Black Summer, Season 2, Episode 8

I looked forward to Black Summer, Season 2, for so long, now I can’t believe it’s over!

The Plane, as usual lately, opens at the beginning so it can then work its way back to the current timeline. We open with the Militia Leader bloody, hurting, and mad that everyone just had to push things a little too far.

The Militia Leader Looks Like He's Not Having The Best Day
The Militia Leader Looks Like He’s Not Having The Best Day

Next Scene: Arrival

Arrival

Arrival opens with Rose and Anna walking into a small airfield surrounded with hangers. Anna is convinced she did what her mother couldn’t by putting Spears out of his misery, but Rose doesn’t appear sure it was necessary. Anna doesn’t make it any better by implying that Rose let her father turn instead of killing him.

Things are about to get ugly when Boone charges – now a full on Zombie.

The Plane: Boone Zombie
Boone Zombie

I was really hoping he circled back to the Lodge and was drinking and eating in luxury while the generators had gas, but I guess that wasn’t to be.

Black Summer
Black Summer, Season 2

Next Scene: The Airstrip

The Airstrip

The Airstrip opens with an overhead view, showing the buildings as well as multiple people and Zombies moving about. Or at least one Zombie that we know of in Boone.

Next Scene: Old Friends

Old Friends

It looks like all the survivors of the different groups have arrived at the airstrip at about the same time. It’s not long before the survivors start to get picked off and turn. After getting shot, we see a tough situation where family causes a second death. Would you have been able to leave her?

Death By Compassion

Old Friends didn’t last long.

Next Scene: Old Friends

The Plane: Old Friends

New Friends takes us back to Rose and Anna. They hide their ammo, apparently about to try and free Sun by pretending they have no ammo. The two don’t get to pull off whatever they were trying due to the Zombies interrupting whatever they were planning.

The Militia Leader and his one remaining woman open fire, but the panic has them missing those critical headshots.

Panic Fire Is Not Accurate Fire

Come on, at least take out their legs so they can’t chase you so well!

The group makes it into a hanger, which is when Rose decides to use the pistol stuffed down the back of her pants, but unfortunately for her, they aren’t alone in the building, and she gets stopped by a rifle pointed at her head.

Next Scene: The Deal

The Plane: The Deal

I knew The Deal was going to be sad as soon as I saw Boone walking and talking. I guess it’s time to see how Boone became a Zombie. Even sadder, it wasn’t a Zombie attack, he was shot and allowed to turn on purpose to act as a deterrent to any other survivors who showed up. That’s just cold.

Next Scene: Flare

The Plane: Flare

The Mountain Men have Rose, Anna, Sun, and the Militia Leader, and they really don’t like the Militia Leader. As the Mountain men send one of their own outside to deal with the Zombies, the other give the Militia Leader a beat down.

Poor Sun. Even with everything that has happened, she still looks scared and horrified as the Militia Leader gets beaten to a pulp.

Surprisingly they send one of their own out to deal with the Zombies, and I guess he was outnumbered because it didn’t go well.

When one of the Mountain Men busts his hand up beating the snot out of the Militia Leader they send Anna into a nearby boat to grab the first aid kit. What they don’t see is that she also grabbed a Flare gun and handed it off to her mom. Anna rocks!

This is about when the Mountain Men send another of their number out to check on the first guy, resulting in a Zombie making its way into the hanger. Panic ensues, and the Militia, Rose, Anna and Sun slip outside. This brings us back to the opening scene. The Militia Leader is pissed and ready to die. It looks like he’s about to gun down all the other survivors when the sight of the plane landing distracts him enough for Rose to shoot the flare gun into the nearby truck, causing a nice explosion.

The Plane: Boom
Boom

Rose saved the day, but she got hurt by the blast as well. It looks like the concussion or debris hit her in the leg. I’m not sure it’s broken, but she doesn’t look like she’s going to be walking on it anytime soon. Rose tells Anna to go, she’s down and doesn’t want to take her daughter with her.

Next Scene: The Plane

The Plane: The Plane

The Plane opens with the surviving girls hightailing it for the Plane. One of them falls, giving Sun and Anna time to board, but Anna stops, unable to leave her mom behind. The plan rolls down the runway, taking off before the Zombies can get to it.

Next Scene: Mance

The Plane: Mance

Mance is one of the best segments in Episode 8. He comes around the corner and sees the small horde chasing Anna and the plane and uses a hammer to bring them down on himself. This results in a truly epic series of combat scenes. When it’s over, Mance is standing, but he is hurt, barely able to walk out into the light. He drops to his knees, and I was afraid he was going open his eyes and be a Zombie, but he was just physically and emotionally exhausted. Thankfully he has just enough energy left to pop Boone and put him out of his Zombie misery before the scene goes black.

