The Morgue Review for Ash vs Evil Dead 202 By A. Zombie
The team is all about divide and conquer. They don’t trust Ruby further than Pablo can throw her, which is about a foot. So he stays behind to grill her about the freaky hallucinations he’s had since popping out her hellspawn. Turns out they’re precognitive visions, but only Ruby can translate the jumbled mess vomited into Pablo’s mind through his connection to the book. According to her, the misbehaving hellbrats want to wake daddy dearest, Baal. Judging from the ferocity of Pablo’s vision, the guy is the worst of the worst. Because that’s just what Ash needs when he’s supposed to be retired.
While the gang scrambles to save the world—again—Brock dims the lights and settles in for a romantic night with his current favorite lady. Lillian Pendergrass also happens to be Ash’s ex-lover. Well, technically, she’s an ex-ex-lover. Poor Lillian kicked the bucket and a Deadite took her for a joyride. It finally brings the danger Ash faces daily right into Brock’s living room. The fallout will be astounding with these hard-headed men.
Ash and Kelly are on Necronomicon duty. That’s a really unfortunate phrase.
Field trip to the morgue! All Ash knows is the book is in a body, so he leaves Kelly in the hall to stand guard and tackles the treasure hunt alone. Good thing she’s there, too. Ever-hateful Sheriff Emery is on his way to the morgue, but gladly takes the chance to stop and harass Kelly about the recent unexplained deaths in town. Her patience is gone. The sheriff learns this firsthand.
With too many bodies to pick from and no description to work from, Ash reverts to his old ways, using a chainsaw to hack through each body he finds. Should’ve looked, first. The Necromonicon is in the final body, but it’s been there long enough to influence the flesh hiding it. Ash realizes he got the crappy job rather quickly. This scene is by far the most hilarious, graphic, and disgusting gag I’ve seen anyone film. If there was any wonder if this show is okay for children, Ash getting his head rammed up a dead guy’s backside firmly answers the question—no, now quit adding to your kid’s future therapy bill.
The mortifying experience pays off. Ash and Kelly scram, Necronomicon in tow. They almost make it back to Pablo and Ruby without incident . . . then they encounter a couple low-IQ locals with a knack for car theft. Thinking he is smart, Ash hides the book in his car until they discover Ruby’s intentions—only for the car to be stolen while they argue.
Ash can’t catch a break. A bigger bad waits for the door to be unlocked by freaky bald guys. His dad is still a jerk. His companions barely know or trust each other. And the key to saving mankind is in the back of the only thing he actually owns, but it’s in the hands of petty morons. He’s got a long way to go if mankind will survive Baal’s arrival.
Escorpion and the Red Hand Review for Z Nation 304 By A. Zombie
After seeing the Red Hand’s message strung across freeway overpasses, one would think Roberta’s instinct drags her far from the battle-torn warehouse nearby and the jumpy men occupying it who’re in the Red Hand’s sights. Joke’s on her. Not only is she now ensconced in a fight she has no side in, but apparently it’s being led by the guy she’s taken on as her right-hand man. Oh and there’s no weapons to be found anywhere, lest they fancy throwing bags of flaming rubber dog poo—which they don’t, to my disappointment. To say they’ve really stepped in it is an understatement. They’re surrounded by people throwing Molotov cocktails, who aren’t afraid to strap dynamite to zombies. At least no one needs to clean up these messes in the apocalypse.
One mess in desperate need of a good scrubbing is the one Murphy continuously makes for himself during his quest to better mankind . . . by making them inhuman. Until Roberta’s crew catches up, Murphy’s operation spreads pretty much unchecked. 10k wants to resist, but is incapable of breaking the compulsion to follow his maker. Enter science. Dr. Merch followed orders for a long time. She’s pretty much done being told what to do by psychotic men with inflated egos by this point. Despite constant monitoring from Murphy, she works out a way to break the compulsion, and gives it to 10k as well. Only one of them has the chance to really use their newfound freedom. In the process, the pair manage to put a serious roadblock up for Murphy’s long-term plans. The cost is a life. Time will tell if the sacrifice is enough to prevent the remaining humans from becoming zmurphed.
At the fun factory, things take a twist. The people who’d painted themselves the victims aren’t. They’re the ones being punished. This faux Escorpion fashions their persona after Robin Hood, punishing the greedy and protecting those who simply want to survive. The message reaches far, with the Red Hand’s numbers beyond what anyone can accurately tally. They certainly know how to run a guerilla-style battle, hitting hard and fast before disappearing just as quickly. There’s no evidence who’s in the militia, let alone the identity of their leader—except for one injured Red Hand member they pry for information before she dies, and her information is inconclusive. Is Escorpion 2.0 someone we’ve seen before or a new person who admires Hector’s ruthless ways? That’s a mystery for another day. Once the real bad guys are dealt with, the fight with the Red Hand is over. It’s a little too easy for our heroes. I’m leaning toward this imposter being friend, not foe.
Tensions in the Murphy Chasing Squad are tightening. Addy’s distrust of Dr. Sun nearly cost her life during this episode. Having a second Escorpion on the warpath can’t sit well with Roberta. How much does she really know about Hector? He appeared out of the blue when they reached the bar on the coast with supplies to last them all a month. If he pre-meditated providing vital gear for the bedraggled crew in their ultimate time of need, could he orchestrate the Red Hand from their midst? That’s a tad far-fetched, but this show is rife with break-neck plot twists. There’s just enough intrigue to make yet another Let’s-Get-Murphy story line to feel somewhat fresh, but if they don’t make contact soon, this season will drag on and on.
Pablo and Kelly sling beer at a dive bar in Jacksonville, FL while Ash makes himself the life of the party. For one of them, life after the deadite invasion is golden. There’s plenty of hot chicks, alcohol, and his little lizard buddy is there to play wingman. Ash’s happiness is hollow and fleeting, like a chocolate bunny left in an oven. Things are amiss with the dark side. They’re gonna need the bumbling savior once again.
