Method Head opens with Ravi dropping some bad news. The Zombie Cure doesn’t last! They have no idea how long Major has before he reverts back to a brain hungry self hating Zombie. Major, played by Robert Buckley is such a genuine person. Sure, he is forced to do some bad things – but he is also the guy you’d be happy to see pick up your daughter. Which makes the turmoil between Liv and Major so hard to watch.
We are then introduced to our first victim. Someone killed Santa!
The first murder was a red herring. The second murder is on the set of Zombie High, which just happens to be one of Liv’s favorite shows. Nothing like yummy Actor Brains for lunch!
Actor Brains for Lunch
Method Head Scoring
Method Head scores 75/100, making it Worth Your Time. This was another solid episode for the iZombie team. Major plays it smart against Vaughn Du Clark while Liv tries to win back Clive’s trust. There were some chuckles and as always, fun watching Liv try to deal with her victims brains and how they impact her.
If you aren’t already watching iZombie, I was absolutely put it on your list!
Miles Out starts with a rush. Rick and Shane are being chased by Zombies. This distracts them from the wounded kid they rescued off the fence in Triggerfinger. The kid squirms his way across the ground to a machete. Can he reach the blade and free himself from his bonds? And who is he? How did he end up with Rick & Shane? I guess we are about to find out.
Spoilers Below
The next scene has Rick and Shane driving out of town with their prisoner. They are on a mission to drop him off far away from the farm. That is when Rick stops the car so he can talk to Shane.
Time to Talk
Rick calls Shane out on what happened at the school to Otis. More importantly, he calls Shane out on what happened with Lori and how Shane has been undermining him. Shane keeps telling the other survivors that Rick is going to get them killed.
Shane Telling Rick Good Guys Don’t Survive
Rick tells Shane that he needs to make a decision. Rick tells Shane that if he wants to stay he needs to understand a few things. The first is that there is nothing, and will never be anything again, between him and Lori. Shane tells Rick he’s got it all wrong. He didn’t fall in love because he protected Lori and Carl. Shane fell in love because Lori and Carl saved him. For me, that should have been a red flag for Rick. Better to have put a bullet in Shane there. I never heard Shane actually say he was swearing off of Lori either. That should have been a huge issue for Rick.
Back at the farm Lori is telling Maggie that Glen came back, and that he’ll get over his anger/anxiety. Then Maggie’s sister, Beth, questions Lori about why she would get pregnant in their world. Lori’s answer is fairly blunt, but inaccurate. Lori says she didn’t have a choice. That seems super wrong. Couldn’t she have refrained from f*cking her husbands partner for a few more weeks?
Down the Road
With Rick apparently appeased that Shane knows his place, the car ride continues. A little way down the road they find an old school like building to drop off their prisoner. Rick uses the two lone walkers in sight to reinforce his point about using knives if they can. There is only so much ammunition left. Once inside, Rick finds a small burn pit with several bodies in it.
The Crispy Dead
Meanwhile, Shane finds a bus that was clearly a camp site for someone. Shane also looks over the two cop walkers but doesn’t see any bites. What turned them? Rick settles on scratching his head.
Back at the farm Lori is starting to worry about Beth. The moment of concern turns into Lori feeling sad as well. Lori is struggling to see the point of surviving.
Back at the prisoner drop Rick and Shane come up against an obstacle. They thought they were dropping their prisoner off and their anonymity would protect them. At least until their prisoner admits that he knows Maggie. That means he knows where she lived – or could at least figure it out. Shane goes to off the kid, and Rick does something stupid by trying to stop him. Rick and Shane then duke it out. This reinforced my point that if Rick had just killed Shane, it would have cut down on so much drama. As Rick and Shane fight, the kid goes for a knife dropped on the ground. It is his second chance to cut himself free of his bonds.
The Horde
Unfortunately for everyone, Shane throws a bit of metal through a window and unleashes a small horde from inside the nearby building.
Bodyflauge From The Horde
Rick, having just killed the first one out the window, uses it body as cover. He hides as the small horde streams out of the building to focus on Shane. Shane runs, leading the horde away from Rick.
Back at the farm Maggie and Beth are fighting over Beth’s suicidal thoughts . Lori and Andrea disagree about whether suicide is a valid path forward when the world is full of Zombies. Lori and Andrea go at it, and Andrea cuts Lori deep. It is easier to have a reason to survive when you have a son, husband, and boyfriend. With her bombs dropped, Andrea goes upstairs to give Beth a pep talk. By the time Maggie and Lori come back upstairs, Beth has cut one of her wrists open in the bathroom.
