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
Z Nation - Pilot - Review
Z Nation is a mess right from the beginning. You get thrown right into the apocalypse without any knowledge of how it happened or what the hell is going on.
The first thing we see is Lieutenant Hammond played by Harold Perrineau, he is trying to extract some civilians from what I believe looked like a prison. There are about two dozen zombies trying to break through, and Hammond leaves one man to fight them off in case they break through. Why wouldn't he just tell the soldier to go with him, he obviously wouldn't be able to hold them all off, unless he was Rambo or something. Hammond Says, "Save your ammo" which is funny because they seemed to have unlimited ammo throughout the first episode.
Hammond is given the task of transporting Murphy to a CDC in California, as he is the key to finding the cure, after surviving being bitten by a zombie. He gets given a drug which makes him survive the attack. We don't actually find out what they gave him, and why it saved him and not the other two prisoners that took a dose.
We also have Citizen Z, who is at an army base; he is a message relayer who gives instructions to Hammond to help him get Murphy to California. He is their "eyes in the sky". I wonder if he will get off the base and join the team at some point during the season. Something that keeps bothering me is, if there is a zombie apocalypse, why is there still functioning electronics?
In all honesty nothing much happened in the pilot, we met the characters individually, and then the majority of the episode was spent in one area, where they were meant to be scavenging for food and supplies. A scene that should have taken about 5 minutes took about 20. The pilot was all over the place and if I wasn't reviewing this show I probably would have switched off within the first 10 minutes.
When they get to this place, Hammond decided to go and check to see if it was the army. He saw a Zombie under a car, he shot this zombie in the back and it died. It was a stupid scene, Zombies only die from shooting it in the head, and one suddenly dies from a shot to the back. I don't think so. Note to writers, you have to destroy the brain.
They then split up to search the building. Addy, Mack, and Doc come across a woman named Cassandra who is in a cage surrounded by zombies. The three of them finally used silent weapons such as the crowbar, although it looked shockingly bad how none of the zombies turned around and started to attack them, they just focused their attention on Cassandra. This would not happen; the Zombies are attracted to human flesh and if there was a living human next to a zombie they would attack, not stand there. We see Garnett and Murphy held up in the building with a baby they find in a car on arrival. A horde of zombies breaks through one of the doors, and Garnett (in slow mo) takes them out with a hammer. This was nicely done, which made me forget about how bad the show was. Until about 1 minute later, when Warren and Garret find out that the baby has turned into a zombie. It was probably one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever seen. The baby wasn't scratched or bitten by the zombie, and was still crying when Garnett took out the horde. So how on earth did it turn? Do the writers even think this through or do they just throw things at you and expect you to go along with it.
Speaking of the baby, it later with the help of another zombie kills Hammond. When Garnett and Warren couldn't kill the baby after it turned. They ran outside to the others. Instead of leaving it, which any sane person would do, they decided to have a heart which you should never have in an apocalypse as it only gets you killed. The group decided to show mercy to the baby by killing it. Only it wasn't them who went in to kill it, but Hammond as Garnett seemed to be having an emotional breakdown at the time "You need to pull it together" Hammond says. We saw Hammond spend the next 5 minutes on our screens go round in circles searching for this baby.
He went back around to where he first entered and got jumped on by a zombie, and then ultimately was bitten by it and the baby who finally showed up. What made me laugh was how none of the others came to his aid when he was shouting, only when he was actually dead. It was such a cheap and tacky death that it meant nothing. To top that scene of it took five of them to shoot 1 baby, a zombie eating Hammond and a decapitated Hammond. They sprayed like they had all the ammo in the world, probably because on this show you do. They even kept shooting after they had already killed the three zombies; it was like a scene from a cheap movie. The final scene we see is of Citizen Z, which at that point I didn't care what he had to say, I just couldn't wait for the credits to roll. He says they need to get Murphy to California, which we already knew. He was just confirming to the survivors something that Hammond had told them, as they all had doubts. At the very end, we get a speech from Citizen Z, in what was probably one of the cheesiest speeches I've ever heard, you literally couldn't care any less about what he was saying. The thought I had in my mind was "CREDITS CREDITS CREDITS". I know one thing for sure; at least the second episode couldn't get any worse. Could it?
Summary
Z Nation was probably one of the worst pilots I've ever seen, with its cheesy dialog to its unrealistic nature. As the episode progresses scenes start to get worse and worse, with stupid outcomes to things that shouldn't be thought about at all. The characters felt as if it wasn't the end of the world, but your typical day where you would make moral decisions. The episode felt cheap and tacky from the start and looked even worse the second time viewing it.
As always , thank you for reading! Let me know in the comments what you thought of the episode!
I actually looked forward, to watching this piece of shite garbage. Z Nation makes Under the Dome and The Following, look like Citizen Kane by comparison. FU#&$%G waste of time!
ReplyDeleteI take it you wont be watching the next episode then? lol
ReplyDeleteI looked forward to it too and had high hopes , but was left utterly disappointed with what I see it looked and felt like Sharknado with Zombies.