Enter the deadites, and they’ve got a message from the woman in charge, “The truce is over.” Ash’s fighting skills were swapped for keg-cutting and flirting. The fights are slapstick, with Ash struggling to do the heroic moves he’d mastered over years fighting evil. The deadites, primarily a woman he’d flirted with before crap hit the fan, taunt Ash with “Ashy Slashy” rhymes. There’s only one way Ruby knows exactly how to get under his skin—she’s in Elk Grove, his hometown.
There’s no waffling around, when Ash reaches Elk Grove, he stops by the old homestead. Enter Brock Williams—Ash’s cantankerous, unsupportive father, who greets house guests by firing a warning shot past their ear. There’s no love in his heart for his wayward, murdering son or his sidekick, Pablo, but he really wants a date with Kelly. The offer is shot down before he finishes asking her out.
With nothing more than a city’s name, the gang’s gonna need some help finding Ruby. Too bad Ash is the town’s local serial killer and they want less than nothing to do with him, or his mission to save mankind. Linda Bates is the sole kind soul at the bar Ash visits looking for information. Her kindness ends where her husband’s hatred begins, though. Sheriff Thomas Emery would gladly tar and feather Ash if given the chance.
Pablo ends up proving his usefulness . . . by having wicked violent hallucinations linking his mind to the Necronomicon again. The hallucinations, and Pablo’s mind, are sharp enough to feed the gang the clues they need to find Ruby. It’s too easy. They’re totally walking into a trap.
It’s actually a trap for the Mother of Darkness. Ruby’s been cornered in Elk Grove’s crematorium since the freak deadite storm in Florida. Her babies, those freaky little bastards, matured into malicious demonspawn hellbent on using the Necronomicon to their own devices—personal theory, they want to summon Great Daddy Evil and get the family reunion really rolling. The only way Ruby knows to contain the new evil threat is with Ash’s help. There’s a boatload of character development for Ruby in her brief scenes. Necessary development since it’s well known the character didn’t have much on paper when Lawless took on the role for season one. As much as I enjoy watching Ash fumble through his savior complex, I want to see what Lawless can do with Ruby. There’s great potential for her to go good or evil, and that’s the real attention-grabber for season two. When it comes time to decide, will Ruby back Ash or will she fall to old ways and reign over evil once her darling problem children are disposed of?
The adult demonspawn are freaky. There’s awesome physical movement from the one who attacks Pablo, in particular. It’s easy to rely on scary makeup to push the point, but changing the way the creature moves to make it truly inhuman makes a simplistic design much more effective. They also morph into shadow creatures and take on human form, adding infinite opportunity to mix up fight scenes if these guys are going to stick around as the primary kill-target this season.
With the gang together again, they’re off to stop Ruby’s great mistake. So, what are the odds Ash annoys her so much she tries to kill him before they’ve been on the road an hour?
Murphy’s Miracle Review for Z Nation 303 By A. Zombie
Never fear, the postal service runs no matter what, or so Barney Becker from McCloud, CA would have the group believe. He’s bizarre out the gate, demanding no zombies be harmed while he helps the group get back to the Great Murphy Hunt 2.0. The town is deserted, save Becker. Plus, every last zombie follows the guy around like he’s wearing eau de Murphy. Maybe it’s the fact that he feeds them meat scraps like a pack of stray dogs at a campsite.
Probably not. Nothing’s ever that simple on this show.
Up north, but not too far north, Murphy and his mobile world-domination unit set their eyes on Spokane, WA as Ground Zero for the Murphy World Order. First, they have to get through horrible rush-hour traffic. Okay, it’s one car, but it’s in Murphy’s way and he’ll have none of it. A couple’s sick child is on the brink and the father knows they have to give her mercy. Impatient, Murphy solves all their problems by biting the girl so they can all move on with their day in gorgeous Washington. The way he talks about Spokane, one can tell he’s spent time there during far, far better days. Can you imagine tiny Murphy bullying his way down the path to see the river first? It’s almost endearing. Then the moment’s broken when 10k and Murphy butt heads yet again over this whole zmurph takeover thing. The naysaying does not a thing to color Murphy’s excitement. He practically skips into town, his sights set on the perfect building to call home. They are settling in nicely. But what’s this? Guests at the door already. Someone else wants on the zmurph side of life, and he’s not going to deny them.
Way, way up north, the housing situation isn’t nearly as ideal. Simon, a.k.a. Citizen Z, hasn’t a clue what to do. Kaya insists he can recover, get back on the air, and make a difference. The closest they come to touching the outside world is discovering a music broadcast and hearing Addy call over the radio, but it’s a one-way street. Addy doesn’t hear Simon before the battery Dr. Sun provides dies. Now everyone is officially cut off from the other groups. Not one to despair, Simon sets to fixing the one problem he knows is possible—food. Kaya, her family, and Dog join Simon for a trek through a snowstorm to the one place he knows still has supplies.
It doesn’t take long for the gang to grab the gas Becker promised, along with the side trip to contact Simon. Dr. Sun strikes out when she calls her commanders. The music Simon and Kaya find is actually a signal that the Chinese have given up and there’s no more survivors to cure.
The problems in McCloud don’t really start until Becker’s true relationship with the dead townspeople is questioned. Then the non-zombie corpses are found at the post office. Becker’s a shorts-wearing, card-carrying psychopath. Shunned by the town while they lived, his resentment boiled over on outbreak day when he realized they’d eventually become a threat. So he shot every single one. Because that makes sense if you want to keep supplies intended for a thousand-plus people for yourself while simultaneously punishing innocent people for living without pandering to your ego.
Becker deserves what he gets. In a surprising twist, Dr. Sun is the one to mete out justice this time around. Her practical, inventive nature will either be a blessing for Roberta, or a liability when their personal goals eventually clash.
