major suckatitde (Opposite Worlds). So when I heard they were dipping their toes into the zombie genre, I had to watch...of course.

Now, I don't watch Town of the Living Dead. I can only sink so far; I have some dignity left, but I will openly admit that I've allowed myself to be bitten by Z-Nation.

The show has a slew of positives and negatives, and it both wins me over and loses me completely every single Friday, so I guess it's time to weigh in on a review.


The "good" of SyFy's Z-Nation:

• Good special fx: The zombies are well executed as are the kills. Unlike in Defiance, which I stupidly love, there aren't moments where bad special fx remove you from the storytelling. They've hired good makeup artists and it shows.
• Good art direction: Love the bleak, colorless world they've created. I also love that it's reminiscent of Zombieland in so far as it makes clear the emptiness and isolation of the Central United States in a very realistic manner. Everything looks real, abandoned, and disturbing. That's essential when entering this genre.
• Originality: They introduce a lot of new ideas that I've never seen in zombie flicks before which is admirable considering that they could probably just follow the status quo and still entertain the new zombie fans. Hiding in morgue freezer cells to evade zombies? I'd never thought of that. Very cool. Nuclear facilities melting down? Someone else watched Life After People, I guess. Thank you for finally incorporating that reality into zombie material.
• Not creating "supermen": Aside from Murphy, who has special immunities but still remains painfully human, these are just regular people fighting against the dead. We don't have Navy Seals here, which makes the protagonists more relatable.
• Not shrinking from death: They kill their main characters...all the time. I've seen people online complain about this, but I think it's great. In the z-pocalypse, people would die on a fairly regular basis. It's only fair that we feel that as an audience. One of my favorite things about SyFy is that because they're not responsible to a mainstream audience, they can more or less do what they want. This plays out well in Z-Nation because it allows you to feel the real, imminent danger that would exist in the zombie apocalypse.
• Select actor performances: They're not all students of Juliard: that's evident. but you can't downplay the solid performances that some of the actors give. Specifically, the characters of Murphy, Doc, and 10k are very engaging. Murphy is a really interesting character, and one of the main reasons to keep watching week after week. He's truly dynamic and a lot of that should be credited to the actor, Keith Allan, for building a character that seems genuine.
• Honoring those who came before: We have a number of nods to seriously geeky horror shiz here. My favorite? The morgue in episode 9 (by far the best episode) is named after one of my favorite Vincent Price films, The Abominable Doctor Phibes.

  

  Murphy from Z Nation (http://www.nerdophiles.com/2014/10/10/z-nation-home-sweet-home-aka-znado/)

  
  

The "bad"of Z-Nation:

• Infringements of realism: At least once every episode, I'm struck with a "wait...what?" moment. It's like they don't even try to explain away things from time to time. In one of the earlier episodes, they randomly have a brand-spanking-new iPad with convenient footage of exactly the thing that they need to see. I have yet to find a reasonable explanation for this. And that's just an example. There are a number of times when they just assume the viewer is an idiot and throw in completely implausible pieces for seemingly no reason except, perhaps, lazy writing.
• Bad acting: While characters like Murphy or even Citizen Z (DJ Qualls) keep me watching, the vast majority of the side characters in each episode are total garbage. As someone who attended theater school, I know that there's better out there. It's annoying to be subjected to poorly portrayed new characters week to week. Even some of the main characters are painfully paper-thin, such as Addy (Anastasia Baranova). The only consolation for that is that no one hangs around for very long on this show, so you don't have to endure bad acting for long...until it's replaced by more bad acting.
• Lack of theme: This story wavers...a lot. As an English teacher, I'm left wondering "What's the message here? What should we learn or know?". Good writers and creators have a purpose, a message, that they hope to communicate to their reader or viewer. For example, Kirkman clearly has a message of "What does it take to retain humanity". Romero seeks to show us our own zombie-esque mannerisms, and, through his four "of the dead films" teaches us that we are, in some ways, no better than the dead. What does Z-Nation want to say? I'm not sure yet. At times, it feels like it's about to say something, but then it stops itself. I hope it can find a deeper message, some authorial intent, or else it'll just continue to be my cheap zombie fix to get me through until Sunday night.

Addy from Z Nation. I applaud them for making a normal-sized girl their "heart throb", but she's no emmy winner. (http://www.space.ca/)

So, what's the take away? I guess...watch it? It is rarely excellent (episode 9 being a true diamond in the rough), but every episode has something valuable and interesting. It's not a waste of time, but I'd be lying if I said it's great. It's not. But should you watch it? Yes. If only because I want to believe that it's going to be a little like Dollhouse, a show that started off rocky but found its stride in an amazing and intelligent way. Here's to being optimistic...and being a sucker for all things zombie.