We're Alive - A Zombie Story of Survival is a narrative podcast that tells the story of a group of survivors after a zombie outbreak. The main character of the series is Michael Cross, a Sergeant in the Army on reserve to go to college when the world essentially ends. He and his military friends Angel, and Saul escape their base to an apartment building, where they meet Pegs, Lizzy, and Riley and fortify it together, dubbing it the Tower. As they gather more and more survivors, inner conflicts arise while the dead still being a significant problem. While all this is happening, remaining inmates from a prison settle a strip mall and fight with them over resources until the Mallers launch a full attack. Then, the zombies seem to have a leader much more intelligent than the others who seems to want them dead.
The entire series is 4 seasons with 48 chapters, not including their spin-off series Lockdown. Each chapter is broken up into 3 parts in 20 to 30 minutes chunks except for season/series finales. It's described by its creators as a theater for the mind, which is pretty accurate. The story is told in a few different ways from direct dialogue from characters to inner monologues or journal entries all with the sound effects and background music. The series is extremely well done and immersive with a large cast of actors, memorable characters, and intricate stories. The cast grows as the show goes on and occasionally is forced to separate. People die along the way of course, but the core group stays working together against all odds.
I especially enjoy how varied the cast is and how realistic they are. Michael as the leader through most of the series isn't perfect. He leads with a cool head and logical reasoning, but he's isn't immune from panic, anger, and irrational decisions. When they are hit with their first real conflict, he's ready to give up until the people he has inspired along the way basically yell at him to suck it up and help. My favorite characters are Riley, Datu, CJ, and Burt. Riley has the biggest character transformation through the series as a cook who ends up as a competent soldier looking for revenge. Engineer Datu doesn't seem like typical hero, but he has important non-combat skills and a huge heart. Gruff and marksman Burt is a gruff older man whose loyalty is unparalleled. CJ is probably the most capable person in the whole series who always has main plans, backup plans, and contigencies for everything. Even characters I thought were annoying or awful grow to have something admirable or understandable about them.
The zombie disease has an unknown origin with bites, scratches, and infected blood transmitting the disease. Most exposure to the disease leads to a rapid turn, but some people can turn over the course of days. Zombies can sense people through smell, hearing, and sight, but can be fooled by chemicals overpowering human's scent. They tend to hunt in packs and the ones from the LA area seem to act different than the others. The rest of the zombies are much different than the ones we typically see in stories.Behemoths are huge with thick skin, never seem to get tired, strength enough to bash through walls. They prove to be extremely hard to kill. There are smaller ones who are extremely fast with thicker skin and have limited ability to speak. Jumpers are taller than the average human and can jump over long distances. Runners are capable of running 50mph or more. The smart ones were intelligent people in life who can still reason, set traps, make fire, and recognize danger. Their leader is known as Ink, who is almost indistinguishable from humans and commands the other zombies. He's led many successful attacks against various groups and sees Michael's group as a significant threat.
The only problems I had with the series have to do with convenience and some of the women in the series. I felt that too many of the central group were alive at the end and when a couple members do die, circumstances are unique to them for no real reason. I was particularly disappointed with how Lizzy's possible sexual assault was treated. It came off as people being more concerned about the parentage of Lizzy's baby for Saul rather than being concerned about Lizzy's wellbeing. Saul also brings up the incident framed as infidelity, which is pretty disgusting. It also seemed like unlikeable men were supposed to be seen as still good people underneath while unlikeable women like Kelly (in the first season) weren't treated the same way. Maybe it's because it's mostly through Michael's eyes, but it bothered me.
Other than that, We're Alive is addictive. I listened to it in over the course of a month or so. It took me a little bit to get into it, but after the first season, I was hooked. It made my commute to and from work enjoyable. I am eager to start the spin-off Lockdown and two new ones are the works called Goldrush and Scout's Honor, which should start airing sometime soon. You can also check out We're Alive: Archives, which is available through their Patreon and has director commentary and behind the scenes goodies. Despite the problems I had, I will continue to listen because it's one of the best quality narrative podcasts out there.
My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins
