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.
Roberta saves Vasquez’s bacon big time. She stops Kurian from injecting the Zmurph serum into her newest crewmember and suggests Kurian take the inaugural dose. Trapped with no way to avoid outing the scheme, Kurian doses himself. He’s not quite dead yet. Matter of fact he’s feeling good enough to go for a walk. A short walk. To a box containing a severed zombie head, which La Reina orders him to stick his hand into as a test for the cure. Amazingly, Kurian doesn’t turn. It’s enough to convince La Reina to dose her entire crew—except Escorpion, a.k.a. Hector, who takes Vasquez off for another round of torture. He’s the lucky one. The serum works as intended, with a slight delay before Murphy is able to make them do a soft shoe to Brittney Spears songs—which he doesn’t do in this episode, but should. Taking control of Kurian, Murphy sets him to work making more serum.
Off in Hector’s torture chamber, Vasquez finally confesses to the attempted murder. As reward for his honesty, Hector has Vasquez strapped into what’s essentially an iron maiden, only with a zombie instead of sharpened spikes on the door, so a zombie maiden. There Vasquez is forced to listen to Hector’s woefully typical, “This bad stuff happened to me as a kid and that’s why I’m a murderer,” speech. I would have preferred to hear just about anything else from the character. He’s called away to a meeting. Thank goodness.
To say Roberta isn’t onboard with the Zmurph plan is a vast understatement. She washes her hands of Murphy’s plan for Kurian and the Zeroes the second she realizes it’s a thing which is really happening as they stand there trapped in what will probably become a nest of ravenous Zmurphs. Leaving Murphy to deal with Kurian, Roberta heads to warn the others that they need to get out ASAP. Before they fully formulate a plan, she’s called to the meeting with Hector and La Reina. Before she goes, the others are tasked with finding Vasquez.
At the meeting, Hector lies so much his pants spontaneously combust. Roberta calls him on the bull, admitting that Vasquez has no interest in killing La Reina, just the man who murdered the former DEA agent’s family. Murphy strolls into the meeting just in time to control La Reina, making the meeting go favorably for their group. Not so much for Hector. Murphy gets a little too eager to flex his power, ordering Roberta to kill Hector. They’re only saving grace is the meeting is amongst other Zmurphs.
Zmurphs Murphy loses control over moments after Roberta leaves with Hector leading the way to the torture room. The time to leave is, like, fifteen minutes ago. Kurian in hand—because he wants more serum even if the doctor is lusting for Murphy blood—Murphy runs to the lab. One can only assume he means to grab whatever supplies they’ll need to make a cure on the road. Roberta ends that plan by decapitating ravenous Kurian.
With Vasquez free and Hector locked in the zombie maiden, there’s nothing stopping them from walking out the same door they came in through. Right? Ha. Ha ha ha. La Reina and the other Zmurphs are on the hunt for their master. She recovers Kurian’s head before leading the Zmurphs through the power plant tunnels. Doc gets an idea to use the zombies trapped in the power plant to fight the Zmurphs, except the doors won’t open. That’s okay, Murphy here to save the day. He uses his powers to agitate the zombies, their weight breaking the doors.
Did anyone else kinda want this fight to suddenly stop and turn into a dance routine from Westside Story? Just me? Okay . . . .
The crew runs for it. Murphy lags behind. Guilt weighs heavy on the poor guy. He’s not okay with zombie on Zmurph violence, but what can they do? The mission is more important. Something he nearly forgot in the rush of having his own people to control. Despite misgivings, he leaves the underground power plant, joining the others on the now-deserted street.
Deserted except for Hector. It looks like the nutjob chewed his way through the zombie maiden. Hector and Vasquez have an honor fight. Roberta makes everyone stand down so the two can pummel each other. The fight ends with Vasquez tossing Hector to the zombies clambering to climb the ladder. That’s it for the Zeroes. Right? Maybe. We know Kurian’s head lives to see another day, but who is the one saving him at the episode’s end?
The gang borrows the Zeroes’ fleet of El Caminos and hits the road in style. They’re not far from the border. If they don’t muck things up, they could reach the lab in a day.