No! I already loss 20 IQ points watching the pilot. I can't afford to lose anymore ; )
ReplyDeleteI wasn't expecting The Walking Dead. I knew it would be campy. But i hoping for the over the top crazy fun, that Helix is. But that was just stupid. FU Syfy!
ReplyDeletehaha , I watched it twice So i lost more :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think anyone was expecting The Walking Dead , but it could have at least been on par with Helix , which was actually a pleasant surprise didn't expect to like that and I did. It was stupid television , I can't remember the last time I watched something and instantly disliked it within the first 5 minutes.
ReplyDeleteHammond was the only interesting character and they killed him off. My problem with the show is that the cast it way too weak to carry it. I didn't care about anyone but Hammond. I have no interest in seeing this sorry lot of people all season. The radio guy was semi interesting. That was it. Faster moving zombies I liked. The fast past and showing that the zombies are a real threat was good. But the cast is way too weak to carry this show.
ReplyDeletei think its for the ppl who like sharknado seq movies.
ReplyDeletefun to watch
but having a plot hole of a size of europe.
Your probably right. Sadly for me . I couldn't stand the Sharknado movies.
ReplyDeleteThe Majority of the cast are first time actors / actresses with this being there first proper gig. I also liked Hammond , and was completely gobsmacked that they killed him off especially since he looked like he was going to play an important role in getting Murphy to California.
ReplyDeleteNot only faster zombies, but they drive buses, set traps and play "dead". And as for the team, if this is the best humanity has left to offer, we deserve to go extinct. I would think dumbas**s like them, would be the first people eaten. Not survive 3 years.
ReplyDeleteZombies are now intelligent lmao.
ReplyDeleteWell someone on the show needed to be.
ReplyDeleteLol
ReplyDeleteGuess I will wait until october for TWD then.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was alright
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked it!
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't watched the pilot yet , you should give it ago. You might like it , some people have said its good , others like myself didn't.
ReplyDeleteI was shocked they killed him off. He was the only interesting and strong character. He could have carried this show.
ReplyDeleteThey shouldn't have cast a bunch of weak unknowns for this. This kind of show, especially if they are trying to compete with Walking Dead, it has to have strong, likeable characters that we care about and want to watch. It needs strong actors to carry it. They have all the good elements. The fast moving zombies worked fine. But without strong actors we can get behind, this just isn't working.
I thought it was 'ok'. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would give it a 4. I don't like zombies that run also. They could have done away with the baby zombie. I normally stay away from anything on the SyFy Channel, but thought I would give this a shot because of Zombies, which I love, and Harold Perrineau. It did get worse and worse as the episode progressed, you are right about that.
ReplyDeleteGreat Review by the way! Great job.
I think the suspense that comes with the pilot more than makes up for the typical post-apocalyptic B-movie fare The Asylum has churned out over the years. God knows how many times I jumped off my seat in a lot of the scenes including the part when a sea of bodies were actually still "alive".
ReplyDeleteHopefully, the writing improves over the course of the season, hopefully as soon as Episode 2. Fridays is supposed to be Syfy's traditional big night so there's a lot to live up to for this newbie show.
Still can't get over the fact that the show was co-created by Syfy's always reliable former Q&A master on Twitter. :)
agree with everything you said. People could argue and say that its on syfy which is bound to have unknown actors , but then look at Helix which had some well known actors with Billy Campbell and The hiroshi guy (forget his name). They kind of casted the show as if it was a TV movie , not a TV show that could go on for seasons. You need actors/ actresess that can bring in great performances , and I don't think the people on the show will do that.
ReplyDeleteI hope it picks up too and that the writing improves, but after the pilot I doubt it.
ReplyDeleteI only decided to watch because of Harold Perrineau ,but now he is gone I'm not to sure about it. I also tend to not watch anything either on the syfy channel as there track record of cancelling shows I watch amazes me.
ReplyDeletei thought it was an ok first outing, however the entire baby turning and hunting made everything seem like a huge joke. a baby who has NO skills yet is able to hide, outrun, and super speed through everything ... that was a "wtf head scratcher" moment
ReplyDeleteHarold is a great, strong actor. Why they killed him off is beyond me. I was just like, how can you kill off your only good actor/character. UGH.
ReplyDeleteThe CGI baby was dumb and fake looking. It was making some weird sounds and growling too. I agree that they killed off the only interesting character in the end. What about the zombies in the lake...playing dead? So stupid.
ReplyDeleteIt was really, really bad. Nothing I wasn't expecting from an Asylum production, but I see potential in it to become a laughably bad action series, like those old and funny B rated zombie movies. I'll give it a couple more episodes, I hope they keep not taking themselves too seriously, haha!
ReplyDeleteWow....
ReplyDeleteI wasn't really interested in this show all that much, but since it had zombies and is in the science fiction genre, I wanted to check it out. I knew it would not be that great (SYFY) not much of a budget etc. So I didn't have high expectations, I just wanted to watch to bass some time.
After watching for a few minutes I was not liking what I saw. But hey, it's a pilot and many shows have started out rough around the edges. I continued watching hoping that as the episode progressed it would get better.
