Review Guide:
Episode 1.01 Pilot - Review & Advanced Preview
Episode 1.02 Fracking Zombies - Review
Episode 1.03 Philly Feast - Review
Episode 1.04 Full Metal Zombie - Review
Episode 1.05 Home Sweet Zombie - Review
Episode 1.06 Resurrection Z - Review
Episode 1.07 Welcome to the FU-Bar - Review
Episode 1.08 Zunami - Review
Episode 1.09 Die Zombie Die...Again - Review
Episode 1.10 Going Nuclear Review
Episode 1.11 Sisters of Mercy Review
Episode 1.12 Murphy's Law - Review
Episode 1.13 Doctor of the Dead (Season Finale) - Review
Z Nation - Doctor of the Dead (Season Finale) - Review
The long journey to get Murphy to a lab finally came to an end when the group arrived at the Colorado lab, after the plan to go to the California lab got scrapped. Once the group did arrive at the lab they spent a good amount of time searching around for Doctor Merch. There was an interesting scene where Murphy and the others were able to pass through a horde of zombies without getting attacked. This means that as long as the zombies see anyone with Murphy as no threat, then they won’t harm them.
While searching around for Dr Merch, the group encounter a hall of horrors. Innocent people were locked up, who had been experimented on. It was great to see Dr Merch's failed attempts at finding a cure for the outbreak. I liked how as the group progressed through the hall of horrors it seemed to get worse, with a more devastating outcome for the person who had been experimented on.
The two mutant monkeys did get out, and it led onto Murphy fighting with them. It was a great fight scene, but what I found intriguing was the fact how Murphy managed to decapitate the heads from the creatures/humans bodies. Murphy seems to be getting stronger, and is developing each week. There were signs earlier of his increased strength when he got out of the cuffs. I am really excited to see what happens with Murphy in season 2, considering how much he has developed this season going from a normal human to someone who now has superhuman strength.
Throughout the episode many things were uncovered which helped us understand how the virus got out. The introduction of Dr. Kurian as the new villain was done through perfectly timed flashbacks. The flashbacks helped us understand how the virus came into being. He had travelled around the world collecting blood from all sorts of victims of different diseases. He collected blood from an Ebola victim, Krokodile addict, a radiation victim and someone who had survived a deadly earthquake. It was a strange mix of people, but he is a bioweapons developer and it somehow managed to create a zombie virus. I did like the build-up to the reveal as to what his intentions were, because at first I had no idea why we were even seeing this new character, it was a great way to introduce him.
The title Doctor of the dead is rather fitting to his purpose. He later appears at the lab with the intention of taking Murphy to California. It was fairly obvious his intentions were bad, and luckily Citizen Z was on a nearby screen to warn them. Over the more recent episodes he has been really useful to the group, and I’m finally starting to enjoy seeing him. This episode he seemed to add a lot to the story, and I really liked the suspense when he was frantically searching around for who the man confronting the group was. I am wondering now if Dr Kurian will play any part in season 2. Instead of having weekly villains, like Helen and the cannibal guy it might be a good idea to have one main villain, which would create an interesting story arc for season 2. The only downside of having one villain is we might not get as many "disasters of the week" which is really what makes it different than other shows.
When the group got warned about Dr. Kurian, Cassandra suddenly appeared to take out the two military men he had with him. Murphy seemed to have infected her with his own variation of the zombie virus, where he can control her, for example by ordering her to take out the two men which she did. It is a real shame though that her character becomes slightly interesting in the finale when we should have seen a lot more from her in terms of character development and dialogue over the season. If she is to survive she has to become more interesting, as a character, especially now that she has Murphy's variation of the vaccine in her. I would hate for her to go back to saying one line per episode. The show needs interesting characters, and sadly this season she just hasn’t been one. Murphy soon flees the lab, with Kurian in hot pursuit. Doc was caught in the firing line, when Kurian was trying to get Murphy.