Addy finally manages to build a functional radio and makes contact with Citizen Z. CZ has been trapped in the base with zombies this entire time, yet didn’t manage to kill them all. Someone is slacking. He warns the group about the mega-zunami heading their way and advises they divert south through Mexico to avoid it. Roberta isn’t onboard with that plan. Not when they’re so close to finally hitting the California border. That’s okay. The RV they’re in makes the decision for everyone, breaking down near the Grand Canyon. Roberta, Addy, Vasquez, and Murphy hop on the ATVs hauled behind the RV to find another vehicle or a place to hole up for the zombie storm. 10k and Doc head toward the cliffs, hoping higher ground will keep the worst of the attack at bay.
Up the road, Roberta’s group finds a casino, complete with distrusting occupants who tell them to get off tribal land. That is until she shows them the zunami heading their way. The gang is taken inside and introduced to Chief, Danny. Danny is convinced his casino defenses will hold. Nothing they say can change his mind.
Up on the cliffs, 10k and Doc run into Danny’s son, Red Hawk. If you thought Danny and his crew at the casino had trust issues, Red Hawk makes them look like Boy Scouts. He’s violently opposed to white men being on the tribe’s sacred cliffs, blaming their poisonous souls for the apocalypse. Red Hawk’s sister, Ayalla, and another woman, Kuruk, roll their eyes at the he-man chest banging, grab 10k and Doc, and treat their wounds. As a bonus prize, Doc gets to go on a nice peyote trip. For the pain, of course.
Not long after Doc’s brain is well and truly cooked, Red Hawk traps the guys in snares, calling them the early zombie warning system. Sure enough, a zombie shuffles by not long after. Doc spirit walks, killing the first walker. Ayalla rides in to save the day when a second approaches and Doc’s spirit gets camera shy. She takes them to the casino so they can warn her father.
While Doc and 10k play cowboy, Roberta uses the makeshift radio Addy builds with Jerry to talk CZ though using a rocket launcher. See, he’s got this one zombie he just can’t put down. Obviously the reason is his bullets are too small. Time to upgrade. Except, rocket launchers don’t really like the cold. The device’s battery is too cold to function properly. CZ ends up running from the zombie while warming the battery . . . in his underwear. Roberta did tell him to put it the warmest place possible. Once the battery is ready—and after CZ nearly loses the rocket launcher three times—he shoots the Z. It’s a great visual effect moment as the zombie melts in the blast.
Danny finally understands why Roberta’s group is so concerned about the zunami. He orders his people to follow Ayalla to the sacred cliffs. He stays behind, though, unable to leave the land where his wife’s spirit resides. Shortly after everyone drives away, the first zombies hit the casino. It takes about a minute for them to demolish the building.
Back at the cliffs, there’s a huge problem—the zombies are dive-bombing from above. They need to find a way to drive them from the cliff. Doc, having a deep connection with the spirits in the wall paintings, ponders if zombies are as dumb as buffalo. Only one way to find out. They set the grass on the plateau above the cliffs ablaze, hoping the fire will turn the zombies toward the Grand Canyon. Murphy freaks when he realizes the zombies will die. He wants to save them. He feels their pain. The crew hold him back. They watch, breathless, as the first zombies redirect at the fire. The plan works like a charm. Zombies tumble down into the Grand Canyon by the truckload.
The tribe says goodbye to their friends from the Z Nation (ha ha). Each is given a token to remember the adventure. Except Murphy and Vasquez. They’re waiting at the bus the tribe gave the gang. Murphy is still distraught about the zombie deaths. Nearly inconsolable. Roberta pulls no punches.
“The day is coming when you’re gonna have to decide what you are, human or zombie. And when that day comes, I want you to remember which of the two is trying to keep you alive and which one wants to eat your brains.”
How much of the zunami did they successfully divert? Hopefully all of it. They’re so close to California. So close to finally being done with broken cars, no food, sleeping with one eye open, and Murphy’s sourpuss expression. The real question is, what will go wrong next?
