Z Nation Review
Over view: It is a take on human survival and character after the ZN1 virus ravages mankind and everything falls apart, without being preachy.
Premise: The mission is to get a man named Murphy, the only known survivor of a Zombie bite, from the east coast to a lab in California so an antidote to the ZN1 virus can hopefully be made. A ragtag group joins together to get him there. They are assisted when possible by Citizen Z, the last member of a secret NSA/Military monitoring station in the artic.
Production: While admittedly it does not have the large budget of other shows in the Zombie apocalypse genre, it does manage a lot of consistency within the story lines and the sundry details of living in their world. As long as these things are just accepted it is an interesting show. For instance everything runs on gas. Even if it is obviously diesel it runs on gas, this seems to simplify the story lines. Accept that the show is filmed in the north western US and all those pine forests in Springfield Illinois are not so bothersome. Just accept that there is a nuclear power plant in the Black Hills. The fact that three years after the apocalypse a lot of places still have electricity . . .
Speaking of low budget, the 1950's and 1960's zombie movies were often painfully low on budget. It just feels right, if not nostalgic.
Story Line: The story is about the condition of mankind and the development of the characters. How far will a human go to survive? The slow evolution of the often reluctant and usually annoying Murphy turning into a super mutant non-human/non-Zombie adds an almost unique twist to the whole Zombie problem. Will he become more of a threat than the ZN1 virus that has killed off most of humanity, or will he save human kind? The series does not focus on social commentary and when it does it is often rather subtle. A story for the stories sake is very refreshing today. When social commentary is the basis of an episode it is handled rather evenly. Both sides have their reasons and their failings.
Better yet, if not outright amazing, they run out of ammo on a regular basis, rather rare to say the least.
Characters: For me they are dying off a little too fast and the loss is felt every time. Then again it is a cruel world and traveling is a dangerous thing. The development of the remaining characters after each loss has been a pleasant surprise also. They adjust to the change in the group dynamic while staying grounded in the dangerous world they live in. They get along most of the time but have issues as would be expected. They always pull together when the going gets tough, well tougher. There is a lot of well written dialog between them that really makes the show and shows off the actors talents. More importantly the actors and writers keep the characters consistent. That does not mean they are free of a few corn-ball lines, but it works here.
My Take: Campy, yes. Strains credulity at times, yes. Low end special effects, yes and I find it refreshing. Fun, absolutely! Suspense and humdrum, humor, drama, desperation and most of all zombies in every episode. Even a zombie tornado! What a cool concept! Character development, great! Well written character interaction in the group and with recurring/throw away characters. The easy sarcasm of a small close-knit group along with serious and everyday conversation in a deadly world comes across well.
Only one scene bothered me and that was a needless gratuitous sex scene. I see no point in soft porn voyeurism. Most of us are grown ups and can figure out what is going on without the visual, thank you. Particularly when it does nothing for the story line, and these pointless scenes rarely advance the story line, including this one.
Overall it is an escape into a sci-fy world that loosely resembles our own world with characters that have become familiar far away friends in constant danger. Fighting desperately to keep the spark of humanity alive, one episode at a time.
I enjoy re-watching them.
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