The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 1

Sabrina Spellman is part of two worlds: the witch world and mortal world. As her sixteenth birthday nears, she has to decide if she sign her name in the Book of the Beast during her dark baptism which will mean she serves Satan and leaves her mortal life forever. Her home is steeped in magic with her aunts Zelda and Hilda, who have raised her since her parents died in a plane crash, and her cousin Ambrose being witches. Her best friends Susie and Roz plus her beloved boyfriend Harvey are part of her regular, mortal high school and in integral part of her life. How can she choose between two such integral parts of her life?

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina started out as a pitch dark 60's style comic book reimagining of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. The adaptation to television changed quite a bit, making it more appropriate for teens, dialing back the horror elements, changing many characters entirely, and setting the show in present day with a retro flare. The show is a bit of a mixed bag with some unique elements and some that fall flat.

The world of witches is extremely entertaining with its over the top and dramatic nature, rituals, and long list of rules. They worship Satan and seem rather evil, but most situations with anything truly dark are played off comedically or pulled back before anything horrific happens. For instance, cannibalism seems to a typical part of their rituals and done just for fun, but it's either stopped before it happens (even though this particular ritual happens every year) or in a dream and so over the top it isn't taken seriously (even though the meal is a child). There is also an added element where the show says that witches can't love, but we see plenty of witch characters expressing love: Zelda and Hilda for Sabrina, Ambrose and his boyfriend, and the High Priest for his wife and child. I love the aesthetics and creepiness of this brand of fictional Satanism, but the tone is confused and doesn't seem to know if it's supposed to be evil, good, or somewhere in between.

Sabrina is a frustrating character who throws herself into dangerous situations without a thought to who might get hurt or what could go wrong. Her selfishness extends to how she treats her boyfriend and uses magic on him or around him to solve problems. She even goes as far as to commit murder as long is it can be magically reversed. Her main goal is to defeat Satan even while she draws power from him to do magic. Sabrina is more selfish and arrogant, thinking what she's doing is good even as it blows up in her face and hurts everyone around her. The worst instance is when she brings back Harvey's brother from the dead after he died in a mine accident. She didn't know that his soul has be brought back as well and doesn't want to take responsibility for her huge mistake. This chosen one story is a bit of a let down when the person is one of the worst on the show.

The best characters on the show are Zelda and Hilda. Zelda and Hilda are co-dependent and very different from each other. Zelda is completely devout in her faith and strives to be what Satan and the High Priest want her to be. At every turn, she panics that Sabrina is being led on the wrong path. She seems to hate and resent Hilda, but deep down she truly loves and depends on her. Her snarky comments, constant smoking, and fashionable black outfits improve every scene she's in. Hilda is the most sunny and cheerful of the whole show. She's completely supportive of Sabrina and doesn't let her church, her sister, or anything change her at her core. When she becomes excommunicated from the church, she goes on with her life and takes steps to become more independent. I'm eager to see more of these two in the next season.

Other favorites include Sabrina's cousin Ambrose and Madame Satan. Ambrose has so many more problems than Sabrina, but she can only come to him when she needs something instead of thinking of solutions for his house arrest or offering any help at all. His relationship with Luke is the most adorable of the show and the one I care the most about. He's one of the most intriguing characters of the show and he's criminally underutilized at this point. Madame Satan, on the other hand, is in almost every episode behind the scenes, pulling the strings to get Sabrina to turn towards Satan. She takes the form of Mrs. Wardwell, but killed her and essentially puppets her form. Madam Satan saves Sabrina at almost every turn, acting as one part fairy godmother, one part master manipulator. Michelle Gomez infuses the character with confidence, attitude, and a healthy dose of evil.

Sabrina, Susie, and Roz are best friends for years, but Sabrina has been keeping her witch background a secret. Her friends wouldn't really understand her background and make assumptions about it based on the whole Satan thing while her witch family and acquaintances don't understand why she can't let go entirely of her mortal life and friends. Susie and Roz have their own awakenings to latent abilities, but still treat Sabrina poorly when she finally tells them. Her boyfriend Harvery is the only one with a reasonable reaction of betrayal when he finds out how Sabrina continually manipulated him and made his problems worse with magic. Ross Lynch is an amazing actor and he hasn't really been able to show it on the show quite yet.