Once again, the crew is on their last legs—two gallons of gas in the car, six bullets between them, no food, no water, and even less patience with each other. Doc and Murphy venture out to find edible tree bark; a fruitless mission. On the way back, Murphy is distracted by a yumtastic looking brain dangling from a cord. Yeah, like that doesn’t just scream trap. His gut leading the way, Murphy goes down the hole. He’s not alone. Another zombie in the pit offers a taste from his lunch. Murphy takes a polite taste. Hey, it’s not horrible. They don’t languish in dusty luxury long, someone covered head-to-toe in armor comes in, leashes Murphy, and kills his companion.
Meet The Collector. He has a real name, but it’s not as fun. The Collector is an odd nut. He admits he’s not a doctor, yet likes to play one on the weekends. Seeing as no one works anymore in the apocalypse, technically every day is the weekend. To save his skin, Murphy attempts to talk and reason with TC. It has the exact opposite outcome than what Murphy desired. TC heard Citizen Z’s broadcast. Now he’s overjoyed to have a chance to poke and prod The Murphy. Someone has to properly document Murphy’s case, of course. TC doesn’t trust the CDC. Matter of fact, he gets downright violent talking about how they refused to read his letters.
This guy doesn’t have a lot of friends. Obviously, since anyone who walks in is fitted with a shock collar. As a consolation prize, they can take a hot shower. It’s almost worth a billion jolts running through your body. TC was kicked out of comic-cons for carrying weapons. The CDC has him perma-blocked on every communication platform known to man. There’s no one living aside from TC in his self-made zombie museum.
His collection is impressive; film posters from nearly every zombie film to date, real live zombies, and his crowning glory, undead George R. R. Martin—portrayed by the A Song of Ice and Fire author himself.
George is about to be overshadowed now that TC has his hands on The Murphy.
First, there must be a proper analysis of Murphy’s condition. TC sets up what looks like a talk show and records the process of taking blood, DNA, and marrow samples from his newest exhibit. The plan is clear, if the CDC wants any information on Murphy, they’ll finally have to acknowledge their least favorite whackjob. There’s a few more tests for Murphy. TC force-feeds him a piece of brain. It triggers an insatiable appetite and Murphy eats the whole thing. The final test, after Murphy refused to admit he can control the zombies, comes when TC leaves. A zombie doctor shuffles in. Immediately, Murphy takes control. He’s caught when the zombie can’t quite get it together enough to cut his restraints with the bone saw.
The museum tour is Murphy’s prize for cooperating on stage. He makes another escape attempt, but doesn’t make it out the front door—it’s electrified. There’s a near-miss with 10k investigating the museum’s front doors. TC tells 10k he hasn’t seen the kid’s friend. 10k smells something fishy and breaks in, leaving his gear where the others will find it. The rescue mission lasts about a minute. The Collector zaps 10k with a cattle prod and fits him with a shock collar. There’s actually one more experiment TC wants to run with Murphy—biting a live person. 10k is said live person. Despite heavy blood loss from TC’s attempt to drain him dry, Murphy plays along. What alternative does he have? Well, there’s always the option to disable the invisible fences around the other zombies on display, then control them. That’s be my choice, at least. TC is zombie chow. Murphy is ruthless. For about ten seconds. He passes out, losing control of the toxic zombie, phyto-zombie, and blaster.
Roberta and crew to the rescue—for real this time. They use their meager ammunition supply to kill the zombies. After a quick pillage through the museum for supplies, and Murphy’s blood, they head back to the car.
In another shocking emotional moment from Murphy, he makes Roberta promise not to leave him alone when they finally reach the lab in California. All these attempts to abduct him changed Murphy. Or is fatherhood to thank? Whichever, the others have to be grateful for a calmer Murphy during the next portion of their trip.
