Z Nation, Season 1, Episode 2

Fracking Zombies keeps up the fast paced action and expands the story on multiple fronts.

The crew escorting Murphy is focused on making a gas run, trying to fill up a tanker so they have all the fuel they need to make the long journey to California.

but for me the more powerful half of the episode revolved around Citizen Z. He’s been alone in the artic for a year and the isolation is getting to him. When he sees what appears to be another survivor, his heart swells with hope and joy.

Artic Station Security Footage

The real star of this episode is the

The Best Zombie Kill is a toss up between Doc killing a zombie with his knife and Citizen Z doing his flying leap to kill a zombie dog. Let me know which one you think should win. The flying zombie dog kill would have been a clear winner, but we don’t get to see the whole thing.

Doc with a knife slap to the chin.
Citizen Z about to make a flying leap attack on a zombie dog.

For those of you thinking that 10K with his slingshot of death should win Best Zombie Kill, I’m sorry, you’ve been robbed.

Fracking Zombies Scoring

Fracking Zombies was another great episode and scored 80/100, making it 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

See how all Zombie Series rank here!

The Walking Dead: World Beyond, Season 1, Episode 2

The Blaze of Gory picks up right were Brave left off. Iris is trying to lose her zombie killing virginity, and not doing very well at it. She ends up pushing the zombie into an empty pool and only survives due to dumb luck.

The falling into a pool thing must have been a contractual item for both sisters, because just a little while after Iris ends up falling into an empty pool, so does her sister Hope.

The coolest zombie in the episode was the bee zombie, the poor undead creature was taken over by bees.

Bee Zombie

There are lots of plot points in The Blaze of Gory, including emotional flashbacks of Felix being forced to tell his father he is gay.

There was just something missing though. The edge that the other Walking Dead franchises have just doesn’t exist in this world. I’m hoping it gets there, but the world just doesn’t feel threatening, and the actors don’t feel like they are afraid of the zombies.

The Blaze of Gory Scoring

So far this feels like a G rated kids adaption of a family friendly Zombie TV Show. Unfortunately, that’s not what I am looking for. I hope things get grittier and more real soon. The Blaze of Gory fell 25 points from Brave, scoring Rainy Day Score of 50/100.

SeasonEpisodeEpisode NameScore
11Brave70
12The Blaze Of Glory50
13The Tyger and the Lamb65
14The Wrong End of a Telescope71
15Madman Across the Water60
16Shadow Puppets60
17Truth Or Dare60
18The Sky Is a Graveyard62
19The Deepest Cut55
110In This Life50

Z Nation, Season 1, Episode 1

Puppies and Kittens is the start of something awesome. Z Nation honestly has one of the best first episodes ever. The world is overrun by the Undead and the people working on a vaccine are about to get overrun. This single event drives the next five seasons. Murphy has been bitten, and he hasn’t turned.

Murphy’s Bites

Puppies and Kittens kicks of the series, and the season with non stop action, while setting the groundwork for the next five seasons. The initial zombie horde scenes are first class, and one of my all time favorite scenes of any zombie show is when the dead wash up along the riverbank, and the survivors at the camp don’t quite realize how bad that is going to end up for them, for about 30 seconds:

Puppies and Kittens Zombie Flood

Episode 1 introduces us to the heart of the Z Nation cast as well. It is the apocalypse, and some people will come and go, but all the major players are introduced in Puppies and Kittens. Yes, there are other players in the game, but these are my favorites:

Murphy:

Murphy is the convict turned successful zombie vaccine survivor. The nations, even the worlds, chances of long term survival are flowing through is veins…maybe.

Keith Allan as “Murphy”

Keith Allan plays Murphy like an expert at a piano, always striking the right note at the perfect moment. Murphy is a very flawed man, and while he has moments of redemption and growth, he is who he is.

Doc:

Russell Hodgkinson, if you’re reading this, you are my all time favorite character of the series. You bring the fun, funny, and awesome to every scene you’re in.

Russell Hodgkinson as “Doc”

Doc always has just a little more story to tell, shedding a bit more light on what has been an interesting, complicated life. I hope I bump into you at an airport someday so I can thank you for how many times you’ve made me smile and laugh.