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina isn't as chilling or horrific as I would like. However, it has an aesthetic and characters that keep me watching despite the very many flaws. Some have complained about the scenes with blurry edges, but I think it gives the show a distinctive style. The colors are absolutely beautiful and the fashions are on point. In every episode, numerous subtle horror film references are in character's clothing or the backgrounds or in set pieces, like the Suspiria skylight in the Spellman home. I hope further seasons will fix some of these problems and let characters shine that didn't get the opportunity quite yet.

My rating: 3.5/5 fishmuffins

iZombie Season 3

* spoilers *

The third season of iZombie brings a lot of huge changes to the zombie and human communities alike. The end of the second season reveals a much bigger and more organized underground zombie community. The company Fillmore-Graves gives protection and cover to zombies, which includes destroying the evidence at Max Rager, employing zombies, and providing vision-free brains to them. Their propaganda posters to fit in On the other hand, the more visible zombie events, even though covered up, give rise to anti-zombie groups that kill zombies indiscriminantly. As a result of that and the rapidly impending Z day when humans will discover zombies, Fillmore-Graves and the organized zombies are planning for a sanctuary island in case humans become hostile towards them. The danger to zombiekind shows itself to be human fear and hatred. The very first episode, an entire family of zombies is killed just for being zombies. Things get progressively worse afterwards.

Liv and Major take opposing stances in this new world. Liv continues her work, eating brains of murder victims and using the visions to stop their murders. Some of the portrayals were a little over the top for my taste like the kindergarten teacher, but others were hilarious. Major acting like a teenager and Liv like his father was comedy gold. Plus the Dungeons and Dragons episode had all of Liv's friends playing the game together and some more silly role playing. She isn't a fan of Fillmore-Graves being so controlling and still does what she thinks is right. Major, on the other hand, goes full force into the Fillmore-Graves military where he has a fresh start. His reputation is sunk after being revealed as the Chaos Killer. People graffiti his house, sensationalize his life, and generally treat him. The zombies know the real situation and recognize how he saved a bunch of lives. It's the only place that people don't loathe him, so he throws himself in full force even when he becomes human, putting himself in life threatening situations. Liv operates independently despite a ruling zombie power and Major submits himself to it completely.

Other characters get to become more essential to the plot. Don E took over after Blaine lost his memory, but he's taking more of a mastermind role both by himself and under the command of Blaine's father Angus. He becomes the manager of a zombie bar called The Scratching Post where drinks have brains and you have to eat a habanero pepper just to get in. Blaine returns to himself midseason when he traps his father in a well and takes over his business. He pretended that the memory loss that came with the zombie cure was permanent to turn over a new leaf and please Peyton, but his plan failed and he throws himself full force into crime once again. Ravi goes through a lot of personal drama with Peyton and makes many advances in the study of zombies.

The best and biggest development comes at the very end of the series. A deadly flu outbreak spreads rapidly, affecting only the human community. The executive Fillmore Graves orchestrated it as a reaction to all the anti-zombie violence and many in the company support the decision. The zombies who don't agree save the humans by revealing zombies to the public and turning the infected humans into zombies in order to save them. Zombies are out of the bag and heavily concentrated in Seattle now. How will the whole world react to this? Where will they get their brains? I'm so hyped for the next season!

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

Ash vs. Evil Dead

After all his epic adventures with Deadites and thirty years later, Ashley Williams still works at ValueShop. lives in a trailer park, and goes to dive bars to pick up women. To woo a woman, he stupidly reads from the Necronomicon and brings the Deadites back. As Ash leaves a trail of possessed and dead people behind him, detective Amanda Fisher chases him across the country while he travels with his two young coworkers Kelly and Pablo to return the Deadites to where they belong.

I was never a super huge fan of the original Evil Dead films. I understood why they were important to the horror genre and their innovation in horror comedy and practical effects. I decided to give the show a try and I'm so happy I did. It has almost everything from the original films merged with a compelling story and likeable characters. The show brings back Bruce Campbell to his iconic role as undeservedly arrogant Ash with his chainsaw hand, one liners, and brash attitude. The only difference from Ash from the films is that he's now aging ungracefully and refuses to see it. He has a simple mentality: shoot now, think never. He's much older, pathetic, not very smart, and completely unapologetic.but he's so charismatic and fun that you still root for him through all his bumbling and mistakes. Speaking of mistakes, he thought it would be a great idea to summon a demon to fight the Deadites, but didn't think about the aftermath.