Murphy decides to not go through decontamination, even though Citizen Z warns him a missile will hit the lab in 7 minutes if he leaves. Murphy decides to leave anyway with a missile on its way. I understand Murphy wanting to leave as Kurian was behind him, but the fact how he didn't seem too bothered that everyone else was going to die was really heartless. It will be interesting to see what the outcome of leaving them will be once the group find him again. His intentions this season have been all over the place. At one point, he is a great asset to the group, the next he is betraying them or leaving them to die. You truly can't tell what Murphy is going to do next.
The last 5 minutes of the episode was just chaotic, every character on the show was on the move. We see Murphy make it to the surface and escape in the groups van. He also left with one less layer of skin. He decided to peel the layer of that was rotting away, which we saw it doing earlier in the episode. We then see Doc, Warren and 10k make it out alive, so they should be in season 2. I am hoping they don't kill off Doc in the première. I really hope they find some way to help him; perhaps Murphy could help, if they ever find him.
We also got a glimpse of Mack and Addy who surprisingly are both still alive, although it is unclear as to where they are. I did think one of them would die, so I am glad that they both aren't dead, but if we get another Addy and Mack central episode… I won’t be happy. The fate of Cassandra is left unknown, but I am pretty confident she is dead, as that big of an explosion hitting the place will kill anything unless your miles away from it. If she is dead it wouldn't be a huge loss, well to me at least. Lastly, Citizen Z's fate is also left unknown; the missile was coming straight for his base. If he does survive it will be interesting to see where he goes or what his next move is given that his role this season has been to watch over our core group. Another troubling matter I’ve been wondering is what happened to the dog? Where was he when Citizen Z was running to the outside?
Summary
It was a fantastic finale. I really can't wait to see season 2. There was plenty of action in this episode, but more importantly some answers. We found out who made the virus, and how he made it. We also got some more development from Murphy; he has increased strength now. The main thing the finale left us with was the fates of several key characters left unknown. I imagine someone will be dead before season 2 starts.
The last thing I want to say is thank you to the thousand plus readers that have been reading weekly, and to all those who have commented, it has been a blast! See you in season 2!
As always thank you for reading! Let me know in the comments what you thought of the episode!
Thank you to all who have commented the discussion has been great!
ReplyDeleteWhat did you think of the finale?
That's what I call great finale!
ReplyDeleteYes it was, now I can't wait for season 2!
ReplyDeleteI do hope that everybody on the show lives. It did surprise me to see Cassandra come bursting through the door, I still have doubts she made it out given that their was only a minute or two left until the missile landed. The best outcome would be for her to meet the rest quickly, and for the show to explore her development a bit more now that she has Murphy's antibodies in her.
ReplyDeleteI doubt we will ever know what he looked like after getting rid of the dead skin, it would be interesting if he looked more like a zombie when we next see him.
Season 2 will be interesting we have characters scattered everywhere, I wonder if they will add a few new faces to the cast as well. The think I am dying to know is where will Citizen Z end up given that the base will be destroyed. How will he contribute the episode. It will sure be an good premiere.
Am I the only Brit that was left dissatisfied ? I really enjoyed the subtle humour throughout the series, but I feel too much was crammed into the last episode.
ReplyDeleteI just watched the episode, and now I got a QUESTION.
ReplyDeleteYou talk about Dr Kurin's motives being clear. I thought he was doing it to create a vaccine for a virus he was creating and get rich. He just didn't expect the disease to get lose (that was what happened in Dr Murch's lab with poor technican guy) because I don't think NOW there will that much wealth available or fun places to go. Yeah, Dr Kurin's theft of BRAINS. Icky,
My initial thoughts were that he was just creating the virus using the blood he collected, not trying to create a cure. I think he collected them so he could make a weapon (pretty sure he is a bioweapons engineer), but I doubt he meant for it to get lose.
