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The Psychotronic Z Nation Thread

Mr. Adventure

Mr. Adventure

Fleet Admiral
Admiral
"Cut the crap, Mr. Clean!"

The funnest zombie show has returned with a pretty decent two-hour event shot in cinematic widescreen with grindhouse credits no less. Tonight we get fungizombies along with a pack of wild helmeted zombies with a whipping slave master. And we get a mysterious bald guy working for a mysterious organization all with a bit of a decadent edge. I liked "Kojak" even though it seemed he should have been fired upon on more than one occasion.

Speaking of comic book elements we also get a girl swathed in red who looks like she stepped out of a fanciful video game or comic book and a boy raised by a murder of crows. The crows may have been a bit out there but it provided some nice imagery.

We got pop culture references from Spartacus, High Plains Drifter, Home Alone and Clash of the Titans.

Z Nation isn't perfect but I thought this was a pretty satisfying opener if you're willing to enjoy it for what it is.
 
All right, Z Nation is back. :bolian: I haven't had a chance to watch yet, but I hope to see it today.
 
^^ I thought so. I remember you liking that. :rommie:

I just got to watch it yesterday afternoon, and it was great to have it back. I'm not sure I understand why they made it a flashback to last season, though. I know that the purpose of the story was to introduce a new plot arc and antagonist-- who I think of as "Charlie," since we only see his hands and he's surrounded by bikini babes. Maybe the need for it to be told in flashback will become clear next week. But at least we got to see Cassandra again, even if just in her pseudo-Zombie mode, and the Zombie breastfeeding scene was classic Z Nation.

Whatever Charlie is up to, it must have something to do with the Fungizombies, or just the fungus itself. One of the interesting things about Z Nation is that there are a variety of different Zombies. There's the standard Zombies, the fast Atomic Zombies, the Murphy Zombies, and now the Fungizombies. Next week it looks like there will be Zombies that use weapons.

I'm not sure about the pack of whipped Zombies. The way Zombies work, you'd think their attention would be on the guy whipping them. And why didn't our people just shoot for their kneecaps to slow them down. I thought that 10k and Red's conversation about crawling Zombies was foreshadowing.

The kid who was raised by a murder of crows was hilarious. Again, classic Z Nation. But I really didn't expect that he wouldn't survive. I thought he and Red would both survive, perhaps to appear again later in the season. Technically, we're not quite sure about what happened to Red, but this was a pretty brutal episode overall-- Grindhouse indeed.
 
RJDiogenes said:
I know that the purpose of the story was to introduce a new plot arc and antagonist-- who I think of as "Charlie," since we only see his hands and he's surrounded by bikini babes.
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I was going with "Hef" but I see where you're going with that.

I'm not sure about the pack of whipped Zombies. The way Zombies work, you'd think their attention would be on the guy whipping them.
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Maybe being helmeted and all they were too disoriented to know the source and were just working on instinct to drive away?
 
The helmeted zombies were a hoot. How were they supposed to infect anyone through the helmets? I half expected our heroes to just let the zombies run up to them and then ineffectively paw at them as they yawn. That would have been funny!
 
I didn't think the Kraken was supposed to be a threat themselves per se but to overwhelm and break through the defenses for the other zombies and troops to get through.
 
Probably didn't need to be chained and whipped to do that, but it was certainly a striking visual-- which is enough on a show like this.
 
Was that the first time we got the Ball O'Zombies? Funny visual but the notion that the zombies can turn on each other when starving seems kind of a dangerous element to add. Seems humanity could wait it out or you wouldn't have isolated zombies down in a tunnel or whatever but it's probably easily overlooked or forgotten like TNG's warp 5 speed limit.

ETA: The breakdown in zombies does mirror the breakdown with humans and Murphy's mad plan to solve it so what I said above might not be such a bad idea actually. The new plot direction appears to be "Get Murphy" with Warren and Co. in pursuit along with "The Man" aka Mr. Clean. 10K not keeping count just isn't right, you blue bastard!

I liked the Chinese military, seemed like an idea right out of a comic book/B-movie, and it looks like the Doctor might stick with us for a while. However, for me, the show was stolen by the young lady with Citizen Z. Her off-kilter low-key ways of showing emotion and expressing herself was humorous but also helped sell her isolationist upbringing.

The effects work was on-point this episode, everything looked pretty good. The shot with Ten K taking out three zombies in rapid succession was nicely executed as was the deadly laser ball (the Tall Man from Phantasm was surely envious). I'm not sure if the airplane was CG or not but for whatever reason planes usually look awful on TV but not that one.

