Z Nation Reviews Season 2 Episode 1 - The Murphy

At the end of last season tactical nukes were coming down on all of our characters. Ft Collins was screwed, as was the northern outpost Citizen Z was at. It did not look good.

Murphy had snapped and ran, starting the nuke rain. Dr. Kurian fled on foot. So how can anyone hope to escape incoming?

As the season opens everyone in Ft Collins in running. Warren gets their truck going and they try and outrun the missile heading at the facility. Dr. Kurian manages to find a fridge in the area and ducks in. (Someone saw Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.) Murphy seems to have run off early enough to not have to worry about being hit, at least.

In a disaster Kurian can't resist a snack.

Warren is trying to hightail it, but she knows the blast will be coming, so she tries to pull into a tunnel to avoid most of it. Their truck takes a hit and flips over.

"Excellent!"

Kurian does manage to survive as well, though he is not looking good at all. I guess we'll see how he is in future episodes.

"Damn you, Spielberg!"

Up north, Citizen Z watches the missile approach. Then the sites automated defenses kick on, and they hit the missile in the atmosphere. The missile is gone, but the shockwave damages his base, and it clears out all the snow on the nearby plane wreckage (from Episode 1 of Season 1). His old NSA buddies are rising. (I am guessing the blast must have thawed the zombies.

On the plus side, unlike Lost, we know from the start they're
all dead. 

I'm not sure how much damage is done. Beforehand, we see many of his monitor sites die as various US cities and sites are nuked. After the strike many of his actual screen are cracked or broken. And we see a damaged building he enters. Though I am not sure if it's the main building. Zombies get in the main facility, so I assume it's been breached, Otherwise, I think Citizen Z would have just just the main door and waited it out.

But, yeah, the zombies have come north. (Is there a Game of Thrones joke in that?)

I am curious how long they could function up there. We have been told that zombies hate the cold, so can these zombies operate for limited time, Or is it arctic summer?

Citizen Z makes an attempt to mercy the zombies approaching, but he hits only a couple. He has no choice, but to retreat. And he tries to fortify and figure what to do.

He decides he is likely to die, so he needs to pass on his mission. So he puts out a wide broadcast. He explains that Murphy is the key to ending the zombie threat and he's in the Fort Collins area. He asks anyone who can find him to get him to California. He then offers up whatever fee a person wants, and to be the first vaccinated.

Now Murphy has a massive target on his head. And anyone with a radio knows he exists.

Back with Warren, Doc is still not well. He was shot in the season finale, but seems to be still getting around.

Warren heads off to find supplies to help. She wanders for sometime, but is getting overwhelmed, She;s about to give up when she sees a young girl trying to fend off zombies surrounding her. And that's all Warren needs. A mission.

So she offs the lot of them, and the girl gets her family to take her in.

And Warren is in luck. She's run into some surprisingly nice and pleasant people, who are just trying to stay safe from zombies. It's been quiet there for some time, and it looks like the nukes have sent zombies into the area again.

Bolstered by some genuine humanity, Warren takes some supplies and heads back to find her people.

Meanwhile, we learn what happen to Addy and Mack. Addy did stay with the Sisters. And the kid the group helped (The Sisters sent all boys born in the community out to a distant city to "find their fathers".) return home, realized after being sent off again just what they had sent him off to die. So he returned, burned things and the whole place just collapsed, particularly with a zombie bear running around. Addy is the only survivor (almost),

Mack stayed nearby, waiting. I hope we learn more about their history. He is one to creepily not accept the end of relationship, or he's dedicated to a deep relationship, As it is, Mack is the one on the group open to abandoning the mission, and just run off with Addy/ She isn't.

It is interesting to see now that Addy did actually embrace the community. She didn't change her mind at the end of the season, or become trapped. She was at peace. Then it was taken away.

Addy and Mack head off together, and try to find the group again. They find a broadcast tower, trying to contact Citizen Z for help. They end up hearing his message. They also catch the number station signals. And then also Spanish language broadcast, and also Chinese ones. You might wonder who is operating across the country at this point/

To try and contact the group they light up the tower. And while they are being attacked by zombies, 10K and Doc appear and take out the last attacker.

They head off together, and manage to track down Warren. (Yes. It is convenient. But I can skip the three or four episode looking for a friend arc.) The team is back together, mostly.

They head into a nearby town for a surprise. It's a busy place. Numerous groups of heavily armed people are roaming it. They know that they've all come out to find Murphy.


Murphy, after the nuke strike, decided to head out for some new clothes. Makes sense, he was naked. Inside, he gets comfortable, shopping, and using nearby zombies and assistants.

He's also gone a bit blue/green. Once his skins shed, his new skin is curious. Is it a step towards that zombie puddle in the lab? Or something else?

He's enjoying the fantasy of the world that just his. But it doesn't last. Soon someone comes for him, shooting his zombie posse. Then he's tased.

Lucky for him, Cassandra reappears, and takes out the threat. And she still seems happy to see Murphy.

She also seems kind of feral. It is curious to see. She was drawn from the rubble of the lab, to Murphy. She also was able to claw her way out. They both seem hardy, though Murphy seems less willing to test his state of being.

Saved by her, Murphy decides to give Cassandra a makeover. And as you can guess from his own wardrobe, his taste is tacky.

He then takes her over to his base of operation. A strip joint. And that's just where he would go/

And using his power over zombies, he having them dance and fill the place with "life".

Hard to tell if Murphy has gone a bit funny, or what. He seems eager to have some simulation of normalcy, as he sees it.

And looking at Cassandra, I do wonder what she is now, and who she is. Is she going to slide towards who she had been, or is she going to emerge more as her own new person again.

I try to define her reaction to Murphy and it is somewhat fatherly? Maybe it's the completely wrong word. She seems attached to him. She could also be more a thrall of his.

Lucky for the team, they guess just the sort of place he'd hang out. He's happy to see them, but not to go to California.

As they debate the matter, a new player enters. Vasquez. He is interested in Murphy. But he isn't as interested in the CDC, NSA, or other public need for Murphy, Vasquez explains that their are many different quarters offer large sums to get their hands of Murphy.

This is from what I've heard a new character for the series. We'll see how he fits in. For now he's focused on what value he can get from taking Murphy to his bidder.

Murphy isn't up for that, and activates all the zombies in the building. He and Cassandra then flee.

Vasquez gives chase. And before the group can follow they have to take out one last zombie. 10K does this with a fire extinguisher. And not in the way you think.

"I've been foamed."

Outside they see Murphy driving off. The chase is on,

As the episode ends, Citizen Z decides to head out among the zombies, and tells Pup to stay put.

And out on the road, the last of the Sisters is on the road. This one that had sex with Murphy last season. She's also very very pregnant. And whatever is inside of her knows where it's dad is. And they are going there.

\

And while it wasn't called it, this is clearly the first of two parts. We'll see next time if Murphy rejoins the group and they try to stay together, and out of nasty peoples hands. And we may see how this baby fits in.

As for Citizen Z, what is planned for him? His tools seems to be largely down. He has zombies everywhere. Where can he go from here? Particularly when there clearly are other powers now operating in the US. What's he going to do?

And Pup better not get touched!


Let's see what episode 2 brings. On to "White Light".