Z Nation Season 2

The second season of Z Nation is even more full of zany situations, bloody zombie gore, and drama than the first season. Here are my spoilery thoughts on what I liked and what I didn't like.

The Good

* Addy

Addy goes through a lot in this season. Her utopia cult place (Sisters of Mercy) didn't work out when she found out that they were basically leading their male children to slaughter and being generally crazy. She rejoins with Mack and things just aren't the same after her betrayal. It was a mistake, but Addy is flawed like everyone. Then Mack dies suddenly, making Addy's worst nightmare come true as she is forced to give him mercy. I like that unlike The Walking Dead, there isn't any huge sudden character development to make his death seem more tragic. His character is established and people die all the time due to crazy random happenstance. It's sad that he died, but they were stuck as a couple and couldn't get past their obstacles. It opened up a new chapter in her life after she mourned. Addy is later revealed to be bisexual, discovering an attraction to woman. Shockingly, neither of them died and even though the relationship didn't continue, it showed that Addy will continue both in life and romantically. Here's to hoping she survives the next season.

* Cassandra's death

Notice I did not say Cassandra. After she was bitten and turned into a special Murphy slave zombie, Cassandra completely became a slave. There was nothing of her left and it was really disappointing. Her death at the hands of 10k was so touching and perfectly done because he cared about her enormously.

* The Over-the-top gore and humor

What really sets this apart from shows like The Walking Dead is the humor and the hilarious amount of gore. The Asylum really stepped it up this season with some pretty impressive effects like an eyeless zombie and crazy bloody zombie kills. The humor can get downright dark, but it's no less funny. The group runs into a Lincoln lookalike event with lots of zombie Lincolns that they are then forced to shoot in the head. Also, a giant cheese wheel crushes a whole slew of zombies. The characters are also less gloom and doom than the usual zombie apocalypse show. They are quick to see the humor and have some actual fun sometimes. The times Z Nation chooses to go emotionally is few and far between which I find refreshing.

* Doc

In the first season, I was indifferent to Doc. I remember an episode where he almost died and I didn't really care either way, but this season, he really flourishes as a character. He's an earnest person who cares for his friends. Generally, he tries to avoid conflict with others, but will throw himself into the fray if there is no avoiding it. I love that his credentials are in psychology and any knowledge he has is from watching ER. I really enjoy when he's onscreen and I hope to see more of him next season.

* Weird situations and more danger

Every week seems to have a crazy situation to get out of. Each episode has it's own off the wall situation: a CDC hating scientist, a zombie collector, people dressing up like aliens, Mexican gangsters, and a Zunami (zombie tsunami). The added danger comes in different forms as well. The mutated zombies exhibit different behaviors and seem to consciously work together. They are hardier than regularly zombies and more aggressive. Beyond zombies, the group is exposed to anthrax, a zombie baby, and almost a phony zombie cure.

* Tensions rising

Not all is serene with the group. 10k, after having to kill Cassandra, hates Murphy and only refrains destroying him as he's humanity's only chance for a cure. Murphy resents him for killing Cassandra who he viewed as just fine. In other tensions, Roberta and newcomer Vasquez have some heat between them, but he leaves after choosing to spare the man who killed his family.

The Bad

* Zombie Baby

I really liked Pie Lady who gave birth to Murphy's weird zombie kid and I was sad when she died. The baby was fine at first, but it attracts zombies, looks bizarre, and wouldn't shut up. I was pretty happy when Murphy left her with a family he bit to do his bidding. At the very end of the season, she looks quite a bit older which is so annoying. Why does everyone have to have super fast aging kids that will predictably stop the accelerated aging when they get to adulthood. I'm not sure what effect she will have in the future, but I don't think it will be good.

* Cassandra

Cassandra was an interesting character last year and she was reduced to a mind controlled slave. I really wanted her character to somehow break out of it and take advantage of her cool new zombie abilities, but she died instead. Much of the time, she dressed as Murphy would have wanted in stripper type clothing she never would have been caught dead in in life. I miss her, but I would rather have her dead than literally enslaved.

* Weird group mentality

At one point, the group doesn't want to go back for 10k when he was separated from the group. It was suddenly a huge deal to the group that it was wasted time. Seeing that he's a core part of the group not to mention a sharpshooter and they have detoured for much less, I felt it was completely out of character for the group. It was one incident, but it bothered me.

Z Nation is a fun, light hearted show that I hope will get even bigger and more ridiculous as it goes on. I can't wait for next season, especially after the bullshit season final of The Walking Dead.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

The Walking Dead: Season 5

Well, I couldn't wait and bingewatched season 5 as well so I could be all caught up for season 7 and Fear the Walking Dead. Here are my spoilerly thoughts on the season,.

The Good

* The Opening Scene of Episode 1

Fuck. No punches are pulled. It's crazy and gory. I have so many questions yet I'm so horrified by everything that's happening. Terminus is obviously a super fucked up place and what Woodbury really should have been two seasons ago. I'm glad they finally explored an organized place that is nefarious and uninterested in doing anything but survive at any cost.

* Carol

I didn't think I could like her any more than I already do. She singlehandedly saves Rick and the group from the Terminus psychos. She is smart and capable, but still has feelings, old wounds, and a caring side. She makes mistakes, gets exhausted, and always stays human, but her bravery despite her fear and against such odds is wonderful. I'm so glad of her existence after the abhorrent treatment of Andrea a few seasons ago. Her past confronts her when a wife beater is allowed to continue his abuse at the Community. It really highlights how much she's changed in addition to the deft way she manipulates people into finding her inconsequential and weak,

* What is moral?