Meanwhile. Rick is run down, and after Shane dropped a motorcycle on his leg, seems worse for wear. This leads to Rick being the bottom of the pile, but also doing an awesome triple kill.
Rick’s Triple Kill
Shane’s not so lucky. He get’s chased back to the bus where he gets trapped inside with apparently nothing but a knife. Rick then does something surprising, and decides to leave Shane to his fate. At least until he sees the two cop bodies. I guess his memories of time spent on the force changes his mind. He goes back to save Shane. Rick and the prisoner drive up to the bus guns blazing. Shane runs to the busses emergency exit so he can jump into the vehicle.
The Original Problem
Having survived the small Zombie horde, Rick and Shane are back to where they started. Do they kill the prisoner to keep the farm’s location hidden? As the two talk about what to do Rick once again tells Shane that Lori, Carl, and baby are his. Shane listens but doesn’t agree verbally. Come on Rick, just put a bullet in Shane and be done with it.
As the two are driving back to the farm, we are left to wonder. Did they kill the prisoner? I think they did based on Rick saying he wouldn’t be able to not think about it that night.
Miles Out Scoring
Miles Out scored a 90/100, mostly because of the decent amount of Zombie action, as well as Rick’s triple kill. That makes Miles Out Worth Your Time.
They Grow Up So Quickly picks up with Doc and Addy being captured by Lucy’s wardens. Lucky for Doc and Addy the kid is bored and wants some new people to play with.
Doc And Addy Get Captured
While Doc and Addy are captured, Murphy is facing off with 10K. Murphy is upset with the fact that 10K doesn’t seem quite as into being a blend compared to the others. He wants 10K to be his champion, to stop fighting Murphy’s control. Murphy thinks if he can give 10K a new mission, and a new name, 10K just might come to his side. All this is going down as Murphy has a letter opener in 10K’s hand. The scene ends with Murphy forcing 10K to bring the letter open down violently. We just don’t know quite where yet.
What’s The Password
Back at Lucy’s Addy and Doc are tied up and being questioned.
Time For Questions
This leads to Doc and Addy trying to talk their way out of trouble. They just have to convince the Lucy and her babysitters that Murphy sent them to get his little girl. During questioning, we find out that Lucy can control the blends just like Murphy can. When Doc and Addy are challenged for the password that Murphy was supposed to send they can’t do it. Doc is about to have his throat cut when Lucy commands her warden’s to let Doc and Addy live. She wants to play with them. Which leads to Lucy introducing her two new buddies to her other friends.
Lucy’s Friends
While Doc and Addy get to play hide and seek with Lucy we find out that so far 10K is still unwounded. At least for a little while. Murphy has renamed 10K to “Thomas” and makes him do the Knife Game. This is where you splay your fingers and touch the knife to the table between them as fast as you dare. Some people call it the Knife Game but my personal favorite name is Five Finger Fillet. Murphy makes 10K play until his hand is cut up a bit before being convinced that 10K/Thomas is ready to be told his new mission.
10K Plyaing Five Finger Fillet
Back at Lucy’s Doc was forced to kill one of Lucy’s plaything Zombies before it bit him, which leads to Lucy having a fit and running off. She has apparently never seen a dead Zombie before.
Addy Versus Ender
While Lucy is out in the wild, away from the relative safety of her homestead she encounters an Ender and Lucy can’t figure out why the Zombie won’t listen to her commands. She doesn’t seem to understand that even though the Ender looks like a Zombie, its just a human who has reverted to savagery. Lucky for Lucy, Addy is there to kick some Ender butt, earning Lucy’s trust in the process.
Lucy’s Trust
Back at Murphytown 10K/Thomas has received his new mission and a test. Murphy offers 10K/Thomas a syringe, telling him it will set him free, but 10K/Thomas doesn’t take it, apparently proving to Murphy that he wants to be a blend still?
Back at Lucy’s house, the kid is excited to hear Doc and Addy tell her about her mother and father, which leads to Lucy asking some fun questions.
Lucy’s Curiosity
In the end Doc ends up telling Lucy about the blueberry pie episode in a round about way, which leads Lucy to the conclusion that she’s blue because of those blueberries.