Mance The Man

Next Scene: Departure

The Plane: Departure

Departure brings us back to Rose. She’s still lying on the ground, roused by the sound of the Militia Leader crawling towards his rifle. The two grab their guns and square off, but no one pulls the trigger right away. Anna shows up, looks at both survivors holding guns to each other, and then finds a car. She’s not going to leave her mom there to die.

We now have to wait until Season 3 to find out what fate has in store for Rose and Anna.

I’d like to think my kids would do the same, but if they had a chance to get on the plane, would have rather died knowing they had a shot at safety. But it is a hard call to make. Who says they are going to be safe getting on a strangers plane?

Next Scene: The Pilot

The Plane: The Pilot

The Pilot, as you might imagine, takes us to the plane. Sun is watching the ground go by beneath her, talking to herself in Korean when the pilot responds. He knows a little bit of Korean and Sun is overjoyed. She’s had no one to talk to the whole Apocalypse. She has a moment of guilt when she realizes she’s the only one who made it, then relief and happiness that she has someone to talk with.

Season 2 ends with Sun closing her eyes, safe, even for just a short while.



The Plane Scoring

What a strong finish to the season. Now I have to face withdrawal as I don’t have anymore Black Summer to watch. There was really only just one less than stellar episode in Season 2, but overall it was well done, fast paced, and full of tension. No on is safe, and death lurked around every corner.

The Plane earned every point of its 99/100. I took one point off out of spite for making me wait for another season to know what happens to Rose and Anna.

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 all Zombie Series!

If you are looking for a fix I’d suggest The Walking Dead!

The Walking Dead, Season 1, Episode 6

TS-19 starts with an intense flashback to Shane at Rick’s bedside. Outside the hospital is being overrun by the undead. Shane struggles, first trying to pick Rick up before going to find a gurney. As Shane is trying to find transport we see soldiers gunning down hospital staff. The soldier lives long enough for walkers to catch them off guard and pull a few of them down. There is chaos. The soldiers are shooting anything not wearing a uniform. In a panic Shane pushes the gurney against Rick’s door and flees.

Shane At Rick’s Hospital Beside During The Collapse

The CDC

As the flashback ends we jump back to current time. Team Rick is entering he CDC and we are introduced to Dr. Jenner, the sole survivor left at the facility. After a quick blood test to rule out active infections Jacqui mentions they haven’t eaten in days. This leads to Dr. Jenner bringing them to the cantina.

The Survivors Enjoying Food And Drink

The food and drink flows and everyone is happy. At least until Shane wrecks the mood by pushing Dr. Jenner for some answers. Dr. Jenner tells the survivors that there were waves of defections as things got worse. Then a wave of suicides once it was clear the city was overrun.

When dinner breaks the team is treated to a rare treat in the apocalypse, hot showers!

While Rick is in his cups Shane confronts Lori with his need and jealousy. Lori scratches him up when things turn physical.

The next morning everyone is suffering from their celebrations from the previous day when Dale asks a few critical questions. This leads Dr. Jenner to show us the MRI of TS-19, Test Subject 19.

Test Subject 19 MRI

Then comes the stunning revelation that TS-19 was actually Dr. Jenner’s wife. Dale then points to the clock, and everyone gets a kick in the gut.

Decontamination Cycle

The facility is running out of power. When it does, it’s going to perform a deadly decontamination cycle which is essentially a fire bomb. Dr. Jenner is resigned to die. There is nothing left in the world for him. He tells the survivors they should hug their loved ones and shut their eyes, it will be quick.

The message rings true for Jacqui and Andrea. They are ready to go and sit with Dr. Jenner as the others work their way back to the main lobby. Dale sits with Andrea, telling her that if she’s going to stay, he is too.

The rest of the survivors escape thanks to the grenade that Carol saved from Ricks clothing. The grenade he took from the tank in Guts. The group is about to pull away when we see Dale and Andrea. She was willing to die, but not if it meant killing Dale.

TS-19 ends with the team pulling away in their caravan.

TS-19 Scoring

Season 1 of The Walking Dead ends at the same amazing pace as the rest of the season, which earned it a 99/100. The whole season is Worth Your Time, and is going to be tough for any other series to compete with. If you haven’t watched The Walking Dead recently, it is well worth visiting again.

SeasonEpisodeEpisode NameScore
11Days Gone Bye100
12Guts100
13Tell It To The Frogs95
14Vatos94
15Wildfire95
16TS-1999
21What Lies Ahead95
22Bloodletting91
23Save The Last One83
24Cherokee Rose94
25Chupacabra97
26Secrets85
27Pretty Much Dead Already100
28Nebraska88
29Triggerfinger76
210Miles Out90
211Judge, Jury, Executioner70
212Better Angels75
213Beside the Dying Fire100