At the time, Rick's drive to kill all the Terminus psychos seemed a little extreme. After Bob's leg is on the spit being eaten by those same people Rick wanted to kill, his fervor doesn't seem so misplaced. Carol wants to at least injure a man for stealing her and Daryl's weapons, but Daryl stops her. Is she right to do so? Should she just accept dying due to lack of resources instead of fighting for her livelihood back?

* Bob

I kind of hated him last season when he got people killed to get alcohol to fuel his addiction. He completely turned it around this season and became a productive member of the team. So then of course he dies. But before he did, his cackling at the cannibals eating his tainted meat was priceless.

* Beth

Beth used to just be there: not a horrible character, but not great either. Last season, she became someone interesting and now she's a badass. She may not be the most physically strong person, but she's clever and knows how to survive. Her quiet strength in the face of the idiots at the Grady Memorial Hospital earned her so many brownie points. So of course she's killed and I cried everywhere.

* Grady Memorial Hospital

Beth is essentially kidnapped and held hostage by a group of delusional people who think the world will just get better one day. It quickly becomes clear that there's something rotten there. The police officers are the ruling class and can do whatever they want: hit, rape, kill, and even enslave people. The worst is that they manipulate people into buying into their bullshit. The leader, Officer Dawn Lerner, seems earnest, but then doesn't hesitate to beat a man for something she knows he didn't do or force medical attention on someone who clearly doesn't want it. It's interesting to see how people with dubious morality cope and control others in this situation.

* The nonlinear plotlines

It's cool to see a little bit of what everyone is doing. I liked the variety and it was much better done than in past seasons. It jumps to each group pretty evenly without staying with anyone too long.

* The struggle to trust people

Lots of people along the way have been evil or cannibals or just batshit nuts. When a new opportunity at a community pops up, they aren't as eager as they were before. Terminus and Woodbury really burned them, so it's surprising to me that so many of them are eager to risk their lives.

* The first gay couple on the show

Eric and Aaron are just adorable together. Aaron fights to sleep next to his boyfriend during the night despite Rick's concern and his itchy trigger finger. I'm glad the show didn't change just because some homophobes went on Twitter to complain.

* The Alexandria Safe Zone

Deanna just exudes genuine niceness and I do believe she nice, but too nice.. She puts her idiot, privileged son in his place and seems to succeed at being fair and good at managing the community. Later in the series, she's shown to be just terrible. Her idiot son and her inept people cause deaths. Deanna allows corrupt people do what they want because of their usefulness to their community. She allows a woman to be beaten because her disgusting husband is a surgeon. Her solution to wrongdoers is to exile them instead of kill them. The whole thing is revealed to be horribly run, easy to circumvent their rules, and ripe for taking over. I hope Rick's group takes over and runs it competently. They know how things work and have tried being merciful before. It always bites them in the ass with people coming back for revenge.

It's so bizarre to see clean people, normal looking houses, and nice clothes. It broke my heart when Carl seemed lost when the other teens wanted to do normal teen things. It's also interesting to see if they really do have good intentions or not. So far, they've proven themselves to be inept and are just waiting around for someone to take them over. Sasha's reaction at the dinner party was perfect in showing the absurdity of these people's inane worries over life on the outside. That life that can quickly become their lives with only a few mistakes. These people have been insulated from reality. They simply haven't had to be brave or make hard decisions. When things go bad, these people are quick to let others die and save their own skins.

* Rick

Rick may sound crazy, but he's right. He's become broken a little (maybe a lot), but it's made him strong and he knows how to survive. How far is too far though?

* Wolves

New villain for next season!  W's on walkers' foreheads and mutilated corpses have been present in the last half of the season. They seem creepy as fuck and super bad news. Can't wait for next season!

The Bad

* Gabriel, the Idiot Priest

Father Gabriel hid in his church and allowed people to die outside of it before Rick's group even met him. The priest is icked out by everything that reminds him of reality: the hard decisions, the necessity of weapons, protecting themselves, etc. He treats Rick's group like they are monsters when he is in reality much more monstrous because he stood by and let his people die. There's way too much of him. He runs around scared outside and then expects the group he just escaped from to come and save him. He offers Maggie solace, but he doesn't know anything about her grief. Ugh. Just annoying. Then he tells Deanna that Rick and his group are literally Satan and they want to destroy the community. Really??? But wait, there's more. He lets walkers into the community and then goes all crazy on Sasha when she just wanted some reassurance.

* Tyrese's, Bob's, and Noah's Deaths

Tyrese's death seems unnecessary and anticlimactic after Beth's death plus the hallucinations of other dead characters just came off as gimmicky. All the others are just more contrived emotions and don't really give much to the story.

* Super fast character development right before their death

The Walking Dead writers seem to only care about character development for minor characters right before they die so it hurts more. It would be nice if they just organically developed instead of using something that should be an inherent part of the story to hamhandedly emotionally manipulate the audience.

Overall, The Walking Dead is the first season in a long time that I had so few complaints about. I'm glad I powered through season 4 and I can't wait to see what season 6 holds in store.