The zombies are evolving on Z Nation, beyond the mad scientist mashups highlighted over the seasons—nuclear, plant, the freaky glowing-brain Zs from the season opener, etc. They recognize Becker, not the food he gives them, to the point they completely ignore the gang several times. Something of their humanity is either coming back or was always there, but the story never lent itself to this development on-screen before. Maybe the group can eventually use this information to help capture Murphy, or at the very least save their own backsides down the road. Or it’ll be an interesting story bit which is used once and dumped, much to my disappointment.
Murphy’s army is growing. How much trouble can he cause before the team tracks him down for Dr. Sun to run her experiments? Too much. The answer will always be too much trouble. We wouldn’t want Murphy to behave any other way.
A New Mission Review for Z Nation 302 By A. Zombie
Ditching some of the played-out character story lines may be wise rolling into season three. They’ve brought in another surviving “super-power” with the Chinese. They number only two-hundred-thousand total, but they’ve at least got functional technology—sign me up for one of those laser-guided zombie grenades. Murphy and the unknown hacker did their parts to kill the communication network which would have eventually allowed the scattered American survivors to band together. What Dr. Sun Mei, Lt. Mong, and their people don’t have, and what their tech cannot give them, is a cure. Their mission is simple: Capture Murphy and fashion a cure from his blood. It’s the same thing tried by so many. There is no cure just sitting in his blood. But they’ll try to synthesize one anyway or die trying. Hope is a powerful tool.
Roberta isn’t the only one making new friends. Citizen Z is out of the blizzard, and into some strange woman’s bed. In what can only be described as a desperate attempt to get the resident geek character laid at last, we’re introduced to Kaya. She’s the one who dragged Citizen Z and Dog through the storm. She also shared body heat to keep the scrawny dude alive. Not to make it awkward while he’s wandering around naked, but her family lives with her; they don’t speak and have the personality of furniture. So, like before, Citizen Z’s story line is filler to toss the ridiculous jokes they couldn’t cram in Murphy or Doc’s dialog. But at least he speaks to more than a dog now.
We’re introduced to a new class of human—Enders. These lunatics want to kill and end everyone’s suffering, undead and alive alike. These Enders see an opportunity to get ahead in the world just a little after Dr. Sun orders her air support to drop her supplies. The delivery has everything, even a vehicle, whatever’s necessary to launch another Great Murphy Hunt. Catch is, that’s the last of their gear. If someone else claims it, the Chinese and anyone who’d benefit from Dr. Sun’s possible cure are good as dead.
The episode is a really drawn out race to the gear, with the main conflict lasting only a blink once everyone finally makes it to the warehouse where the supplies landed. Things progress predictably. The casualties are many, but only one person of any importance keels over.
The episode sets up the three new missions ruling the season’s plot. First mission: Roberta, Addy, Doc, Hector, and Dr. Sun will obtain enough of Murphy’s blood to make a working cure. Mission two: Murphy will take Dr. Sun’s equipment and create a way to spread his blended human/zombie genes in order to stop humanity from devolving, and the undead from devouring each other. Lastly, The Man and his Zona handlers have a mission of their own: Bring in Murphy and use him as their personal fountain of youth.
Why are you gnashing your teeth, readers? I covered everything important. Oh, 10k! Well, about him . . . .
Wonder if he’ll see the irony after a few days enthralled by the big blue guy. I also called this huge character change at the end of his first scene in the episode, though they held off exposing the bite mark until the very end. It shows Murphy has a soft spot for the kid, but also his ability to use anyone and everyone to see his will done.
You all ready for the Murphy World Order? It’s coming. He’s ruthless enough to see his plan through. With his hybrids at his back, not even The Man can touch him. Bring on our blue overlord.
No Mercy Review for Z Nation season 3 premiere By A. Zombie
Once the story smooths out, it’s more than obvious when in their history we’ve landed. Unfortunately, that time frame didn’t give us another chance to see Mack, but we get ample time with Zmurphed Cassandra and newborn Lucy—a pair who shouldn’t be left together, honestly; it leads to weird story beats and makes Cassandra a babysitter instead of any part of the team. Which may explain why, not long after this additional story takes place, 10k has to put her down for good. They couldn’t contain the rabid dog once she completely changed personalities. There’s only so much to do with a primarily non-vocal predator to make her interesting.
Z NATION — “No Mercy” Episode 301-302 — Pictured: Joseph Gatt as The Man — (Photo by: Daniel Sawyer Schaefer/Go2 Z/Syfy)
Since hearing about this flashback I’ve wondered, why take them so far back in the time line? What is so important, it has to be said now? It’s far easier to strip an unused script and redistribute the information throughout the upcoming story than to cut together a movie explaining vital information about the incoming probably-bad guys. Except it seems The Man and his mysterious handler—possibly top-ranked Zona personnel—are vital to upcoming events. The unseen man has the markers for Zona leadership, judging from what Dr. Merch told Murphy before he double-crossed her in the season 2 finale. Two-hours of The Man ramming through a small settlement like a tank is a tad overkill. Entertaining, but overkill. The inevitable outcome was set in stone, leaving much to be desired from The Man—like his bald head on a platter.
The story is one we’ve seen before. The gang rolls past a settlement, desperately low on supplies and devolved to bickering nonstop. Unbeknownst to Operation Bitemark, the poor survivors inside are being harassed, threatened by someone far more powerful than them. After a crow-raised boy is abducted, the settlers call on the gang to help, since they’re so ferocious and all. The rest really is just various stages of planning and executing the plan, with some close-calls, another abduction, and mass murder.