First problem, how will they get down the river? The gang finds a zombie-infested pontoon boat out on the water. After clearing it, they find the boat’s rather talkative driver. Cool. A ride and someone else to do the driving. Maybe everyone can relax. Yeah, right. They’re not on the water long before Doc spots someone in a pedal boat crammed with gear in the back. Sketch and Skeezy are the bad pennies in this show. Anytime mischief must happen, they’re involved. Already things are looking up. And then everything looks wet. The river is plagued with what the guys call zombie jams—similar to log jams, only with teeth and much fouler stench. Zombies scramble onto the boat. Roberta orders everyone into the drink—not exactly wise considering all the zombies, but sure. We’ll go with it.
In the rush to safety, the team splits. 10k ends up on the eastern shore with Sketchy and Skeezy. Roberta, Doc, Addy, Murphy, and Vasquez head west. Almost immediately, Murphy wants to leave the kid behind. Vasquez is on his side, but only because a search would cost time. There’s no love lost between Murphy and 10k. After Cassandra’s death, those two will never be on the same side again. Murphy’s ego simply won’t allow it. He saw Cassandra as his creation, then comes this little nothing human who takes her from him; it’s too much for Murphy to handle when he’s already lost control of everything else in his life. To keep the peace, and keep Doc with the crew, Roberta gives twenty-four hours to find 10k. Eventually Doc does split from the group, taking a canoe across the river the next morning. His search is fruitless.
All’s not lost. 10k is in good hands with the luckiest men alive. Boy do they take the kid on an adventure. First, there’s a group of kind, highly intelligent men who—okay, I can’t do it. The first group they meet is dumber than a boulder and just as ugly. Quick thinking Sketchy reels them in with another tale of The Murphy, portrayed by Skeezy, seeing as he kinda resembles the wanted poster. By the end of two minutes, they have these guys convinced a bite from Skeezy will make them immortal. So he bites them, Sketchy steals the guys’ drugs, and 10k watches in wonderment. Until he drops the drugs Sketchy passes off and they have to run. Luckily—ha ha—there’s a truck nearby. But, wait . . . isn’t that the truck we saw kidnap two guys at the beginning of the episode?
Yes it is, and the guys just so happen to drive the thing back to the town it came from—Burrtown, named after it’s founder. It doesn’t take long for Sketchy and Skeezy to work their magic on this last great confederate holdout. Before sunset, they have them eating from their hands. Fecal matter hits the fan when the truck’s actual owners finally catch up. Not to worry, 10k found an inside man to help. Okay, it’s a woman. A very angry woman named Sadie. She’s not part of Burr’s hillbilly paradise. She just wants to give Mercy to her second husband, who is enslaved by the town as part of their undead workforce. Her plan: Watch the town burn. It’s a good plan. I have no problem with it.
The Zeros might have differing opinions, seeing at Burrtown is one of their territories. When Sketchy and Skeezy and caught in their tangled lie net, Escorpion is brought in to judge their case. Sketchy does his best to blow enough hot air to inflate the Hindenburg. It’s not enough. Not when Skeezy’s bite victims provide damning testimony against them. Escorpion sentences the troublemakers and 10k to death by hanging.
Never fear, there’s a plan. I think. Sadie makes a run for the bridge near Burrtown where the crew plans to turn west again. How 10k knew they’d be there, I haven’t the foggiest idea, but not a lot makes sense on this show if you pay attention. Regardless of how they were alerted to the impending execution, the gang gears up and attempts a daring escape. Doc and Addy shoot down 10k and Sketchy the second Escorpion orders the execution to proceed. Skeezy dangles for a while before all’s clear and Addy shoots him down. While the others are doing the rescuing, Murphy and Sadie free the zombies. From there on out, it’s child’s play. The crew, plus their hilarious sidekicks, take off to the bridge ahead of a speedy zombie horde. Sadie lingers in Burrtown to give Mercy to her husband.
At the bridge, Sketchy and Skeezy stay behind to play with the zombies and their new weapons cache courtesy of Sadie. The others pile into a conveniently placed car, driving west once again.