The Man
Things look like they are going to turn out for Doc and Addy up until The Man shows up with a new mechanical hand, on a mission to get Lucy. When Doc goes to collect Lucy’s wardens The Man uses the distraction to steel the kid. Wounded, but not down for the count, Lucy’s wardens turn on Doc, which leads to a kill with flare.
Zombie Kill With Flare
Doc is able to take out one, but Addy has to save him from the female warden with a gnome statue.
Meanwhile The Man is dealing with Lucy in the car, which starts with a game of a hundred questions. The Man tries to use his taser to shut her up, but she’s not a normal kid.
Shockingly Fun
When Lucy tells The Man she wants Addy, he freaks and tells her that Addy is Dead. This results in Lucy having a screaming fit, which causes Murphy to wake with a scream. When The Man puts a hood on Lucy’s head, Murphy suffers from the same panicked suffocation she does.
By the time The Man takes the hood off of Lucy she’s aged by several years – which goes back to a statement her wardens had said earlier. When she’s stressed she ages faster.
Meanwhile Doc and Addy have split up. Addy is taking the motorcycle to chase down The Man while Doc is going to try and reach Warren or Citizen Z.
They Grow Up So Quickly ends with 10K/Thomas walking out of Murphy’s headquarters, his rifle on his back. We don’t know what his mission is yet, but clearly 10K/Thomas is on it.
They Grow Up So Quickly Scoring
I’m going to give They Grow Up So Quickly an 85/100. There wasn’t a ton of Zombie violence but Doc is one of my favorite characters and he played a huge part of this episode, including an awesome Zombie Kill.
Things I Loved About This Episode
The interplay between Doc and Addy when they are trying to fake Murphy’s password.
Doc telling Lucy the story of her mom meeting Murphy. There were some awesome flashbacks to previous episodes here.
Mr. Berserk starts with Liv sitting in an interrogation room. The police want to know how she ended up at her boyfriends house just after he was killed. The cops like her for at at first, at least until Suzuki comes in and tells the detective to let Liv go. Lowell had gunshot residue on his hands, making the case a suicide.
Blood On Your Hands
As Liv is dealing with the loss of her just found love, Clive tells Ravi that he should go check on Major. Clive still thinks Major is having some form of psychotic break. Ravi if course knows exactly what happened, even if he can’t admit it to anyone but Liv.
Sniper Brains
Liv, desperate to get the PTSD Sniper brains out of her system, jumps at the chance to eat the brains of the next body on the ME’s table. It just happens to be the alcoholic reporter who was helping Major investigate the missing kids.
The next day Clive tracks down Julian, and Julian looks just fine. In fact Julian is doing so well he’s benching a few hundred pounds. Clive goes back to Major and does what he thinks is the right thing. He tells Major he needs to get psychiatric help.
Get Help
Major believes he’s losing his mind. He admits himself into an inpatient psychiatric facility. This upsets Ravi, who confronts Liv. Major’s not crazy, and Ravi wants to tell him what’s really happening. Liv just feels relief that if Major is in the hospital he’ll be safe. How is he ever going to live with knowing that Zombies are real? Worse than that, knowing what really happened to the missing kids?
The Candyman
Alcoholic Brains Incoming
Liv, powered with the knowledge that her victims brains are showing her, tracks down the people in the story her victim was working on. This leads to a very twisted revelation from the debate team’s past. It could just be the reason the report ended up in the ME’s office.
With alcoholic fueled brains onboard, Liv goes into a drinking frenzy. When she gets flagged by the bartender, she calls the only person she trusts, Major, to come get her. This leads to a touching, but sad exchange between the two of them.
The next day Clive shows up at the ME’s office and shares that their prime suspect in the reporter murder has an alibi, but he did find some other things out. The tell tale mentions of the Max Rager drink have started to reveal a pattern. People who drink it are going Berserk.
Mr. Berserk
They now have a new suspect. If the reporter believed Max Rager was causing violent episodes, they’d have plenty of reasons to kill the reporter.
This leads Liv to go confront the Max Rager CEO, which doesn’t end well. They escort her out and when Liv gets back to the MEs office Clive is there, and he can smell the booze on her. Clive tells Liv she’s off the case. Between confronting the Max Rager CEO and being drunk, its time for Liv to take a break, and Ravi backs Clive up.