Oh, did I mention the glowing, exposed-brain zombies locked in a contaminated laboratory? They’re kinda important. Dr. Howard Teller is the only reason The Man is interested in the settlement to begin with. To The Man, Harold is just another name on a list he’s tasked with gathering. For Harold, there’s so much more at risk. His wife, Sarah, is one of the not-quite-zombies locked in the lab. The reason the fungus-infected lab team aren’t dead is because Harold is the only soul brave enough to feed them. It’s not until Murphy translates their plaintive cries that Harold understands she’s been begging him to give them mercy for four years. Murphy’s interaction with these poor souls is heartbreaking. Kudos to Keith Allan for an incredible performance.
The opening sequence is tense and beautifully shot. People overlook this show often when searching for simply beautiful footage when they shouldn’t. The team behind the camera is brilliant.
On the flip-side, the writing team needs their ability to write puns stripped for a little while. If I took a shot for every crow joke said at the kid’s expense, I’d have no brain or skull left.
I wanted to be irritated over the flashback, but in the end, saw the necessity. It’s still not cool to leave us hanging with 10k’s fate. We want to catch up with the others, too. I mean, Citizen Z finally met another living being without fur! Plus, Warren and her team have a new ally in Hector . . . except he’s also cornered on the beach by Chinese soldiers. Murphy and Vasquez are the only ones with the freedom to do what they want. Will they return to save their former travel companions? Guess we’ll have to tune in on the 23rd to find out.
A. Zombie Reviews . . . Dead Set Episodes 3/4/5 By A. Zombie
It’s no great surprise when the plot runs a predictable course from here on out. Know what? I don’t care. There’s some golden moments when the entire surviving cast is finally together in the BB house.
First, they need to save Angel. Or not. Then they need to save Grayson . . . . Whoops. Okay, third time’s the charm. Kelly and Space are bullied across the studio lot to escort Patrick and Pippa to the house. That’s pretty much the beginning of the end. Once Patrick’s ego enters the room, unrest takes hold and chaos reigns.
How crazy does a guy have to be to sit there laughing like a kookaburra while disemboweling someone he spent weeks watching via the BB cameras? Reality TV producer crazy is the correct answer. This guy is so certain he has the right idea, he never slows while cobbling together his hair-brained plan. Patrick’s ability to manipulate people is the final nail in the coffin. Despite the others attempting to contain His Lunatic Highness, the Force is strong with this one and Patrick convinces Joplin to free him—based solely on the fact that the housemates loathe Joplin.
Things aren’t much better for Tariq, Kelly’s boyfriend, and his skittish savior, Alex. She never sits still. Always scans for trouble. We get little on her background or why she’s more prepared than most to deal with the zombie fallout. The pair are holed up in a farmhouse alongside a river. Alex feels confident they can stay there, but he’s ready to move on toward the studio. A plan Alex wants nothing to do with, yet still she grabs some gear and off they go. She is right to fight against leaving the farmhouse. The act of kindness is repaid when ‘Riq mercy-kills Alex after she’s bitten. Explains why she didn’t get a backstory.
When Riq makes it to the BB lot, it’s surrounded. He barely clears the fence, with zombies on his heels. The studio greeting party needs to work on their gift basket. Marky fires several shots before Kelly stops him, realizing the “zombie” below speaks coherently and is actually her boyfriend.
Try as he might, Riq can’t get Patrick to believe him about the destruction beyond the gate. Once the producer’s plan rolls into motion, it’s just a matter of waiting for the inevitable. There’s never a chance that Joplin and Patrick can get it together enough to make it past the horde at the gate. Nor is there chance the bumbling housemates, plus Tariq, will rescue Kelly when Patrick holds her hostage as leverage to get outside. The story is told once the gates open, we simply hang around to watch the bloody outcome.
The latter half of this miniseries is much more palatable. I won’t say it’s because the obnoxious housemates started dying like moths around a campfire, but it is a bonus. Going into the first episode, I was sure it’d be the worst. Thankfully, there’s ample gore to balance the reality aspect in the plot. Paired with decent special effects and satisfying character deaths, it produces an entertaining couple of hours.
I give Dead Set an overall three and three-quarters butchered reality stars out of five.
A. Zombie Reviews . . . Dead Set Episodes 1 & 2 By A. Zombie
I’ll tell you right now, two episodes into Dead Set and I still have nothing emotionally invested in the show’s contestants. That’s not to say I haven’t found someone to root for during the end days—Kelly steals every scene she’s in, vastly improving what could have been five episodes of uninspiring reality stars wandering around until they were eaten.
I’d totally cheer if they were all eaten. I might even wave pompoms.
The show opens with a typical afternoon leading up to another eviction from the BB house, as dictated by fan votes. The household prepares, some touching up their nails, others banging out their nerves behind closed doors. In the production office, Kelly delivers an endless stream of coffee to the crew. The producer, Patrick, demonstrates what a skuzzball he really is while cutting together highlight reels for the event and barking orders at his frazzled staff. Nothing is amiss until we catch snippets from news reports—strange deaths, attacks on police, etc. The reports grow in severity, leading Patrick to worry his precious eviction episode will be preempted in favor of a news bulletin. God forbid.
Eventually, the chaos reaches the remote location for the BB house and production office. The first zombie to arrive is a company driver—injured and brought to the studio by a production assistant who was sent with him to fetch a guest for the show. From there, the infection spreads through the gathered BB fans. By the time the evicted housemate, Pippa, makes it to the interview room, most of the crowd has turned. It takes mere minutes for the undead to overrun the offices.
The housemates hear the screams and think Pippa is a smash hit with the crowd. They crack open a few bottles, a few drinks to celebrate surviving to see another eviction night.
Little do they know, they’re probably the only ones celebrating in the UK.