Will they ever reach California at this rate? They’re down to one person with the cure in their blood since Lucy is with her adoptive parents. If anything happens to Murphy, they’re doomed. Yet he still thinks he’d make it anywhere without the crew. It’s The Murphy Show in his mind. Even if they do make good time on the road, someone may get annoyed enough to put a knife in his dome. Mankind has been through worse, right? What’s one measly apocalypse? They don’t need a savior whose ego can’t fit in Central Park.
The gang is stuck in a horde when the episode opens. Lucy is used as a football, passed from person to person to draw zombie attention so others can kill them. Unfortunately, when Doc takes her and runs for cover, he stumbles into a bus of Abe Lincolns. No, seriously. None of us hallucinated that part. The last kill in the opening scene, a headshot from 10k on a zombie dressed as Lincoln on a penny, is perhaps my favorite sight gag on the show in two seasons.
The zombies aren’t their only problem. They still haven’t secured food resources for Lucy and their own supplies are extremely limited. Again. Roberta is afraid what’ll happen if they fail to keep Lucy alive. On the other hand, what will happen when the little hybrid grows? Will she take after her father? Is the zombie cure in her veins? There’s more questions than answers about Lucy in this episode, to be honest. The tension in their makeshift camp gets so tense at one point, Murphy takes Lucy for a walk. Lest the others get ideas, he orders Cassandra to keep them from following him.
Roberta has bigger fish to fry. She leaves Addy, 10k, and Doc to deal with Cassandra and Murphy. Why when the fate of the world rests on Lucy’s wee bald head? Turns out Vasquez may not be what he seems. 10k spots Vasquez sneaking off through the forest, heading back toward town and reports it when he returns to camp with what is likely their only meal that day—fish. While the others debate Lucy, fish, and whether or not Cassandra is herself anymore, Roberta and Vasquez sneak into town. Once there, Vasquez meets three Zero cartel members outside the hospital. They proceed to kick his backside. With no other option—yeah right, I would have left the liar—she jumps into the fray. Vasquez is shot in the gut. Roberta’s bravery reward is a through-and-through shot in her left shoulder. Luckily there’s a hospital right there. Oh, it’s overrun with napping zombies? That’s cool.
The bleeding duo manage to lock themselves in the Optometry department. A wise move. Not every pillager through the hospital would think to look there for necessary supplies, though it is just as well stocked as the rest of the hospital. Vasquez sutures Roberta’s shoulder first. He gives her a hearty helping of grief about women really being tougher than men. The slap he gets is well-deserved. When the tables turn, Roberta takes the chance to interrogate her patient. Turns out, Vasquez is former DEA with a history with the Zero cartel. They tried to buy his loyalty once; he rejected them. Zeroes stepped up the game, kidnapping his wife and daughter. Either he cooperates or they die. Then a Zero higher-up steps in, saying he’ll save the women if Vasquez does him a favor. In the end, his family dies. His wife was the first zombie he saw turn. So sad. Much drama.
Vasquez nearly dies after Roberta patches the hole in his gut. He is the lucky one.
Back at camp, the gang make a few attempts to shake Cassandra off their tails. During the first attempt, Cassandra catches Addy and nearly breaks her arm, using Addy’s pain to draw 10k and Doc back to camp. Finally, 10k says he’ll deal with Cassandra personally. Addy and Doc kick up dust running away from the fight to come. Cassandra bounces 10k off the ground, some boulders, probably a tree, and a kitchen sink if she finds one. All that butt-kicking solidifies an idea in 10k’s head—Cassandra isn’t alive anymore; they’ve been travelling with a monster. The fight takes a turn. Cassandra pins 10k to the ground, ready to break his neck. Saving himself, he stabs her in the neck. Cassandra is buried without pomp and circumstance.
Murphy isn’t going to like that. He’s got other things on his mind, like a daughter who draws every undead creature within earshot. At the end of his walk, Murphy finds a house with a man and his wife. The man invites him inside. His wife gives Murphy a little rabbit’s milk for the baby. In a rare vulnerable moment, Murphy breaks down weeping and asks the couple to take Lucy to raise as their own. At first they’re elated. Then they get a look at the precious blue bundle. There’s a fix for their terror. Murphy bites them and, much like how he’s handled Cassandra since turning her at the lab, orders them to do his bidding.
