ZNation Season 3 Episode 3-4 Reviews: Because The Living Are WAY More Dangerous Than The Z's

"Z Nation" continues to reinforce what we've known for some time. The living are WAY more dangerous than the dead during a zombie apocalypse. These two episodes hammer the point home as a postman goes postal and a bunch of red handed crazies wreak havoc. Now on to the show...

In "Murphy's Miracle" our blue friend settles on a headquarters for his empire, It's the Museum of Progress from the 1970-something World's Fair in Spokane. He plans to start a new race of "blends (half zombie, half human) and take over the world. 10K and Dr Merch are reluctantly assisting (since he bit them). After being hilariously stuck behind the only other car on the road during the ZA, Murphy bites a little girl who is gravely ill-- thus saving her life.

Up at the Arctic Citizen Z is forced to exercise by Kaya. I LOVE that girl. Nana and Uncle are also fun additions. Kaya encourages Simon to get back on the air. He tries and hears Addy but she cant hear him. After learning Kaya's family is running out of food, they all travel with Simon back to the Northern Lights base.

What's left of Team Bitemark has their own adventure when they encounter a postman named Wally (or is it Barney?) He seems harmless enough. Becker is reading everyone's Christmas cards and eating left over fruitcake (yuck!). He also makes Roberta and crew swear they will not "mercy" anyone. How did this guy survive in a town full of zombies that seem especially drawn to him? Hmm...

Sun Mei, Doc and Addie head to the motor pool. Sun Mei uses a spiffy solar to DC converter to contact her ship. Instead, she hears a song. Uh oh. It's the signal that the mission has failed and everyone is dead. Now what will she do? Will she remain with Robert and the others?

The group is lured to the basement where the emergency supplies are stored. It turns out Becker's not the defenseless government employee we thought. Instead he killed all his coworkers and the townspeople right after the ZA began. He has been slaughtering passersby and feeding them to the walkers for some time (and our gang is next). His murder room was truly disgusting. Luckily Sun Mei is able to dispatch him before she becomes the next zombie meal.

In "Escopion and The Red Hand" Murphy continues his plans of world domination. He has a zombie moat built around his palace. Dr Merch feverishly works on a vaccine from his blood. King Murphy is still a selfish bastard though. He wont try to save a woman that's about to die even after her husband/boyfriend begs him.

Murphy is having a hard time wrangling his Blends. 10K gets all frothy mouthed. It's because Merch injected him (and herself) with the original vaccine (so they break free from Murphy''s mind control). 10K later escapes with the vaccine. Everyone chases after him. He jumps off a bridge into the water below. Remember when he contemplated jumping last week? Dr Merch decides she's had enough and walks into the moat (where she is immediately devoured by Z's). I guess they both REALLY, REALLY dont want to be Murphy's minnions.

Elsewhere Roberta's crew encounters some zombies hanging from their intestines off a bridge. Great visual! That was very effective. The zombies are cut loose and there's a quick intense battle. Warren slices one guy's face into three parts (ala "Resident Evil"). Super cool!

We learn a group called the "Red Hand" has been through the area. They're attacking/killing everyone possible. They're lead by the mysterious EScorpion (who has a tattoo of a face of his arm). Well, isnt that a coincidence because EScorpion (aka Hector) is actually traveling with Operation Bitemark. Obviously it's not him but proves he can never truly get away from his evil deeds. He should commiserate with Regina/The Evil Queen over on "Once Upon A Time". She has the same problem.

Anyway, the crazies are back and intent on destruction. It seems these innocent acting guys actually stole RH's food supply and they're back for revenge. They have a penchant for molotov cocktails. Also where did they get all that red spray paint?

The team is split up. Doc, Suni Mei and Addy are together. Addy gets sick from an infected tooth and might die. In her delirious state Addy refuses to be helped. Doc tries some crushed oxy tablets. Nope, she's still fighting. Sun Mei finally chokes her out and then removes the tooth with pliers. Addy doesnt seem very grateful as she tells Mei to "never touch me again".

Warren and Hector are trapped in a toy warehouse. One of the others sees his arm tattoo. Opps. He kills the two guys. Next the Red Hand sends a zombie with an explosives vest towards the building. Warren is able to deflect some of the damage by distracting him with a wind up monkey. But she knocked unconscious by the blowback. She eventually wakes up and seems to have no ill effects.

Robeta gives Hector a rousing pep talk. He says he can never escape his past. She counters with he can by helping her find Murphy, create the vaccine and save the world. "I dont't need a saint or a lover. I need a killer".

Grade: 4 Monsters (out of 5). Two more great episodes. It's interesting that after all the violence on this show, I found Wally's "murder room" to be one of the most shocking. Killing Z's is one thing. Purposefully chopping unsuspecting people up as zombiechow is entirely different. I also appreciated that Hector/eScorpion finally resolved the issues with his past. He switched from bad guy to good guy without explanation last season. I love seeing Addy but her scenes this week seemed like filler. If this ties in later with a growing relationship between her and Sun Mei it will make more sense. Right now they don't like each other. I do hope Sun is around to stay. The girl has some mad skillz. Simon and Kaya were MIA this week. And we havent seen The Man in two weeks. I'm sure he'll be back to terrorize everyone soon enough.