The new characters fit well with the show. Pablo and Kelly provide a voice of reason to Ash's antics. Pablo is desperate to be cool in Ash's eyes and in love with Kelly. He was raised by his shaman uncle who prophesied of a man who fights evil called El Jefe. Pablo is absolutely convinced this is Ash and believes in him even when Ash has his own doubts. Sometimes even Ash's most deplorable actions get even Pablo to judge him badly. Kelly, on the other hand, is less eager to join the group. She is focused on running from her past, but finds a kind of family with Ash and Pablo. She judges Ash harshly, but still follows him and works to beat the Deadites with him. Pablo and Kelly provide different perspectives on situations and give Ash some perspective at times.

The Deadites are back to their old tricks. Regular zombies are bad enough when someone sees a loved one rotting and attacking them. Deadites take it to crazy lengths. One minute they will spew obscenities and insults and the next weep at the attacks in a perfect imitation of the loved one. These are living or dead people possessed by Kandarian demons who have a hive mind. Not all of them are zombies, but the majority of them end up that way. At their core, they are dark tricksters who delight in mayhem and chaos. In the show, they have a mysterious leader and an ultimate goal that concentrates their efforts, making them even more dangerous than before.

The show is hilariously disgusting with blood and vomit splattered liberally. Unfortunately, the effects are primarily CGI instead of practical effects. The effects are the most revolutionary thing about the original films and it's disappointing to see the legacy stop. I suspect it's a budget and time constraint issue. I've resigned myself to the CGI because it doesn't look terrible and the soul of the show is intact. It's a fun, gory, over the top horror comedy that's a worthy follow up to the original films. The only other problem I had was that half hour episodes are way too short. Other than that, I loved every minute. The ending to the season was perfect and I can't wait to see the repercussions in season 2.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

Current Zombies Coming to Get You: Z Nation Season 3

Z Nation is back with a two hour season premiere! It doesn't take place after the second season finale, but sometime when the Zombaby is still a baby, Cassandra is still alive, and the group is still on its way to California to find the CDC.  The Z Nation team meets an interesting group that tried to cure the Z1N1 with a fungus, but failed. The people infected with the fungus are stuck in limbo, not dead but not able to communicate. This group is under fire by The Man, working for a rich, aged man living as if zombies don't exist. He wants a doctor there, but the people know no one ever returns if taken my him. Warren and her group of course step in to save them and fight back.

This episode reminded me why I like this show. It combines emotional drama, ridiculous humor, and stalwart, competent characters. This ultra long episode was entertaining, but the only new thing to come out of it is a new set of villains. It's still nice to see Doc, Addy, Murphy, 10k, and Warren do what they do best. Murphy shines this episode as he expresses deep sympathy for those infected by the fungus. He can hear them and acts as translator to the living, leading to some pretty emotional conversations. I liked some of the new characters including the Man with his weird quirks. It'll be interesting how they all come into play in in the present state of the show. Check it out on SyFy Channel if you haven't yet!

Upcoming Zombies Sneaking Up Behind You Part 2

More zombie things in different media coming up soon!

* The Walking Dead Season 7

The last season of The Walking Dead (which I reviewed a couple of months ago here) ended on a huge, disingenuous cliffhanger. We don't know who Negan kills at the end of the episode and we won't find out until October 23rd. The entire group is emotionally and physically broken, especially Rick. It will be interesting to see if they can overcome delightfully evil Negan and shake of this significant defeat. I hope Carol and Daryl get to shine more this season. Looking forward to it!

* Ash vs. Evil Dead Season 2

Ash is back on October 2! I'm so curious to see what happens after the explosive ending to the first season. Bruce Campbell and Lucy Lawless return as archenemies Ash and Ruby. Ray Santiago and Dana DeLorenzo return as Ash's much smarter sidekicks Pablo and Kelly. Ted Raimi joins the cast as Ash's childhood best friend. Lee Majors is also joining as Ash's dad. I hope the episodes are longer. The half hour episodes are way too short and leave me hungry for more Deadite craziness and Ash delusion.