And just for fun spot the Z-Nation actor in the Nexium ad:
https://www.ispot.tv/ad/7SQI/nexium-direct-dinner
 
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Mr. Adventure said:
However, for me, the show was stolen by the young lady with Citizen Z. Her off-kilter low-key ways of showing emotion and expressing herself was humorous but also helped sell her isolationist upbringing.
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She was pretty much channeling the Marilyn character from Northern Exposure. Almost to the point of imitation.
 
sojourner said:
She was pretty much channeling the Marilyn character from Northern Exposure. Almost to the point of imitation.
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Given the setting maybe that was the intent, Z Nation isn't always subtle ;). I've seen a little of Northern Exposure but not enough to know the character in question.
 
I got interrupted, so I didn't see the ending yet, but I was very relieved that Citizen Z is still around. And I love his new girlfriend. I didn't think of Northern Exposure, but she could very well be an homage to Marilyn. I loved it when he asked for his shorts and she just held them out. :rommie:

Looks like Hector and maybe the Chinese scientist have joined the team, which is cool. The Chinese scientist came across as quite a hardass untill she lost her team. I think they'll both make good additions.

I think we may have seen a ball of Zombies before. Or am I just thinking of the cheese wheel?
 
Not his girlfriend.

There's a line between did she sexually assault him while saving his life or did she save his life by sexually assaulting the citizen.
 
RJDiogenes said:
Looks like Hector and maybe the Chinese scientist have joined the team, which is cool. The Chinese scientist came across as quite a hardass untill she lost her team. I think they'll both make good additions.
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Makes sense assuming she was more scientist than military. I liked how they didn't make the Chinese team completely rigid assholes like on some shows, they were able to be harsh in the beginning and become more tolerant. Assuming she's in the cast now the show has become quite diverse (even got a blue guy ;).

Guy Gardener said:
Not his girlfriend.

There's a line between did she sexually assault him while saving his life or did she save his life by sexually assaulting the citizen.
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She seemed sincere about the method and I'm sure Citizen Z would give consent if he could. Sure it was meant to be a sexy meet cute but it was for his well-being! ;) Would have been funnier though if it was mom and dad instead ("More surface area!").
 
Okay, I saw the ending. Looks like Doctor Sun is sticking around, which is cool. I had an idea about what had happened to 10k and it turned out to be true-- presumably Doctor Sun will come up with some kind of cure or treatment before the kid goes all Cassandra. The rest of the people with Murphy are redshirts, so they may not be as lucky.

Murphy is such an idiot. He's off to create his brave new world where he can be king, but you can bet he will run into Charlie and Bosley and soon be begging Roberta to save him. :rommie:

Guy Gardener said:
Not his girlfriend.
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Not yet, but moving fast. You gotta watch out for those quiet ones.

There's a line between did she sexually assault him while saving his life or did she save his life by sexually assaulting the citizen.
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Maybe he can find a surviving encampment of lawyers in the Zombie Apocalypse. :rommie:

Mr. Adventure said:
Makes sense assuming she was more scientist than military. I liked how they didn't make the Chinese team completely rigid assholes like on some shows, they were able to be harsh in the beginning and become more tolerant. Assuming she's in the cast now the show has become quite diverse (even got a blue guy ;).
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Yes, the Chinese were portrayed quite well, given the current political climate.
 
Cassandra was bitten by a regular Zombie, which is why Murphy bit her, to save the girl. She has both strains. Humans who are only bit by Murphy are mostly human but loyal to Murphy. Humans who are bit by Murphy first, and die, don't come back, even if they are bit by a regular zombie. (Is every one infected now, like in Walking Dead?)

I'm curious what happens to the blends, if Murphy dies?
 
I'm not sure if everyone is infected, like in Walking Dead, but haven't other Murphy-bitten people come to the same end as Cassandra? I seem to remember something like that happening in the Gina Gershon storyline.
 
They had a virologist tweaking the Murphy strain down in Mexico.

The Mexican mob wanted to become Queens too, not drones.

Much earlier, I remember a compound instituting a no guns rule, because if an idiot starts shooting other idiots, then they all start turning into Zees. Which is why no one had guns when the Zombies finally did attack.

The new actress Romana Young is adorable in an adult Wednesday Addams sort of way, I personally love her acerbic personality, but she is coming on why too strong to someone rolling out from under a near death experience, because probably she is a groupie meeting the world's last rockstar...

Whatever happens next week, Kaya is not his girlfriend, unless she leaves with Citizen Z, and goes on the road to save the world somehow. Even if they kit up and head south, she still may not be his girlfriend until they DTR.

I was not paying attention to the first 5 minutes last week, was s03e01 a flash back, or were the episodes out of order for some reason?
 
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