IT DID NOT! It only got worse, I was so glad when it was over. I have never dislicked a show this much and this quick. Who are these writers? Who is the casting director? WTF is this? The worst show I have ever had the misfortune of watching. SYFY, I want my hour back!
This is absolute garbage!
What made it worse for me, was the shows i watched as leadins. I started the night with an episode of Invasion, which i missed when it originally had broadcast. Then i watched the season finale of The Leftovers, then Z Nation. So not the right tone for this...
ReplyDeleteI like campy sometimes. Eureka, Grimm, Buffy, Helix, Doctor Who, Once Upon A Time, and Utopia (UK) are all fun campy series. I hindsight, i probably should of watched it, with a couple of those series. Now that the shock has worn off, i may consider giving it another try. But it's going to be hard, getting past the incredibly bad dialog.
Yeah , it might of been alright , but these stupid moments such as the baby turning really let the show down.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah , I completely forgot about them , then again I wanted to forget I even watched the pilot. It was another stupid thing that they did , why would Zombies be playing dead and how would they since they are not meant to be intelligent. Yeah Hammond was about one of the only decent things in the pilot.
ReplyDeleteIt could work as a zombieland type show , but I presumed it was a more serious take on zombies which is why I disliked it so much. Now I will go into the next episode taking the show as a funnier take on zombies it might be more enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen Sharknado , because that will explain why this show is so bad since the producers of that are the same as this. I couldn't wait for the credits to role as well. I had to stomach a second viewing to gather notes on this. Imagine what that was like. lol.
ReplyDeleteAre you implying this is TWD meets Fast and furious or something? If you are in what way?
ReplyDeleteoh ok , that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteI am just going to go into the next episode expecting a show like a Zombieland themed one , so a funnier take on things. That way I might actually enjoy it.
ReplyDelete"including his girlfriend , which we saw him on a video call with her"
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure, but I think it is a recording
When the pilot started and the "Asylum" logo popped out, I early understood how bad and embarassing this thing was going to be. I saw speedier (!) zombies only in World War Z.
ReplyDeleteOn the positive side, I just keep in mind the always 'more-than-welcome' Tom Everett Scott, in Z Nation he looked more beefy and studdy than ever.
Most ridicolous moment, imho: The 'good morning Vietnam' style, final radio broadcast by DJ Qualls ... so trashy and why was he wearing sunglasses?!?
To the author: Keep in mind that most viewers know the genre and have watched Walking dead
ReplyDeleteZ Nation is a mess right from the beginning you get thrown right into the apocalypse without any knowledge of how it happened or what the hell is going on.
Actually this was brilliantly done, we all know Walking Dead right? This takes place in the same universe with the same rules as to zombies. Watch the episode again and you'll notice two big "tongue in cheek" references.
1. When Hammond arrives in his kayak he is asked how he knew the settlement was there. His answer: "we ran into a group of survivors held up in a prison led by an ex cop"
2. Hammond saying: "Get that gun out of his face or I'll send you to walk amongst the dead",.. get it? Walking Dead!!
A great way to skip all the backstory and get on with it!!
if there is a zombie apocalypse , why is their still functioning electronics? He can communicate with anyone around the world , including his girlfriend , which we saw him on a video call with her.
Look at that scene again and you will notice he was actually playing an old recording of a call with his girlfriend. He hit the pause button on a small portable dvd player at the end of the scene. The Guy is lonely and so he replays old conversations and talks to his girl.
why is their still functioning electronics?
The Guy tell's us in the end that he is in the secret NSA facillity (probably in the arctic) A facility like this will probably have enough resources to last. Especially when you are alone in a facility meant for a big team of operatives. Remember him missing the transport?
So.. less inconsistencies than were mentioned. But.. yess it looked a bit cheap and cheesy, But htere was more speed and action then I've ever seen in Walking Dead
I still think the show would have been better starting from when the outbreak occured so we could actually see how it happened. That was a recording , damn I didn't even realize. I knew where he was , but I suppose they would last for a while at least but they wont last forever surely?
ReplyDeleteyeah you are right , someone else just pointed it out to me.
ReplyDeleteYep that last scene when he gave the speech was so cheesy.
ReplyDelete@Rob F...you must be new to this Reviewing tv shows, right.... how can u continue now after telling us over & over that u HATE this show?.... people come to read Reviews mainly to read the good stuff about the shows... and it looks like u will have nothing good to say bout this show....
ReplyDeletethe only good thing u said is that u liked Harold Perrineau...OMG, when i saw Micheal from LOST, i didnt care how bad the show was... I LOVED IT then...till he DIED... then i Lost it, LOL... i might just watch it till TWD starts up again...☺...
I had nothing else to watch, so I watched this!
ReplyDelete...I miss the test pattern
Wow this guy be like "they have unlimited ammo what the heck?" And then i be like "watch the walking dead ;) they exaggerate alog more. Second thing, how do you know zombies need to be killed in the head? There is no proof and last of all who says u need to get bit to turn the baby probably died bc it didnt eat in 2 weeks (which is pretty stupid i admit) so if you dont got anything to say dont say it please :))))
ReplyDelete