Lt. Roberta Warren:

Lt. Roberta Warren is the rock of the survivor group. She’s smart, hard as nails, and knows how to mercy the undead while never losing her compassion.

Kellita Smith as “Lt. Roberta Warren”

Lt. Warren is what we all want and need in our survivor group. She is a utility player who thinks on her feet and can shift from strategy to hand to hand combat without breaking a sweat.

Citizen Z:

Citizen Z is my second favorite character of the series. I’m sure it has nothing to do with him being a computer geek fighting the good fight from behind his keyboard, and I somehow identify with that.

DJ Qualls as “Citizen Z”

Citizen Z is the lone survivor of an NSA/Military communications base in the far north. He stays behind to make sure that Murphy is in transit, only to find that his comrades leave him behind, and save his life in the process. Citizen Z has the full capability of the United States intelligence systems at his fingertips, and he uses it to full effect to help the survivors try to get Murphy to safety.

10K:

What does a sniper do when his unit has been devoured and he’s all alone? He goes on a target hunt to try to get his number to 10,000 kills, that’s what he does.

Nat Zang as “10K”

Puppies and Kittens Scoring

Puppies and Kittens kicks off an awesome series and scores 95/100. If you are not watching Z Nation yet, you need to be!

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

See how all Zombie Series rank here!

The Walking Dead: World Beyond, Season 1, Episode 1

The Walking Dead, World Beyond, Season 1, Episode 1 is titled Brave. It is ten years after the initial Zombie Apocalypse has decimated the planet.

The world is reminiscent of the Hunger Games. There are several factions. Each acts on their own with little to no communication between them. This ties into the two main character’s background. Iris and Hope’s father was taken away from Campus Colony to help the Civic Republic.

It is very clear that Iris and Hope’s father was very important to the Campus Colony. It is also fairly clear that even though he left to help the Civic Republic, he doesn’t quite trust them. He set up a pager and a printer so he can send his daughters messages without the Civic Republic knowing.

TWD: The World Beyond
The Walking Dead: World Beyond

After a long pause in messages, Iris and Hope’s father sends them a warning. Things aren’t going well. Safety is not guaranteed. This triggers the girls, and two of their friends to decide to walk over a thousand miles to get to New York, where the Civic Republic have the girl’s father.

Sneaking Away

The small group sneaks out of Campus Colony, followed by their guardian, who is essentially the town sheriff, and his female deputy. Which is just in time, because the Civic Republic decides its worth killing everyone at Campus Colony to find the girls.

The campus slaughter was actually a little vague. Or maybe I’m just dim. I wasn’t sure where they were killing people, even though Elizabeth, the Civic Republic Leader, asks if her men checked in several of the buildings.

Thus starts the Episode 1, Brave.

Overall I enjoyed it. There is a lot packed into the first episode, including some very heavy handed foreshadowing. The girls are both tortured by the memory of losing their mother, which leads to several flashbacks. In the process we find out that the woman who killed their mother, just happens to be the pregnant mother of one of their travelling companions, who of course remembers his mother and unborn sister fondly. I’m sure he doesn’t know that Hope shot his mom after his mom killed her mom. (I hated typing that many moms in such short order.)

The acting is okay, but some of the dialogue seems forced. Hopefully the cast will gel more with each other as the season goes on.

Brave Scoring

Brave earned a 70/100 and I am hoping it gets better, because I am looking forward to the next episode. What cost it points? The rough edges in the dialogue and some of the acting is a B-. The other item which cost some points is that Campus Community seems a little too clean and well fed for the apocalypse. I know its 10 years later and they have a secure campus, but still, it didn’t feel enough like the apocalypse for me.

SeasonEpisodeEpisode NameScore
11Brave70
12The Blaze Of Glory50
13The Tyger and the Lamb65
14The Wrong End of a Telescope71
15Madman Across the Water60
16Shadow Puppets60
17Truth Or Dare60
18The Sky Is a Graveyard62
19The Deepest Cut55
110In This Life50

See how all Zombie Series rank here!