Lucy is safe from Roberta’s scheming. Murphy is utterly alone again without his gal pal and daughter. 10k will be a mental wreck for a while; water can wash away the evidence, but it won’t erase the memory of Cassandra’s warm blood dribbling down his cheek. Two crew members are seriously injured. Addy has a sprained shoulder/arm after her fight with Cassandra. Essentially the only one fully functional is Doc. Even his mental stability is questionable.
It’s going to be an interesting second half to this season.
HBiC has a bone to pick with Murphy, just like everyone else in the USA. He stalks the Zombie Road, first to make quick meals out of bandits, then he discovers a zombie he can’t control. Murphy’s mental immunity makes him a threat. Unfortunately, the lack of compatibility between zombie and blaster brains means Murphy is useless as nipples on a male hog when it comes to controlling the blasters and directing them away from the group. He’s also doggy paddling in the river Denial, refusing to admit the nuclear fallout forcing the group to walk away from California is his fault.
The crew meets up with a Mad Max style wagon train. Okay, by meet I mean they saved their bacon when bandits attack the train in order to steal their vehicles. The bandits are killed. The vehicles are safe. Sam, the truck driver in charge, offers Roberta and her crew a place with his people. They’re heading to Edmonton, where the cold weather will protect them from zombies. Most of his people won’t make it another ten miles, let alone a long haul to colder places. They’re dying from radiation sickness. Of the twenty people in his wagon train, the majority ride in the medical truck. Including his son. Sam is also sick, but wading in Denial river alongside Murphy. The radiation sickness colors his judgment, making the car his nephew, Wrecking Ball, drives all-important. He nearly loses half the wagon train chasing after bandits who manage to steal the car from a stoned Doc and Wrecking Ball.
Yes, there’s Zombie Weed on this wagon train. Wrecking Ball claims it came from a lab in Minneapolis who grows it in an old GMO lab with fertilizer made from zombies. Murphy and Cassandra are big fans. The Z-Weed actually helps Cassandra regain some of her cognitive functions. It doesn’t stop her from eating her way through half a dozen bandits in order to recover the car.
HBiC rallies his blasters to attack the wagon train with Murphy aboard. Murphy doesn’t stick around. The second he’s given a chance, he steals Sam’s oh-so-precious car, leaving the semi-truck and the medical truck far behind. Cassandra watches from the back seat. HBiC doesn’t have to work hard to overcome the wagon train, Sam’s son keels over and turns. Within a minute, every sick person in the medical truck is a blaster. Addy bails from the truck. The others practice awful aiming trying to kill the blasters before they jump onto the main truck after Addy. By this point, the only survivor from the original wagon trail still breathing is Sam. Roberta realizes sticking around will equate a death sentence for her people. They all jump from the semi-truck. Down the road, HBiC kills Sam and the truck explodes.
The gang backtracks up the road and grabs a truck. They set a destination for Minneapolis, chasing the lab information Wrecking Ball provided. Luck would have it, Murphy has Wrecking Ball in the car with him. He uses the guy to get directions to the lab. Despite running away, Murphy is still going in the same direction as the people who want to turn him in and make a cure from his blood.
Hopefully Wrecking Ball’s information is good, not clouded by all that Zombie Weed.
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.
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.
HBiC rallies his blasters to attack the wagon train with Murphy aboard. Murphy doesn’t stick around. The second he’s given a chance, he steals Sam’s oh-so-precious car, leaving the semi-truck and the medical truck far behind. Cassandra watches from the back seat. HBiC doesn’t have to work hard to overcome the wagon train, Sam’s son keels over and turns. Within a minute, every sick person in the medical truck is a blaster. Addy bails from the truck. The others practice awful aiming trying to kill the blasters before they jump onto the main truck after Addy. By this point, the only survivor from the original wagon trail still breathing is Sam. Roberta realizes sticking around will equate a death sentence for her people. They all jump from the semi-truck. Down the road, HBiC kills Sam and the truck explodes.
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.