ReplyDeleteMost likely they were trying to wrap a lot of up encase they didn't get a season 2 which I am sure when they finished filming they wasn't expecting. I actually thought it was a good finale, it wasn't the best episode of the entire season,but for me was a close second or third.
ReplyDeleteyeah, see yah next season.
ReplyDeleteAny word on when the trailer for season 2 will be out, am so curious about what will happen. Damn awesome finale. Greetings from OZ
ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine them releasing a trailer for it to until at least July like they did this year, but I hope we get a small teaser before then.
I am glad you will be watching next season!
ReplyDeleteNow *that's* what I call an awesome season finale -- fantastic example of what this show can do when it stays true to its own unique strengths. Just kept on reproducing that distinctive video game/house of horrors vibe, which -- while not big on character development -- keeps things truly exciting. Really liked the careful way Citizen Z was used this episode, and personally I thought it was an awesome "gotcha" moment with Cassandra. She's been such a forgettable background character all season that I had a nice "HELL YEAH" reaction when she pounded through the door and I realized what Murphy had done during his goodbye. Plus, what a cliffhanger -- Murphy with no skin, Doc with a gunshot wound, missiles raining down everywhere. Even a quick, clever check-in to show us the status of Mack and Addy. Again, nothing deep, no heart-wrenching/Emmy-worthy character moments, but pretty dang entertaining -- everything this show does best. Hope this is a sign of ZN hitting its stride next season.
ReplyDeleteWhy the missile attacked the northern light and not the lab?
ReplyDeleteps. excellent review
I actually don't have a clue why it attacked the northern light base. I was very surprised to see it come up on the computer screen.
ReplyDeleteReally good summary!
ReplyDeleteI agree, when the show sticks to it's strengths then it produces some really good entertaining episodes. As long as the show sticks to what it is best at, instead of taking giant risks we should be set some more entertaining episodes.
I was really surprised when Cassandra came through the door, I was sure after they said goodbye that was it from her character so it was a nice surprise to see her actually do something of interest.
Now I really can't wait for season 2 to find out who survived and what's coming next. I can only thank syfy for renewing it, because if the show ended like that I would be so annoyed.
Clearly it was a protocol that was established that in case a bio virus manages to escape de-contamination room then the building is set to be destroyed by a missile and NSA building was most likely meant to be blown up seeing as that NSA base can knock out the missiles out of the sky
ReplyDeleteOr possibility Citizen Z doesn't know that the base harbors a secret.
Truly, kudos to the writers for leaving so many things hanging in such an interesting way. A few weeks ago I'd started feeling kind of "meh" on this show, but that finale really makes me want to see where things are headed.
ReplyDeleteI don't know anything about the Season 1 shooting schedule, but I've gotta wonder if they had a "Plan B" finale planned in case the show hadn't been renewed ... and what that episode would have looked like! As it stands, I'm actually glad ZN got picked up -- the show really rose to the occasion with the way they decided to leave things. I'm so impressed.
I wonder that as well, they most likely would have still left it on a cliffhanger. As normally cancellations and renewals come at the end of a shows run, so they most likely had it all filmed.
ReplyDeleteIt actually makes Z Nation more impressive as it managed to bag an early renewal Syfy must have faith in the series which is always a good sign.
From what I understood, lots of nukes were fired with almost every major military facility all across the country as a target. Northern Lights was just one of them.
ReplyDeleteYeah I've been debating checking out Helix when it comes back ... gotta feed my strangely growing addiction to CDC shows with a high creep factor. :)
ReplyDeletep.s. ~ Fantastic job on all these recaps/reviews Robert. I know it was especially tough to hang in there through a few of those clunkier ZN episodes, but I'm choosing to take the finale as an encouraging sign! See y'all back out here next season.
Thank you, really appreciate it :)
ReplyDeleteI look forward to discussing season 2 with you when it returns!
I think Citizen Z said something about a "dead mans switch" which, I think, means that other nations with nuclear arsenals had a failsafe so that their warheads would be launched in case another country (USA in this case) launches their missiles..
