Season 3 has drawn quite a divide among fans due to its more serious nature. After last weeks return to Z Nation's brand of absurd humour, 'Welcome to Murphytown' brought us back to that serious tone, albeit with a lot more gore than usual.
It was great to see The Man in the mix of things this week. The episode's opening sequence that saw The Man ripping off the arm of a fella he killed set the tone for what would become quite a gory episode. In the middle of 'Murphytown' we see him cut open the head of a poor man and then eating his brains to prove his allegiance to Murphy. Though I found these scenes to be a little bit of a turnoff, they nevertheless exemplified how uncompromising and ruthless The Man is.
This bald headed killer is definitely one of the more imposing adversaries Team Bite Mark has confronted and, after only two appearances, he has quickly become a bright spot this season. It was a nice change of pace to see Murphy get the upper hand on The Man for once, but then resourceful as he is, The Man pulls a Merle from The Walking Dead by cutting off his hand. The middle finger was an amusing touch and so Z Nation.
One of the highlights of 'Murphytown' was how we got to see a little more of the inner workings of this kingdom that Murphy has built. The beginning of the season saw a Murphy that was way over the top with his jerkiness and smugness, it reached a point where it just wasn't funny anymore, but actually quite irritating. In this episode Murphy was a bit more subdued, he seems to have settled down and is now less about the theatrics and more about business and getting this community up and running. This is a Murphy I can get used to. The ending of the episode that saw Murphy's people bring electricity back to Spokane as he watched from the high tower was a powerful moment. Murphy is now king, and Warren's words that they are going to need more backup is testament to how powerful he has become.
Speaking of Warren, it was great to see Team Bite Mark reunited with 10K again. The team didn't have much to work with this episode, it was more about 10K catching up on things he missed, as well as exploring his inner conflict with the Murphy Bite and whether he should tell everyone. It was good they set time aside to show some camaraderie in the campfire and crickets scene as it has been a while since we've seen them all together.
We also saw some Citizen Z moments after disappearing for a couple episodes. Three seasons in and I still don't get the point of his character. He is less annoying as he was in season's past, but he is still as unnecessary as he has always been, and this girl that he is with now is also kind of pointless, other than giving Citizen Z somebody to work off of. I do have to admit though that the girl's rap once they got the radios running again was pretty amusing and cool.
Overall, this was a mildly entertaining episode. 'Murphytown,' like many episodes this season, lacked the absurd humour we've come to expect from this show, but made up for it with some compelling drama. The Man is proving to be quite an intriguing foe and Murphy has firmly established himself in this episode as someone to take very seriously. All three parties - Team Bite Mark, Murphy, and the Man - are headed into a collision course building up quite the intrigue for episodes to come.
7/10
