Z Nation - Full Metal Zombie - Review: "Put down the Weapons or Eat Brains"

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 - Full Metal Zombie - Review"

In the opening few minutes, we see our group ambushed by a group of thugs disguised as zombies. I have to say their disguises were very good as I didn't notice them being human until they drew weapons. Having said that, I don't know why they wouldn't go around them. (They presumed at the time they were zombies) They didn't want to go through them, fair enough, but they can always drive around. Soon after they get ambushed again, this time it is somewhat hilarious as they get their truck stolen by an innocent looking family, at your first glance. The family shoot the previous robbers and take the truck, about a minute later you see the family dead. It was really a waste of time ambushing the group if they can't survive more than five minutes.

The scene would've been completely ridiculous until Garnet suggested getting off the highway, which was the most sensible thing I had heard all episode. After being informed by our friend Citizen Z that a military base is near, and there is a chopper on the roof that could take them to California. I have two problems here, one the amount of fuel that would be required to get the chopper off the ground, unless it was already fully fuelled which is highly unlikely. They would need a lot of fuel, and that isn't exactly easy to come by. Also, who would pilot this chopper? I don't remember any of them saying they have a license in piloting. Unless the General is going to help or one of them can fly a helicopter, it's going to be useless to them.

Once our group gets to what's left of a military base, Doc decides to go ahead to check on the General, where he takes an unpleasant plunge into an air shaft. Surprisingly, this ends up being a main part of the episode where again like most episodes that scene should have only taken up 5 minutes. When we see a zombie in the shaft with Doc, it looked like it had potential to be interesting, but then as always they drag it out for way too long and I started to lose interest, especially at the point where he started smoking a joint. On the bright side of all of that, we learn a little more about him, one of the main things being that he might have a 19-year-old boy. I don't get how you wouldn't know if you had a son, surely the mother would have told him. That could be the reason though why he likes 10k so much; he is maybe trying to replicate having a son.

After hearing Doc's cries for help the team advance on the facility holding one of the militant's hostage. They throw the hostage into a group of zombies after the general shuts down power to the elevator, to try and dispose of our group. What I found stupid was when Murphy decided to run out towards the zombies instead of staying with the group who have guns. As always they had to clear the place out, although the violence was tame this episode compared to previous episodes the zombies kills were still enjoyable. Anyway, a large zombie shows up, and instead of the whole group shooting it, they each decide to take it in turns to try to kill it, all failing, of course. Warren could have used her sword to kill it which would've been much more effective. They can take the easy route in these situations, but they never choose to. I notice this a lot during the episodes we've seen, them making life harder for themselves. Eventually, after messing around for so long they use the grenade that the zombie had on him to blow him up. The zombie then falls down the shaft with the grenade with help from Garret. Where Doc is... The grenade happens to set Doc free from what he was tied up to. Very convenient. Realistically he probably wouldn't have gotten free at all, and it looked like to me that he'd burned.

After thinking Doc is dead, they still remain on task of getting the helicopter. Obviously, when they get to it the helicopter is in no condition to fly and also their proposed pilot (the general) is a bit crazy. When two zombies came rushing out they ignored our group and went towards the general where he managed to spray with his two pistols and still not kill the two zombies. He eventually plummeted to his death after falling off the building. Nevertheless, it was a great shot of him falling to his death still attempting to kill the zombies.

Also, in the episode we saw a flashback of 10k's past where he put his dad out of his misery after his father turned. The writers were pretty much just confirming with a flashback that what 10k had told the group earlier. I don't think they needed to add the flashback at all, I mean it is great how they are introducing flashbacks about our character's past, just as long as it either explains something about a character we didn't know or gives us an insight into one of their past's. We didn't need to see a flashback of something we've been told. I am not going to even talk about Citizen Z much as his scenes really put me off the show. In this episode, he has a bit of an obsession with Addy which is starting to become creepy. He looks through her photos and searches her on the internet. I still don't understand why he is even on the show. If it wasn't for him giving directions he wouldn't be needed. I am hoping they shake things up a bit with him and do something interesting with his character.

Summary
The episode seemed very pointless, and the writers seem to be running out of ideas before it has really begun. All these pit stops are getting a little annoying to watch, they each have had their good moments, but each task always ends up being a waste of time and not working out for the group.

As always , thank you for reading! Let me know in the comments what you thought of the episode!

About the Author - Robert Fruin

Robert is a sixth form student from the United Kingdom, who is currently studying IT, Media and Business Studies. Robert is a huge fan of the ended ABC series LOST, he has seen it many times over and has even visited some of the filming locations for it. Robert mainly watches drama series such as Game Of Thrones and Person of Interest, but has a soft spot for the comedy The Middle. Some other shows he watches are The Walking Dead, Arrow and The 100. Some other interests include cycling, photography and kayaking. Robert will be reviewing Z Nation,The Librarians, Sons Of Anarchy, Intruders, The Fosters and Aquarius. Feel free to connect with him on any of these social media sites.

Recent Reviews (All Reviews)