The Fixer
Liv finds another lead in her victims notes, and tracks down the Max Rager employee who had supplied the reporter with data. Unfortunately for Liv and the inside woman, Liv also lead the Max Rager fixer directly to them. The fixer thinks he’s killed them both, but not feeling a pulse on Liv doesn’t quite mean what he thinks it means.
Liv would have been dead, but her Zombie Rage kicked in just at the right moment and she was able to survive.
Liv Taking Care Of The Fixer
Back in the MEs office Liv finally signs off on destroying Lowell’s body, and admits to Ravi that his death was her fault. If she had just pulled the trigger, Lowell wouldn’t have had to try and step up, and would still be alive.
While Liv is dealing with the aftermath of her decisions Major is in the hospital, sharing his story in group. Only, one of the other members in group tells Major he knows exactly what’s going on, and gives Major confirmation that he’s experienced the exact same things, and he knows why.
Friggin Zombies
Mr. Berserk ends with the Fixer from the boat waking up on the beach. He’s cut up, and his eyes are bright red. That little bit of Liv’s blood he tasted when he thought he was the hunter and not the prey, just turned him into a Zombie.
Mr. Berserk Score
Mr. Berserk scored a 77/100 and is Worth Your Time. The storyline keeps you wanting to know what’s going to happen next, and acting is just top notch.
In This Life starts with Hope pulling the weapon she stole from Felix on Huck before leaving us hanging for a little while.
When we come back form the first commercial break Elton has found Silas. The smoke from cooking a rabbit gave his location up. Iris has found a stabilization boot for Felix which is letting him move about a little more freely. As Iris and Felix chat, she tells him that she doesn’t trust Huck. There is only one room in the old folks home they haven’t searched, which Huck said was full of bodies. What does it mean if Huck was lying?
Huck & Hope
Out on the trail Hope has Huck at gunpoint. Huck tells Hope that even if she pulls the trigger, the other’s will come looking for her. This is about when a few walkers come stumbling there way, and Hope has to decide on what to do. Shoot Huck? Keep her at gunpoint? Or shoot a few walkers?
Hope freezes as the walkers come closer and ends up losing her gun as Huck yells stupid sh*t. Huck is yelling stuff like “work your angles”.
Back at the old folks home Iris and Felix go into the room that Huck said was full of bodies. Only there are no bodies. The room is full of supplies. Supplies that could have helped treat Felix’s ankle as well as the truck.
While Iris and Felix are realizing that Huck might not be who she says she is. Percy is telling Elton and Silas just about the same thing. Silas wasn’t the one who killed Percy’s Uncle, it was Huck all along.
Who Sent The Messages
After clearing the walkers Huck congratulates Hope, telling her she did an awesome job killing the walkers. Hope wants to know why Huck is there, which brings Huck to admit to Hope that Hope’s father didn’t send the messages, it was Huck all along. At least according to Huck. When pressed on the why, Huck tells Hope she needed Hope to realize that civilization is worth fighting for. Huck gives Hope a long spiel about why the CRM is the right path. When Hope asks why the CRM cares about her, Huck tells her she has no idea who she is.
When we come back from commercial Leopold is having wine with his CRM girlfriend, telling her about how Hope took apart and rebuilt a computer. Hope is special. Maybe she will even save the world.
As Team Percy is making their plans to catch up to Huck a CRM team shows up in a truck, forcing them out of their hiding place. The plan is to catch up to Huck and Hope, and save Hope, which is just about the same plan that Felix and Iris come up with.
As Huck and Hope are holing up for the night Iris and Felix pull up in the truck and Huck tell her they need to hide if she wants to save their life. When they have no choice, Huck comes out and acts as if everything is okay, and Hope covers for her.
Felix pretends to believe what Huck is shoveling long enough to grab her gun and demand that she tells him what’s going on.
When we come back from the next commercial break we see Leopold’s girlfriend breaking the news that Hope will be with them shortly, but something is off, it appears that Leopold is behind glass, but it turns out what we were seeing was her practicing, Leopold wasn’t even there.
Back at the abandoned house Huck tells’ Felix that he needs to get back into the house and leave. Hope chimes in and tells Iris and Felix they have to walk away so they can live. As Felix is thinking about what Huck is saying she attacks, pushing Felix down the stairwell at the same time she knocks over the lantern.
As the fire rages Huck and Felix do battle with their spears while the girls look for the handgun that Felix dropped. Hope finds the gun before running towards the hand to hand fighting. Who does she shoot? Who does she decide to go with?
