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 - Going Nuclear - Review
After last week’s forgettable episode, Z Nation returned to what we all know and love about it; Full of slow-mo kills, humorous dialogue and a fun disaster of the week. This week the group make a pit stop in South Dakota after their vehicle runs out of gas. They meet with these two people Amelia, and her father Wilber. They inform them about a nuclear reactor that at any moment in the next 40 something hours is going to meltdown meaning a 300 mile radius will be highly radioactive. Their mission is simple, go turn it off, except it wasn't that easy.
Once Wilber fails to put the rods back into the core they rely on a man named Homer who was Wilbers boss. Homer does successfully save the day by removing it with the help from 10k. Throughout the episode, we saw Homer and 10k form a father - son relationship in the very short period of time they spent together. The emotional connection between 10k and Homer was good at times, and it reminded 10k of his father; especially when he couldn't kill Homer before he turned into a zombie. Homer had the means to kill himself before the transformation could take place anyway.
This episode Murphy stole the show again with probably the best story. He has been developing into a new lead for the show, which is surprising as I predicted Mack would take the lead, but after last week’s episode I prefer it to be Murphy. His strange connection with Amelia this episode after she turned was just another one of the oddball situations he gets thrown into. Speaking of Amelia, it was very strange of her to not attack the group in the end. It was like she didn't want to; as if part of her was still there. Also, her attachment to Murphy, when she was following his hand movements at the plane wreck, it was very interesting to see. It just shows us Zombies are more intelligent than they seem, or that they see Murphy as one of them (zombie). Murphy actually seemed to genuinely care for Amelia, and couldn't bring himself to give her mercy. He even persuaded the rest to leave her be.
Murphy’s character has been on an emotional rollercoaster recently. He has gone from a character that cared very little about anything, to someone who cares for the living and the dead. We saw this episode how grateful he was that the group are risking their life's for him; even though he never shows his emotions in speech I would like to think he would one day risk his life for any member of the group. It was very sweet of Murphy to want to leave Amelia, but if you look at the bigger picture it was cruel, as she might have shared the same wishes as Homer, and her father to not remain a Zombie for long.
Murphy also this episode had the best dialogue, everything he said made me laugh. His interactions with Warren are working, and whenever they are together I can always expect fun banter between them, in the form of criticism. Even though Warren didn't have much to do this episode, she is still one of my favorite characters on the show. She is forming into a great leader for the group. I didn't think she would be able to step into Garnett's shoes, and fill the hole left by him, but she has, and she has become stronger from it. When the finale comes around as long as Murphy, Warren, 10k, and Doc survive I will be pleased. I am positive though one of the group members won’t live through the finale as if recent deaths are any indication they are not afraid of having characters killed off.
Elsewhere, this episode Doc, like Murphy added a bit of comedy to the installment, with some of his one-liners, such as "No hugging" or "I’m a doctor, not a nuclear physicist”. I can always rely on Doc to add comedic value to the episode, even if there in a situation of life, and death. Cassandra on the other hand still continues to just be there for the sake of it, we see her again in this episode have a few lines here, and there, but was only really on hand to help with the zombies.
Summary
This episode was probably the best one I have seen in a long while from the show. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen for a second. The disaster of the week was fun and offered us some emotional responses from some of the characters. There was also some spectacular zombie kills, especially with the drone. The dialogue was great; it was humorous, and the banter between Warren and Murphy was back, which is something I’ve been waiting to see again. There was also a bit of character development as well. Citizen Z also showed up at the appropriate time, which I thought was very effective, and didn't take too much time away from the disaster that struck our team. So to sum it up, everything I could have asked for was in this episode.
As always , thank you for reading! Let me know in the comments what you thought of the episode!
