The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Season 1, Episode 4

La Dame de Fer (The Iron Lady) picks up just were Paris Sera Toujours Paris left us in a cliffhanger. At the end of Paris Sera Toujours Paris  we saw Daryl fall through a roof. Where did he fall? Apparently into the catacombs under the city. La Dame de Fer picks up with Daryl at a gate. Who is on the other side? No one other than Laurent! How did the kid get into the catacombs with Daryl? Don’t worry about silly plot and continuity issues like that!

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon

The good news is that Daryl kicks a lot of Zombie Ass in this episode. That is always a good thing.

La Dame de Fer Scoring

La Dame de Fer scores an 86/100, making it Worth Your Time.

Spoilers Below:

The episode’s main goal is to show that Laurent is special. Daryl needed to see that to give him a reason to continue on as Laurent’s guardian right? The lack of any explanation of how Daryl ends up in the water cost this episode some points. On the other hand, the Zombie horde at the Eiffel Tower made up for a lot.

The Good

  • Daryl has the moves when he wants to kill something. Always good to see him go full Badass.
Daryl Takes Revenge
  • Daryl know how to use a flail. It might just be the perfect weapon for the ZA. It has reach and can easily crush skulls.
Flail Action
  • I loved how Daryl delt with their prisoner. In the real world I can’t see anyone being nice to a prisoner standing between you and your objective.

The Bad

  • Not a lot of continuity between Episode 3’s ending and where Episode 4 picks up.
  • Laurents plot armor when he is surrounded by the undead.
  • How did Daryll and Laurent end up in the catacombs? Don’t worry about that.
  • How did Daryl end up in the water? Don’t worry about that either.
  • If Laurent can stand in a horde in the catacombs and not get bit, why do the zombies at the Eiffel Tower not ignore him in the same way?
SeasonEpisodeEpisode NameScore
Season 11Deux Amours90
Season 12Alouette75
Season 13Paris Sera Toujours Paris 70
Season 14La Dame de Fer86
Season 15Deux Amours100
Season 16Coming Home100

See how all Zombie Series rank here!

Z Nation, Season 2, Episode 6

The team is in Springfield, Illinois, and things aren’t good. Zombie Baby Daddy starts with the team surrounded. The only thing left to do is to kick some Zombie ass. This fight also confirms a few things we learned from last episode, Zombaby. The Zombies are attracted to Lucy, and Murphy’s power over them doesn’t work when they are locked on her.

This leads to several awesome Zombie Kills in the first three minutes of the episode.

First we see 10K using gears as sling shot projectiles…

10K Sling Shot Kill

Followed up by Warren with some slick machete work…

Warren Working the Machete

A Lot Of Lincolns

Doc also has a brief moment where he’s not sure if he’s having a bad trip when he comes fact to face with a bus full of Abraham Lincolns. I love Doc and the fun he brings to every episode.

Zombie Lincolns

After the team takes care of the immediate Zombie threat they flee into the woods. Team Warren finds itself with two objectives. The first is for Warren to track down Vasquez. Meanwhile Addy, 10K, and Doc try to assess whether Lucy is going to become a threat, or a savior as she grows.

Addy, Doc, and 10K’s attempts to get Murphy to let them hold the baby only spooks Murphy. This forces him deeper into the woods, where Lucy’s Zombie attractive powers brings out a few Zombified woodland critters.

Zombie Critters

The Zombie critters end up chasing Murphy deeper into the woods. This leads him to a small homestead protected by a man and woman. Murphy realizes he can’t take care of Lucy with everyone so focused on her, so he does what every Zombie Dad would do. He makes two zombie slaves to take care of his baby.

Zombie Baby Sitters

While Murphy is taking care of his child care situation, Warren and Vasquez are forced to fight for their lives, all while Vasquez reveals how was originally a federal agent before he was compromised by the cartels, and both Warren and Vasquez get to do some surgery on the other. They both make it, but everyone else isn’t so lucky.

Cassandra is blindly loyal to Murphy, and in the process of trying to protect her maker, she hurts Addy, then pushes 10K too far. He’s forced to protect himself, or die, and in the end, it costs Cassandra her life.

Doc tries his best to make 10K feel better, but 10K had feelings for her, which makes her death even harder to deal with. She was 10K’s 3255th kill, and Murphy is pissed, but Warren keeps things from devolving into a fist fight.

Team Murphy has to continue on, for humanities sake.

Zombie Baby Daddy Scoring

Zombie Baby Daddy scored an 86/100 and is Worth Your Time.

SeasonEpisodeEpisode NameScore
11Puppies and Kittens95
12Fracking Zombies80
13Philly Feast80
14Full Metal Zombie81
15Home Sweet Zombie75
16Resurrection Z81
17Welcome to the Fu-Bar83
18Zunami64
19Die Zombie Die… Again29
110Going Nuclear79
111Sisters Of Mercy82
112Murphy's Law80
113Doctor of the Dead91
21The Murphy90
22White Light81
23Zombie Road90
24Batch 4760
25Zombaby85
26Zombie Baby Daddy86
27Down The Mississippi87
28The Collector63
29Rozwell69
210We Were Nowhere Near the Grand Canyon72
211Corporate Retreat85
212Party with the Zeros64
213Adiós, Muchachos69
214Day 190
215All Good Things Must Come to an End 94
31No Mercy90
32A New Mission77
33Murphy's Miracle80
34Escorpion and the Red Hand70
35Little Red and the Wolfz79
36Doc Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest73
37Welcome to Murphytown 67
38Election Day80
39Heart of Darkness70
310They Grow Up So Quickly85
311Doc’s Angels70
312The Siege of Murphytown70
313Duel90
314Everybody Dies in the End70

Black Summer, Season 1, Episode 5

Diner is another intense episode.

William and Sun are trapped inside the Diner. The biters circle around the outside of the building, slamming into the windows whenever the biters sees a survivor inside.

The Diner has become a pressure cooker. William and Sun are inside with the same people who just ran them off the road. Tensions are high and William is ready to throw down.

Black Summer: Tension
Tension

William has a horrible decision to make. Do you sacrifice the person who saved you or do you stand up for the people who have helped you survive?

Diner is also the convergence episode. Team William and Team Rose meet at the Diner.

Diner Scoring

The episode is psychologically and emotionally intense. There isn’t a lot of actual violence or zombie hordes, but we do hear that the biters can cross rivers, “like ants” and we learn that a horde is coming, but it is still an episode Worth Your Time that scores an 86/100.

The points are in large part due to how well the tension builds, but it is also in good part due to Sal Velez Jr.’s acting as William. He is just a powerhouse in terms of emotional and physical believability.

Black Summer is everything I’m looking for in a Zombie Series. Fight me if you disagree.

If you are looking for another intense, gritty series, I highly recommend The Last of Us!

Black Summer
Black Summer
SeasonEpisodeEpisode NameScore
11Human Flow85
12Drive80
13Summer School70
14Alone82
15Diner86
16Heist90
17The Tunnel83
18The Stadium91
21The Cold95
22Prelude80
23Card Game91
24Cold War83
25White Horse88
26Currency69
27The Lodge75
28The Plane99

See how all Zombie Series rank here!