The real story isn’t the housemates or their skeezy producer. Kelly provides the heartbeat, and common sense, for the show. While her love life is a feature in the beginning, it’s a non-issue by the time the second episode rolls out. There are a few amazing solo scenes with Kelly doing whatever it takes to survive. It’s not until she takes refuge in the BB house with the remaining cast that we realize she’s the entire braintrust. Where they are keen to believe for as long as possible that the weird things going on are staged, she’s ready to beat anyone to death who so much as looks undead. She’s also the only one with a plan to get medical supplies when a housemate is bitten.
The zombies themselves are minimally made-up, background creatures relying on pale faces, a few wounds, and blood to convey the undead message. We see a few hero zombies with better makeup, mostly in the second episode. There’s great detail in the close-up gore shots, though they’re so shaky, it’s like a toddler was thrown into the fight scenes with a Go Pro strapped to their head. These are also some seriously fast undead. It raises the stakes drastically when the living cannot outrun the dead. Something missing from other shows relying on compelling characters to drive the plot. Who needs to relate to the characters? Just give us zombie action.
While I’m enjoying Kelly’s story, and it’s the only reason I’ll watch the three remaining episodes, this would be much more entertaining with a better-written cast behind her. Patrick is a toad, utterly disgusting and should’ve died in the initial murders. The housemates barely have a brain cell between them. It makes their scenes difficult to endure to get to the actual story. Hopefully with Kelly breaking the barrier between the BB production team and the housemates, it’ll make their scenes bearable.
It’s glorious. It’s bloody. Best yet, it’s simplistic. No complicated or contrived tension between the characters. The plot rolls out naturally. Are there parts which don’t make a lick of sense? Of course. This show is written for the most part to parody other shows which take themselves far too seriously at times. But that’s the beauty of this show. It’s not bogged down by things like physics.
Citizen Z is still on the run from the NSA zombies loose in the base. He left Dog alone in the command center with orders to stay no matter what. But where’s Citizen Z going? To the weapons locker, of course. Hilariously, even though he emerges from the storeroom with two full bags of guns, he still relies mostly on a baseball bat to dispatch any zombie in his path on the way back to Dog.
Matters aren’t quite so easy for everyone else. The broadcast from Citizen Z turns the small town in Wyoming into the O.K. Corral. Everyone and their psychotic mother is on the hunt for Murphy. A few factions are in play for this episode. First, the bounty hunter introduced in episode 201, Vasquez. Then there’s the Skull Face guys—who never stand a chance. The instant Vasquez sees them, he opens fire. That sets the tone for the entire episode. It’s a free-for-all. Every moving body has a target on their forehead, living or dead. There’s also Soccer Mom, fond of a shotgun loaded with less lethal bean bag shells. Her luck runs out after landing a shot to Murphy’s gut; Cassandra—still very much feral—eats her for lunch. Escorpion, played by Emilio Rivera (Sons of Anarchy), uses a rocket launcher as his weapon of choice. His scenes are few and far between, but the damage he does with that launcher are felt for most of the episode after he deafens 10k with a blast. The last bounty hunting crew to get face time are the Rednecks. They’re just dumb enough to fail right in the pursuit of The Murphy.
Throughout the episode, the main crew get their backsides handed to them. This provides odd little flashbacks for everyone. Addy remembers riding her bike down a suburban street. Citizen Z recalls falling in a park and being scooped up by his mother for comfort. Roberta’s subconscious takes a dip in a pool. Doc doesn’t flashback, he has an out-of-body experience. While floating near the ceiling, he watches Redneck #2 strangling him, then spots a letter opener on top of a bookshelf and tells himself to knock it down. Murphy’s vision is, of course, smoking a joint with a beautiful woman.
During the chaos, everyone eventually ends up in the world’s most depressing motel. This place was sad in its heyday. After the apocalypse, it became the place where happiness goes to die alone and forgotten. Redneck #1 and #2 are taken out by Vasquez and Doc in the motel. After #1 collapses, Vasquez decides to join forces with Roberta. She doesn’t say no; he just saved her life. Everyone is scattered in the building. Mack and Addy split up to avoid zombies and find Murphy. He goes down, she up. What neither could predict is the insane number of zombies drawn to the motel thanks to their prey. Caught alone in the stairwell, Mack is swarmed. The nearest door is chained shut. Addy does her best to get to him, but it’s too late. She stays with him, watching the zombies bite him, until he turns and she gives him mercy. Everyone else makes it to the roof where Murphy contemplates jumping. He and Roberta argue, but it’s mostly for show. Murphy jumps, landing in a swimming pool lined with zombies.
He doesn’t make it far. Angry, Addy tracks him down like a bloodhound. She yanks him from the van and beats him until the others drag her off of him. If Murphy hadn’t run from them, Mack would be alive. It’s a harsh truth they all realize the second Roberta asks, “Where’s Mack,” and Addy breaks down. Murphy’s fight leaves him in an instant. Even Cassandra complies when 10k motions her to climb into the van.
Mack’s death is only the second main character loss on the show with any serious impact. It was just assumed he’d continue to be there for Addy even though they aren’t a couple. He made the trip to the compound she called home to make sure she survived the nuclear blasts. No one told him to check on her, he just did it. Mack was the one to suggest they rejoin Roberta’s mission to deliver Murphy to California. As much as he got in the way, he also helped round out the group.
They’re not down a fighter, though. Vasquez hops in the van with everyone at the end of the episode. His plans to sell Murphy to the highest bidder must be out the window after seeing how far the living will go to collect the bounty and promised cure. A solo bounty hunter won’t make it a block with Murphy in custody and he knows it. He also knows the nuclear fallout will make driving westward impossible. They have to skirt the worst damage and hope to find a clear way to the lab. If the lab hasn’t been blown up like so much else in the US.
A review of “In the Flesh” season 1 episode 1
By A. Zombie
They’re trying something a little different in the ZSC command center this summer. This time around, my assignment is to tackle the BBC’s breakout hit “In the Flesh.” Let’s not waste any time getting into episode one.