Hope then does the crazy thing so she puts the gun against her own head and tells Felix and Iris to go, that she is the asset and that she has to go with Huck to help her father.
While Hope is making her decision Silas has decided to sacrifice himself to save Percy and Elton.
Hope decides to go with Huck as Silas gives himself up to the CRM.
Back at the CRM Leopold questions the military arm of the CRM, and admits that he is afraid they are being lied to, but he knows how they can be certain.
Out on the road Huck has Hope, and they have reached the drop point, and are waiting for the helicopter. When Elizabeth arrives to pick up her daughter and Hope she tells Huck that she’s taking care of the loose ends. While Huck thought she was saving Felix and the others, her mother just made it clear that no one was going to be left alive if she had anything to say about it.
The season ends with Hope telling Iris that the Civic Republic has no idea that it’s really been the both of them all along. They are apparently smarter together than alone. As Felix and Iris walk, Bill finds them in the woods and the two embrace. Bill tells them he thought they were dead, but doesn’t tell them that everyone in their home has been gunned down by the CR.
In This Life Scoring
In This Life scored a 50/100. It just struggled to generate any excitement for me.
Things I don’t like about The Walking Dead: World Beyond
The writers really struggle to let any suspense build. They must believe the audience is really dumb, because they spell out everything that might lead to suspense.
There is no real feel of danger from the undead. The focus is all politics, but it’s not up to par with what we got from the original “The Walking Dead” and the quality gap is really noticeable.
The expandable spear weapons are just dumb. A solid shaft spear would just make more sense.
Iris’s dinosaur tooth spear is even dumber than the expandable spears. A fossil is not going to make for a good piecing weapon.
The flashback should be a tool used more selectively. There are just too many flashbacks in The World Beyond.
Why is Elton wearing a mustard suit? (screaming this)
Citizen Z: “Well people. If we weren’t already in an apocalypse, this would be a damn obvious sign. What do you call something worse than an apocalypse? Because this is it. Whatever it is. Swarm. Horde. Zunami. There is no end in sight.”
Zunami
Unfortunately for Team Murphy, their RV breaks down, leaving them searching for help or a replacement. Doc and 10K end up being taken captive by Native Americans while Murphy, Warren, and Vasquez end up at a Native American casino.
While the team works through their issues with Native American hosts, trying to get them to believe a massive horde is coming, Citizen Z is dealing with one of the remaining fast zombies at Camp Northern Light. This leads to what for me was clearly the Best Zombie Kill of the episode.
After asking Warren for help to use a rocket, Citizen Z makes an epic kill with an anti tank weapon. And yes, the battery unit was down his pants so he could warm it up enough to make the shot.
Anti Tank Zombie Shot
Things are looking pretty grim for Team Murphy and their new Native Americans friends (after a rough start). There is a massive Zunami coming, and it is going to swarm everything in its path.
The episode ends with Warren telling Murphy he’s going to have to pick a world to live in, and to remember that the humans are trying to save him, while the zombies are trying to eat him.
Thankfully Doc is a genius and looking at a cave paining of buffalo and it reminds him of how the Native Americans hunted in ages past.
We Were Nowhere Near the Grand Canyon Scoring
We Were Nowhere Near the Grand Canyon becomes a staple comment in future episodes across multiple seasons and it was a fun episode that scored a 72/100.
Going Nuclear gets back to what Z Nation cores strengths are. There are zombies, fun character development, and the survivors need to solve a problem to survive.
Going Nuclear, as the name implies, revolves around Team Murphy stumbling on a power plant that is about to go boom. Time is short, and there isn’t enough fuel to get everyone out of the blast zone.
The only way to survive is to stop the power plant from Going Nuclear. This turns out to be a kick in the nards for 10K, as he’s forced to relive the difficult memory of giving mercy to his father after he turned.
Radioactive Zombies
Going Nuclear Scoring
Thanks to the selfless sacrifice of the plants manager and original designer, Team Murphy helps save the day, but there is a high cost to be paid by the locals. Going Nuclear scored a 79/100, making it Worth Your Time.
We have two zombie kills as candidates for Best Zombie Kill. Ammunition is running short, and that means its time to break out the class tools of war, the hoe, and the machete. You know, classic weapons. Let me know in the comments which kill you think should win.