* Here Alone



This film won multiple awards at the Tribeca Film Festival and I couldn't be more excited for it. It seems to capture the isolation and bleak nature of a zombie apocalypse situation. The film seems to focus more on humans than on zombies, but zombies are what have irrevocably changed their world. Here's the synopsis from the official website below:

Deep in New York’s upstate wilderness, Ann, a young woman in her late 20’s, struggles to survive after a mysterious epidemic decimates society. On the constant brink of starvation, Ann leads an isolated and regimented life. Haunted by memories of her past she also battles the current bloodthirsty threat that lurks just outside of the forests borders, those that the epidemic has infected.

When her food stores run dangerously low Ann must make the desperate journey into a nearby town to forage for any remaining food. During one of these raids, a chance encounter brings Olivia, a teenage girl, and her injured stepfather, Chris, into Ann’s life and regimen of survival.

Learning that Chris and Olivia are trying to go further north, where the infection is supposedly contained, Ann allows them stay at her wooded camp so they can prepare for their journey. Initially reluctant to let her emotional barrier down, Ann relents as Chris’s affable nature erases some of the pain the epidemic and her past choices have caused. While Ann and Chris grow close, Olivia becomes bitter, feeling distanced from the man she has depended on for both physical and emotional survival.

As an uneasy tension grows, their lives are threatened when the protective forest is breached by the infected. Under attack, Ann is forced to confront her past and make a decision that will irrevocably alter their collective existence and survival. 

The film is set to release in theaters and VOD in 2017.

* Small addendum to the last Upcoming Zombies post: The Girl with All the Gifts is set to release in LA at the Egyptian Theater on October 11.

Watch out for those zombies!

Women in Horror: Penny Dreadful Season 2

Penny Dreadful continues to be an amazing show in its second season. Here are my spoilery thoughts.

The Good

Vanessa Ives

Although the cast is quite extensive, Vanessa is clearly one of the main characters. She is both the most tortured and complex character on the show. I love her ability to be opposing things at the same time: disciplined and wild, weak and powerful, prickly yet deeply sympathetic and kind. This season goes more into her history and shows how she harnessed her powers with the help of the Cut Wife, an abortionist and witch that locals hate but ask things of on a regular basis. In this season, we see new sides of Vanessa. She spends episodes in solitude, frightened out of her mind because of the new villain's torments, most uncharacteristic of her after last season. She grows throughout the season, deepens her relationships, creates new relationships, and comes out stronger than before. Her conversations with John Clare/Caliban were some of the best written and it was nice to have them interact since they previously hadn't. I'm glad the writers turned away from continually punishing her evil vagina and harping on her past, one time transgression. Of course she can't be happy though. She and Ethan developed a relationship, but he left due to his wolfy state even though she accepts him completely just as he accepts her. Eva Green is always magnetic on screen, but especially as the most intriguing Vanessa.

Brona/Lily

At first, I was upset by Brona's transformation into the subservient Lily. Brona was fiery and defiant where Lily was just happy to be whatever Victor wanted her to be. Victor and Brona's relationship was frankly kind of gross and disturbing to watch. He creeped on her naked dead body, convinced her he was her cousin, and then manipulated her while she was vulnerable and ignorant. Victor grew controlling and brutish as their relationship progressed. He wanted her to be only his and didn't even want her to leave the house. Brona pretty much manipulated him and fooled everyone from day one. She turned into this vengeful angel for women and highlighted the discrimination, abuse, and degradation of women during this era. The speech below is amazing and gratifying in a show set in the Victorian era. Much of the shows events are unrealistic in regard to the treatment of women and it's nice to see that acknowledgement and such a strong response to it. The end of the series has her teaming up with fellow immortal Dorian Gray, dreaming of world domination.



* The Villains

This season's villains are a coven of evil witches that worship and serve the devil in return for youth and power. These ladies don't mess around. They cross taboos of all different kinds to achieve their goals. One particularly controversial scene features one of the witches brutally killing a couple and their baby, taking the baby's body back to their lair, and using its heart to cast a spell. In 2015. it's still taboo to kill a baby or child on film. It gets under people's skin to destroy the most vulnerable and innocent of society. Even though these villains are women, they don't spare the innocent and have no stereotypical maternal instincts towards children. They are formidable opponents and send Vanessa cowering. I wish the ending hadn't been so lackluster.