From BBC:
Partially Deceased Syndrome sufferer Kieren Walker returns home to the cauldron of Roarton, but doesn’t receive a warm welcome from all. His parents, Steve and Sue, are undoubtedly pleased to see him, but his sister, Jem, isn’t so ready to pick up where they left off when Kieren died back in 2009. Meanwhile, the zombie-hating Human Volunteer Force, led by the violent Bill Macy, are ready to take action against any PDS sufferer reintegrated on their patch.
Right out of the gate, the show is visually impressive. Detailed, but not overly done effects makeup on the undead. Fully dressed sets. The cinematography adds movement to the first moments, which could’ve been a boring one-sided walkie-talkie conversation. But they killed it when viewers realize they’ve used an age-old trope—opening a show with an action-packed dream or flashback sequence. It’s been done to death. Even with them working it into the plot, explaining that the rehabilitated zombies will suffer side-effects such as flashbacks, it’s not a strong start story-wise.
Where they catch interest is in the way they handle a beaten-to-death zombie plotline. Yes, the zombies rose from the dead. Yes, for quite some time humans were forced to fight against ravenous hordes or die. But instead of seeking to wipe out the undead population, the humans found a way to reboot a zombie’s mind with Neurotripteline and make them mostly human again. The rehabilitated zombies are slowly reintroduced into society. Sure, they have to put on colored contacts and paint their pallid flesh to resemble the living, but it’s worth it to be at home again. Much to the delight of folks in backward small towns.
That was sarcasm.
In Roarton, we’re introduced to the main cast. Some of whom we’ll no doubt grow to like or at least tolerate, like Kieren’s family. Others we can only hope will find the toothy end of a rabid rotter—slang for an untreated zombie. Of the latter are Bill Macy and his pal Vicar Oddie. Bill runs the local zombie killing group, the HVF. In its heyday, the HVF were heroes. Always on the front line against the zombies. But since the rehabilitation program and the PDS Protection Act went into law, most cities disbanded their local HVF chapters. But not good ol’ Roarton. There’s little to no official government involvement in a town so small. The Parish Council rules all, and most of them side with the HVF. Vicar Oddie has his fingers in all the pies. He knows what buttons to push to send his wild dog—Bill Macy—off on the hunt. He uses Bill’s anger after his son’s death for his own gain. Why should these zombies be allowed to come back and live with them when Bill’s son, Rick, remained dead in Afghanistan? We’re shown a brutal example of Bill’s hate toward the end of the episode. What would he do if he knew Kieren were back in town and that one of his own HVF soldiers, Jem, was protecting a zombie? Pretty sure we’ll find out soon enough.
“In the Flesh” may have fresh-faced actors in the lead roles, resembling Warm Bodies, but where the film made light out of the zombie condition—curing it with the power of love—the show shines a blinding light on the hate that can manifest when normal people are faced with something they don’t comprehend. Jem calls her brother a demon when he returns home. She refuses to believe Kieren is actually back until he tells her something only he’d know. And even then, she still hates him because she cannot understand why he killed himself four years prior. Ignorance is the perfect breeding ground for turmoil, and there’s plenty of that in Roarton.
How long until the humans turn on each other? Hate can’t be contained to just one set of people, or not-quite-people in this case. Eventually tempers will get the better of everyone.
The team is all about divide and conquer. They don’t trust Ruby further than Pablo can throw her, which is about a foot. So he stays behind to grill her about the freaky hallucinations he’s had since popping out her hellspawn. Turns out they’re precognitive visions, but only Ruby can translate the jumbled mess vomited into Pablo’s mind through his connection to the book. According to her, the misbehaving hellbrats want to wake daddy dearest, Baal. Judging from the ferocity of Pablo’s vision, the guy is the worst of the worst. Because that’s just what Ash needs when he’s supposed to be retired.
While the gang scrambles to save the world—again—Brock dims the lights and settles in for a romantic night with his current favorite lady. Lillian Pendergrass also happens to be Ash’s ex-lover. Well, technically, she’s an ex-ex-lover. Poor Lillian kicked the bucket and a Deadite took her for a joyride. It finally brings the danger Ash faces daily right into Brock’s living room. The fallout will be astounding with these hard-headed men.
With too many bodies to pick from and no description to work from, Ash reverts to his old ways, using a chainsaw to hack through each body he finds. Should’ve looked, first. The Necromonicon is in the final body, but it’s been there long enough to influence the flesh hiding it. Ash realizes he got the crappy job rather quickly. This scene is by far the most hilarious, graphic, and disgusting gag I’ve seen anyone film. If there was any wonder if this show is okay for children, Ash getting his head rammed up a dead guy’s backside firmly answers the question—no, now quit adding to your kid’s future therapy bill.
After seeing the Red Hand’s message strung across freeway overpasses, one would think Roberta’s instinct drags her far from the battle-torn warehouse nearby and the jumpy men occupying it who’re in the Red Hand’s sights. Joke’s on her. Not only is she now ensconced in a fight she has no side in, but apparently it’s being led by the guy she’s taken on as her right-hand man. Oh and there’s no weapons to be found anywhere, lest they fancy throwing bags of flaming rubber dog poo—which they don’t, to my disappointment. To say they’ve really stepped in it is an understatement. They’re surrounded by people throwing Molotov cocktails, who aren’t afraid to strap dynamite to zombies. At least no one needs to clean up these messes in the apocalypse.
At the fun factory, things take a twist. The people who’d painted themselves the victims aren’t. They’re the ones being punished. This faux Escorpion fashions their persona after Robin Hood, punishing the greedy and protecting those who simply want to survive. The message reaches far, with the Red Hand’s numbers beyond what anyone can accurately tally. They certainly know how to run a guerilla-style battle, hitting hard and fast before disappearing just as quickly. There’s no evidence who’s in the militia, let alone the identity of their leader—except for one injured Red Hand member they pry for information before she dies, and her information is inconclusive. Is Escorpion 2.0 someone we’ve seen before or a new person who admires Hector’s ruthless ways? That’s a mystery for another day. Once the real bad guys are dealt with, the fight with the Red Hand is over. It’s a little too easy for our heroes. I’m leaning toward this imposter being friend, not foe.