ReplyDeleteI think your right, I believe he did mention something about a dead man's switch.
ReplyDeleteI am going to re-watch it on the weekend anyway so I understand what happened exactly with the launching of missiles.
I'm late for the party but ZOMG!!!!!
ReplyDeleteRobert you need to work on your reasoning, and your grammar too... I don't have the time to list off all of your mistakes, but somebody willing to write as much as you do aught to know enough to not use words like "drastically" when they mean "frantically", they mean two completely different things, and "drastically" doesn't fit with the context at all!! You also seem to think that the nukes will go off, and that some of the people could actually survive if they did... Do you have any idea how big a nuclear explosion would be?!?! Even if they had a waiting helicopter or plane they wouldn't be able to outrun the blast!! This means, clearly, that either everybody is dead or nobody is, they wouldn't kill off Citizen Z, and keep the rest of the cast alive. In addition, it's rather obvious that they wouldn't kill off the entire cast of other characters, so clearly something happens at the last second to avert the disaster completely. Also, why would Murphy be naked!?!? He didn't decontaminate himself upon leaving, and that was the reason they took their clothes off to begin with. Furthermore, he wasn't pealing off all of his skin, just a layer, so you wont ever see him without his skin, just probably more zombie looking... Honestly, your average 12 year old could predict the outcome of this finale better than you could...LOL! I hope you don't get paid to do this!
ReplyDeleteAs i stated before, somehow the nukes don't go off, it seems unlikely that anybody in the present cast could accomplish it, so it must be somebody new, somebody to be introduced in season 2. The warheads will probably end up re-routed into outer space, it's the easiest way to not have the cast constantly avoiding ground zeroes, a future nuclear winter, or millions of irradiated zombies who would almost certainly end up swarming across these multiple ground zero's over time... Murphy is being developed as the future mega bad guy, controlling his own horde of z's. He grows covet the zombies by the final episode, develops super strength and agility, as do his personal disciples, and several times mentioned that the regular zombies seem like they need a leader. He regards the zombies too highly to just order them all to jump off a cliff to save his crew of normals, so he will obviously be sided with the Z's at some point next season. The main cast wouldn't be able to join him, so after a rapid falling out with the main cast he will likely plague their every move as an enemy. I can't see them being able to kill a man that can control the entire zombie swarm with his mind, so he will probably be around for the duration of the series. This show isn't meant to be like "The Walking Dead", so it probably wont focus on the main cast just fighting to survive like TWD does, I would guess that it centers on Murphies supernatural powers, and the main casts effort's to survive him and his deeds...
Yep, I need to go back and edit all of these reviews. These were some of the first reviews I did for the site.
ReplyDeleteLooking back through it there are a lot of mistakes. I've improved with my writing technique, and grammar over the past months. When I joined the site I wasn't an award winning author or someone who would write a lot. I was just someone who loved TV shows, and was lucky enough to be accepted onto the site.
Thanks.
Oh kid. Really? Criticizing someone else's grammar, while dropping this steaming little pile: "He grows covet the zombies by the final episode"
ReplyDeleteTo say nothing of some awesome run-on sentences. And randomly changing tense mid-sentence a couple times.
I'd advise working on your grammar, and being less of a prick.
Thanks for your work on this; watched the first season over the last few days, and came here after each episode to see how closely my impression matched up to yours and the comments. I don't always agree with your perspective, but I appreciate the effort.
ReplyDeleteIf everyone agreed on things, there wouldn't be much of a discussion :)
ReplyDeleteI've actually gone back today and edited my reviews. It's something I've been meaning to do for a while, but kept putting it off.
In fairness to the guy there was a lot of grammar/spelling/punctuation errors in them, especially episodes 1.01 - 1.05. I've not actually edited 1.05-1.01 yet, but I've changed the reviews from 1.06 onwards.
Lastly, Did you enjoy the show?