* Angelique

Angelique is a transwoman during the Victorian era. It's well known how women have fared and transwoman had it much worse. She was rejected by her family and decided to live as her real self instead of pretending to be someone else for their benefit. Angelique works as a prostitute, but has the freedom to be who she is for the most part. She's a bright light in the show because she's so confident, untouched by all the horrible shit in this world. Her boldness, confidence, and joy made the show a little less pitch black. It was nice to see someone not totally depressed or crippled with fear. Her relationship with Dorian was sweet. It was refreshing to see a couple happy instead of tortured, trying to keep each other apart for whatever reason. The other controversial scene of the season features Dorian and Angelique having sex in one of the most explicit scenes I've seen on TV. Angelique is obviously still physically how she was born since there is no alternative at the time, so this scene ruffled a lot of feathers and had people clutching their pearls. I love how the show always treated her as a women no matter her physicality or her dress. Of course this world isn't accepting of her, so we see some of that plus some of her ensuing doubt and temptation to pretend to be what everyone thinks she should be. The only problem with her story line is that it didn't really relate to anything else going on except revealing Dorian's portrait and the ending of her story line.

* The Cinematography and Costumes

There are so many gorgeous scenes in this series even though it's bloody and messy.

* Things to look forward to next season

On top of more beautiful costumes and sets, so many things are in store next season: Dorian and Lily teaming up to take over the world, Ethan's trial, Caliban's next steps, Vanessa's more healthy future, and Dr. Frankenstein's self loathing and pain over creating homicidal creatures.

The Bad

* Dorian Gray

Most of his story is outside of the main story and he becomes pretty evil for no apparent reason. I like him with Lily, but not at the expense of Angelique and her life. She was accepting and he rejected her in the end after treating her like garbage when he found someone shinier and newer. I get that his whole thing is being a hedonist, but that doesn't necessarily mean evil.

* Caliban/John Clare

Caliban is an interesting character and outside of the threatening to kill everyone in Victor's life and mooning over Lily, he hasn't really done much. His stagnant story line became interesting the end when the people he worked with tried to imprison him as a sideshow freak. That end is predictable but satisfying. I did really enjoy his scenes with Vanessa in the shelter for cholera patients where they spoke of literature, poetry, and life. She treated him as a human and he acted his best. He's a philosopher and romantic at heart. His threats and violence are more a reaction to people's horrible treatment of him than an inherent part of his nature.

* The ending

The witches were formidable villains and I was genuinely worried about Vanessa and her friends. Unfortunately, the final battle was a bit anticlimactic and of course one of them easily gets away to make trouble later. It's just a bit anticlimactic.

Overall, Penny Dreadful season 2 is much more even than the first. Almost everything has gotten better and the problems I had were few.

Upcoming Zombies Sneaking Up Behind You: Part 2

These zombies aren't quite here yet, but will try to eat your brains very soon. Keep an eye out!

1) Antisocial 2

I watched the first installment about the social media virus zombifying everyone. The followup's plot is as follows from IMDB: "Years after having her newborn child stolen from her, Sam searches a world infested with infected users from the Social Redroom website. After befriending a young girl named Bean, Sam is captured and locked in a facility dedicated to finding a cure for the Redroom Virus. Trapped and tortured, Sam tries to escape the facility before in impending update on the Redroom site hits 100% and unleashes its final phase of attack."

I liked the first film, so I'll definitely give this one a try and hope that it's as relevant and well executed as the first. Michelle Mylett returns as Sam and Cody Calahan returns to direct. It has debuted at Fantasia Film Festival in Canada. No word on a US release yet, but cross your fingers for this year. Check out the trailer below.

2) iZombie Season 2

The happiest zombie show on TV returns for another season already! The second season will also have 13 episodes and answer such questions as to how will Liv act when she eats frat boy brains? How will her parents react after she refuses to donate zombie infected blood to her severely injured brother? Will Ravi be able to replicate the zombie antidote? Will Major be as badass and/or annoying as he was last season? I have to know these answers! I will be tuning in on October 6 for the premier and reviewing that season for next year's September Zombies. Check out the trailer below.