Tensions in the Murphy Chasing Squad are tightening. Addy’s distrust of Dr. Sun nearly cost her life during this episode. Having a second Escorpion on the warpath can’t sit well with Roberta. How much does she really know about Hector? He appeared out of the blue when they reached the bar on the coast with supplies to last them all a month. If he pre-meditated providing vital gear for the bedraggled crew in their ultimate time of need, could he orchestrate the Red Hand from their midst? That’s a tad far-fetched, but this show is rife with break-neck plot twists. There’s just enough intrigue to make yet another Let’s-Get-Murphy story line to feel somewhat fresh, but if they don’t make contact soon, this season will drag on and on.
Pablo and Kelly sling beer at a dive bar in Jacksonville, FL while Ash makes himself the life of the party. For one of them, life after the deadite invasion is golden. There’s plenty of hot chicks, alcohol, and his little lizard buddy is there to play wingman. Ash’s happiness is hollow and fleeting, like a chocolate bunny left in an oven. Things are amiss with the dark side. They’re gonna need the bumbling savior once again.
There’s no waffling around, when Ash reaches Elk Grove, he stops by the old homestead. Enter Brock Williams—Ash’s cantankerous, unsupportive father, who greets house guests by firing a warning shot past their ear. There’s no love in his heart for his wayward, murdering son or his sidekick, Pablo, but he really wants a date with Kelly. The offer is shot down before he finishes asking her out.
Up north, but not too far north, Murphy and his mobile world-domination unit set their eyes on Spokane, WA as Ground Zero for the Murphy World Order. First, they have to get through horrible rush-hour traffic. Okay, it’s one car, but it’s in Murphy’s way and he’ll have none of it. A couple’s sick child is on the brink and the father knows they have to give her mercy. Impatient, Murphy solves all their problems by biting the girl so they can all move on with their day in gorgeous Washington. The way he talks about Spokane, one can tell he’s spent time there during far, far better days. Can you imagine tiny Murphy bullying his way down the path to see the river first? It’s almost endearing. Then the moment’s broken when 10k and Murphy butt heads yet again over this whole zmurph takeover thing. The naysaying does not a thing to color Murphy’s excitement. He practically skips into town, his sights set on the perfect building to call home. They are settling in nicely. But what’s this? Guests at the door already. Someone else wants on the zmurph side of life, and he’s not going to deny them.
Way, way up north, the housing situation isn’t nearly as ideal. Simon, a.k.a. Citizen Z, hasn’t a clue what to do. Kaya insists he can recover, get back on the air, and make a difference. The closest they come to touching the outside world is discovering a music broadcast and hearing Addy call over the radio, but it’s a one-way street. Addy doesn’t hear Simon before the battery Dr. Sun provides dies. Now everyone is officially cut off from the other groups. Not one to despair, Simon sets to fixing the one problem he knows is possible—food. Kaya, her family, and Dog join Simon for a trek through a snowstorm to the one place he knows still has supplies.
The problems in McCloud don’t really start until Becker’s true relationship with the dead townspeople is questioned. Then the non-zombie corpses are found at the post office. Becker’s a shorts-wearing, card-carrying psychopath. Shunned by the town while they lived, his resentment boiled over on outbreak day when he realized they’d eventually become a threat. So he shot every single one. Because that makes sense if you want to keep supplies intended for a thousand-plus people for yourself while simultaneously punishing innocent people for living without pandering to your ego.
Ditching some of the played-out character story lines may be wise rolling into season three. They’ve brought in another surviving “super-power” with the Chinese. They number only two-hundred-thousand total, but they’ve at least got functional technology—sign me up for one of those laser-guided zombie grenades. Murphy and the unknown hacker did their parts to kill the communication network which would have eventually allowed the scattered American survivors to band together. What Dr. Sun Mei, Lt. Mong, and their people don’t have, and what their tech cannot give them, is a cure. Their mission is simple: Capture Murphy and fashion a cure from his blood. It’s the same thing tried by so many. There is no cure just sitting in his blood. But they’ll try to synthesize one anyway or die trying. Hope is a powerful tool.
We’re introduced to a new class of human—Enders. These lunatics want to kill and end everyone’s suffering, undead and alive alike. These Enders see an opportunity to get ahead in the world just a little after Dr. Sun orders her air support to drop her supplies. The delivery has everything, even a vehicle, whatever’s necessary to launch another Great Murphy Hunt. Catch is, that’s the last of their gear. If someone else claims it, the Chinese and anyone who’d benefit from Dr. Sun’s possible cure are good as dead.
The episode sets up the three new missions ruling the season’s plot. First mission: Roberta, Addy, Doc, Hector, and Dr. Sun will obtain enough of Murphy’s blood to make a working cure. Mission two: Murphy will take Dr. Sun’s equipment and create a way to spread his blended human/zombie genes in order to stop humanity from devolving, and the undead from devouring each other. Lastly, The Man and his Zona handlers have a mission of their own: Bring in Murphy and use him as their personal fountain of youth.
Once the story smooths out, it’s more than obvious when in their history we’ve landed. Unfortunately, that time frame didn’t give us another chance to see Mack, but we get ample time with Zmurphed Cassandra and newborn Lucy—a pair who shouldn’t be left together, honestly; it leads to weird story beats and makes Cassandra a babysitter instead of any part of the team. Which may explain why, not long after this additional story takes place, 10k has to put her down for good. They couldn’t contain the rabid dog once she completely changed personalities. There’s only so much to do with a primarily non-vocal predator to make her interesting.