3) The Walking Dead Season 6

Rick and company are back this October 11 with another 16 episodes to pick up where they left off: Rick and company at the have after he just killed the wife beater and murderer of the leader's husband. I can't wait to see the new villains called the Wolves. Signs of them were all over the first season at first with the walkers with W's carved on their foreheads and then with depraved tableaux of cruelty and torture. There also seems to be dissent in Rick's ranks after his mostly unilateral decision to kill murderer guy and essentially take over their new home. I can't wait to see what happens! Check out the trailer below.



More zombie fun to come!

Z Nation Season 1

Z Nation is a zombie show in an apocalypse situation. Although there are inevitable similarities to The Walking Dead, it treads very different territory with a completely different attitude. It starts in an outbreak situation with inmates being experimented on to create a vaccine for the Z1N1 virus. One actually works, but the recipient gets mauled by zombies right afterwards. Fast forward three years and society has collapsed. A hodgepodge group of survivors commits to transport the immune man, Murphy, to a CDC facility in California. The other part of the group is Citizen Z, a sole survivor in Arctic's Northern Lights NSA listening post. He uses his high-tech equipment to tap into cameras everywhere to help the group. They start in New York and slowly but surely making their way to California and encounter friends, depraved groups, and lots of zombies along the way.

The show is made by The Asylum production company, responsible for films like Sharknado, so the tone is sometimes cheesy and silly plus the effects at times are not good quality. The humor is nice because people aren't all serious all the time. The tone also sets it apart from other movies and shows that have similar situations. Some scenes are so ridiculous I can't help but laugh. A few of such scenes include a zunami (zombie tsunami), a zombie bear I could have photoshopped better, a horrible looking zombie baby, Viagra zombies, and a tornado that everyone improbably survives. Also, so many of the villains are over the top caricatures who should be tying a girl to some railroad tracks. I don't always like these parts, but it is nice to have a less than serious show in an apocalypse situation. I simply roll my eyes at the bad parts and keep enjoying the good parts. Another part of the cheesiness is the over the top gore of zombie killing, which meshes well with the horror-comedy vibe.

Z Nation has a lot going for it: an interesting premise and especially the intriguing, well developed characters. I didn't expect to even like any of the characters because movies like Sharknado are all about being really cheesy and fun with not much substance underneath it. These characters are all different and interesting in their own right. My favorite is Murphy, the zombie immune curmudgeon. His mental and physical state changes throughout the course of the season. He starts out as an asshole and that part doesn't really change. However, as the season goes on, he becomes more zombie like and does things that range from morally questionable to downright evil. About mid-season, zombies don't register him as human and near the end of the season, he discovers his zombie immune state comes with some interesting powers. I love that such a gray character who does some awful things might actually save the world. The season is one of self discovery for him and he has to decide what to do with his new found power. Roberta Warren was surprising. Her relationship with Tom first reminded me of Mal and Zoe from Firefly, but it organically evolved into a romantic relationship. After he died, she hurt and made some bad decisions, but she successfully took his place as badass, no-nonsense leader. Addy is my last favorite character, accomplished zombie slayer and tortured by suppressed memories of the first zombie day. She gets a different character arc from the others and works through her debilitating trauma.

The episodes get better as they go along. The first few episodes have absolutely painful dialog, but the writers get to know the characters and actors better as it goes along. Some of the episodes are typical zombie apocalypse fare (cannibals, weirdos, running out of supplies, etc.). Others are much different if a bit over the top. The group encounters radioactive zombies, nuclear bombs, zombie worshippers, a society of misandrist women, a Russian astronaut, and of course Murphy. Episode 8 is where I really needed to see the next episode. In the previous episodes, characters were a little uneven or the cheesiness was too great. In one particular episode, Doc somehow avoids being crushed by a giant flaming zombie and in the few minutes the group actually think he's dead, no one even seems to care. Moments like that made it hard to watch, but I'm glad I kept with it. I do like that unlike the Walking Dead, sometimes people just die with no buildup. It's just a split second decision or mistake that takes someone's life. The Walking Dead builds up the character more to make it hurt the audience more, but if the characters are competently written and not forgotten in the background for most of the seasons, this shouldn't be an issue.

Z Nation is a bit of a mess, but it's fun, different from the zombie shows out there, and has some of the most interesting characters. The second season has just started and it's literally explosive beginning had me on the edge of my seat. I hope the show continues to get better and better and amasses a faithful audience. I was first interested in it because Rhiannon Frater, author of the As the World Dies series, wrote about it every week and now is involved with a podcast that comments on each episode. Z Nation season 1 is available on Netflix and season 2 airs on Friday nights on SyFy channel.