The story is one we’ve seen before. The gang rolls past a settlement, desperately low on supplies and devolved to bickering nonstop. Unbeknownst to Operation Bitemark, the poor survivors inside are being harassed, threatened by someone far more powerful than them. After a crow-raised boy is abducted, the settlers call on the gang to help, since they’re so ferocious and all. The rest really is just various stages of planning and executing the plan, with some close-calls, another abduction, and mass murder.
The opening sequence is tense and beautifully shot. People overlook this show often when searching for simply beautiful footage when they shouldn’t. The team behind the camera is brilliant.
First, they need to save Angel. Or not. Then they need to save Grayson . . . . Whoops. Okay, third time’s the charm. Kelly and Space are bullied across the studio lot to escort Patrick and Pippa to the house. That’s pretty much the beginning of the end. Once Patrick’s ego enters the room, unrest takes hold and chaos reigns.
Things aren’t much better for Tariq, Kelly’s boyfriend, and his skittish savior, Alex. She never sits still. Always scans for trouble. We get little on her background or why she’s more prepared than most to deal with the zombie fallout. The pair are holed up in a farmhouse alongside a river. Alex feels confident they can stay there, but he’s ready to move on toward the studio. A plan Alex wants nothing to do with, yet still she grabs some gear and off they go. She is right to fight against leaving the farmhouse. The act of kindness is repaid when ‘Riq mercy-kills Alex after she’s bitten. Explains why she didn’t get a backstory.
Try as he might, Riq can’t get Patrick to believe him about the destruction beyond the gate. Once the producer’s plan rolls into motion, it’s just a matter of waiting for the inevitable. There’s never a chance that Joplin and Patrick can get it together enough to make it past the horde at the gate. Nor is there chance the bumbling housemates, plus Tariq, will rescue Kelly when Patrick holds her hostage as leverage to get outside. The story is told once the gates open, we simply hang around to watch the bloody outcome.
The latter half of this miniseries is much more palatable. I won’t say it’s because the obnoxious housemates started dying like moths around a campfire, but it is a bonus. Going into the first episode, I was sure it’d be the worst. Thankfully, there’s ample gore to balance the reality aspect in the plot. Paired with decent special effects and satisfying character deaths, it produces an entertaining couple of hours.
The show opens with a typical afternoon leading up to another eviction from the BB house, as dictated by fan votes. The household prepares, some touching up their nails, others banging out their nerves behind closed doors. In the production office, Kelly delivers an endless stream of coffee to the crew. The producer, Patrick, demonstrates what a skuzzball he really is while cutting together highlight reels for the event and barking orders at his frazzled staff. Nothing is amiss until we catch snippets from news reports—strange deaths, attacks on police, etc. The reports grow in severity, leading Patrick to worry his precious eviction episode will be preempted in favor of a news bulletin. God forbid.
The real story isn’t the housemates or their skeezy producer. Kelly provides the heartbeat, and common sense, for the show. While her love life is a feature in the beginning, it’s a non-issue by the time the second episode rolls out. There are a few amazing solo scenes with Kelly doing whatever it takes to survive. It’s not until she takes refuge in the BB house with the remaining cast that we realize she’s the entire braintrust. Where they are keen to believe for as long as possible that the weird things going on are staged, she’s ready to beat anyone to death who so much as looks undead. She’s also the only one with a plan to get medical supplies when a housemate is bitten.
Mack’s death is only the second main character loss on the show with any serious impact. It was just assumed he’d continue to be there for Addy even though they aren’t a couple. He made the trip to the compound she called home to make sure she survived the nuclear blasts. No one told him to check on her, he just did it. Mack was the one to suggest they rejoin Roberta’s mission to deliver Murphy to California. As much as he got in the way, he also helped round out the group.
Right out of the gate, the show is visually impressive. Detailed, but not overly done effects makeup on the undead. Fully dressed sets. The cinematography adds movement to the first moments, which could’ve been a boring one-sided walkie-talkie conversation. But they killed it when viewers realize they’ve used an age-old trope—opening a show with an action-packed dream or flashback sequence. It’s been done to death. Even with them working it into the plot, explaining that the rehabilitated zombies will suffer side-effects such as flashbacks, it’s not a strong start story-wise.
In Roarton, we’re introduced to the main cast. Some of whom we’ll no doubt grow to like or at least tolerate, like Kieren’s family. Others we can only hope will find the toothy end of a rabid rotter—slang for an untreated zombie. Of the latter are Bill Macy and his pal Vicar Oddie. Bill runs the local zombie killing group, the HVF. In its heyday, the HVF were heroes. Always on the front line against the zombies. But since the rehabilitation program and the PDS Protection Act went into law, most cities disbanded their local HVF chapters. But not good ol’ Roarton. There’s little to no official government involvement in a town so small. The Parish Council rules all, and most of them side with the HVF. Vicar Oddie has his fingers in all the pies. He knows what buttons to push to send his wild dog—Bill Macy—off on the hunt. He uses Bill’s anger after his son’s death for his own gain. Why should these zombies be allowed to come back and live with them when Bill’s son, Rick, remained dead in Afghanistan? We’re shown a brutal example of Bill’s hate toward the end of the episode. What would he do if he knew Kieren were back in town and that one of his own HVF soldiers, Jem, was protecting a zombie? Pretty sure we’ll find out soon enough.
“In the Flesh” may have fresh-faced actors in the lead roles, resembling Warm Bodies, but where the film made light out of the zombie condition—curing it with the power of love—the show shines a blinding light on the hate that can manifest when normal people are faced with something they don’t comprehend. Jem calls her brother a demon when he returns home. She refuses to believe Kieren is actually back until he tells her something only he’d know. And even then, she still hates him because she cannot understand why he killed himself four years prior. Ignorance is the perfect breeding ground for turmoil, and there’s plenty of that in Roarton.