My rating: 7/10

Current Zombies Coming to Get You: Z Nation

Z Nation Season 2 is starting tonight! I bingewatched the first season about a week ago and it's a weird mix of cool characters, over the top cheesiness, humor, and cool characters. I recommend you give it a chance. Although comparisons to The Walking Dead are inevitable, it's simply a different show that diverts greatly after the initial similar premise. Here are some shots of the craziness this season with a guaranteed explosive beginning:

You can also play an awesome interactive game in a choose your adventure style that puts you right into the show and the quest to find Murphy. Try it here! It doesn't like Chrome, but I know it definitely works in Firefox. Enjoy!

The Walking Dead: Season 4

Midway through Season 4 when it first aired, I decided not to watch the show anymore. I didn't care for where the show was going and they killed off Andrea. However, I keep seeing interesting things on my newsfeed about the show that make me want to give it a chance. So I bingewatched it over the summer. Read on for spoilers and thoughts on this season.

The Good

* Broken Humans

The people who simply can't adapt to the world and break are fascinating. Clara in the very first episode tries to feed Rick to her zombified husband. Even the Governor's group only wanted someplace safe and allowed themselves to be manipulated into needless violence. Lizzie simply thinks zombies are still people, but different. She feels bad for them and doesn't want them to die. She even makes friends with them, which is sweet and a nice thought on the surface. The reality is that this mentality is dangerous and insane. Her actions put their whole group in danger and eventually ends up murdering her best friend without even knowing the full ramifications of that act.

* Carol

Carol is my new favorite character. She used to be incredibly annoying, but she was the victim of abuse and really grew as a person. She does what's needed and what others shy away from: trying to prevent disease from spreading, adeptly killing zombies, and teaching the children how to survive. With her help, the children come to terms with the new world and are exposed to harsh realities. She also makes the hard decision to kill Lizzie when she proves to be a danger to any human.

* Hershel

I was annoyed with Hershel before, but he's proven to be amazing. He took care of the sick even though he could contract the disease and deals with the most dangerous situations with calm and caring. He's just so reasonable and makes the impossible seem possible. His death was all the more tragic because he really shined this season. I love the flashback in the last episode showing how Hershel influenced the group to settle, farm, and become a real community.

* The Death of the Governor

Yay! No more of his boring story.

* The separation of the main group

This created great opportunities to explore unlikely friendships and relationships like Daryl and Beth, Maggie and Sasha, and Carl and Michonne. We get to see the characters in different settings than just scavenging and in the prison plus they reveal more about their respective backgrounds.

* Bad-Ass End of Season Rick

Rick is back to his old self when he saves Carl. He's on top of his game when he notices the Terminus people wearing their friends' clothes. I respect him so much more when he's in his real leader position, making split second decisions and protecting his group. Also, his scene where he was recuperating and hiding from the psycho hillbillies throughout the house was an amazing scene. Crazy suspense everywhere. More of this Rick please.

The Bad

* The Governor

The Governor should have died at the end of last season, but the writers kept him alive just to interrupt the entire story in the middle of the season. Why have a series of episodes just focused on him? I personally don't care about him and his new found family. He's still an awful person and I don't care about his softer side. Sure he has feelings and junk, but he still kills people for essentially no reason and makes dumb decisions. I agree that it's nice to have a villain with dimension, but the story seems to say "look how nice he is" and then undoes all of that with the murder of Hershel and the attack on the prison.

* Bossy Mid-Season Rick

Rick is still making judgments for the group without regard to anyone else despite denying for the whole first half of the season that he is no longer the leader. He banishes Carol without consulting anyone else. Just annoying.

* Tyrese

Why is he even there? Tyrese just picks fights with people and gets super violent over practically nothing. He should have been kicked out long before Carol was. He's a pretty ineffectual character.


* Carl

Please don't treat your concussed and injured dad like crap. The adventures of inept Carl in episode 9 went on way too long.

* Why is season 5 not on Netflix? I won't be watching in the fall if I'm not all caught up plus the cliffhanger is killing me!

Overall, Season 4 is decent. I really did not enjoy the Governor stuff and I couldn't get past it the first time I watched it. Onwards to season 5!