Z Nation - S3E14 - Everybody Dies in the End

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Previously on Z Nation, “Duel”

Z Nation - S3E14 - “Everybody Dies in the End” |  Kellita Smith, Keith Allan, Anastasia Baranova, Nat Zang, Russell Hodgkinson, DJ Qualls, Emilio Rivera, Sydney Viengluang | Writer and Director: Abram Cox

BITES AND MORSELS

Addy, Doc, Warren and the rest of the gang - with Murphy in tow - reunite to storm a Zona compound and rescue Lucy from The Man. Things don’t go as planned and ultimately every team member stares death in the face, ending the third season with their fates uncertain and their opponent readying to destroy them entirely.

ZOMBIE ROLL CALL

Amid hordes of Zs, the unlikely star of “End” was dear old Grandpa, who was bitten by Lucy near the end of “Duel” and became a homing beacon of sorts for Doc and Addy. From the moment Grandpa lovingly stumbled and pointed his way into our lives, it became apparent that zombies are more than the ravenous brain-craving ghouls we believed. Speaking of new discoveries, Sun Mei let Murphy know that he isn’t exactly alive. While being experimented upon, Alvin had gone through a specific sequence that caused the zombie vaccine to succeed. The key to Murphy gaining influence over zombiekind was his death and the vaccine kick-starting his body back to life. Talk about having a crisis of self. 

ALL OR NOTHING

Viewers were expecting a huge payoff in the season finale and no one can deny that writer/director Abram Cox delivered, twice over. All season long, Cox and the writing staff had crafted yet another deliciously textured layer to their colorful mythology, especially in regards to life after undeath. Between the addition of new variants and some supremely oddball visuals like a ravenous Katamari zombie balls and swarms of hand-spiders, Z Nation’s legend for their puppies and kittens has matured by adding a touch to the existential.

While Murphy began to amass his army of Blends in Spokane with hundreds of survivors eager to relinquish their individual freedom for security, Delta X-Ray Delta confronted the cold hard truth that life as they knew it is over and never be renewed. Zombies have become the dominant species and only an observant few (or genetically attuned hybrids) are truly aware that a scrap of what was once a human resides in the recesses of an undead mind.

Plenty of sacrifices had been made since the premiere, culminating in a number of the leads risking life, limb and their signature weapons to better ensure success during a sprawling mission that was decidedly stacked against them. Although everyone suffered considerably in their travels, with exception to Lucy and Addy’s endeavors none of them endured as mightily as poor 10K.

CHOKE, DIE, BITE, INJECT

In creating a finale that was cast in perpetual darkness, the most harrowing moments involved Tommy’s battle to stay alive after being injected multiple times during the season. As the “End” progressed, it became evident that every one of the leads was ready to face their end as long as their mission to rescue Lucy was successful. Sadly 10K never had the chance to assist his friends because his poor heart succumbed to the concoctions Dr. Merch, Murphy and Warren shot into his system.

Funny how death brings everyone together, and 10K’s temporary departure into the afterlife encouraged recent rivals to hearken back to better times. For all the psychological torture Murphy inflicted on Tommy, he appeared genuinely concerned for the young sharpshooter in spite of their contentious relationship. Alvin and Warren had gone off the far end this season and through Tommy they managed to regain their humanity. Technically, they had to kill him and it would have sucked a great deal if it didn’t work… but thank Zombie Jesus it did!

DUDE… WHAT?

One trait that’s become synonymous with Z Nation is their penchant for increasingly grandiose imagery in the final moments of a season. Given the substantial build-up for the showdown between The Man and the squad formerly known as DXD, fans of the show were anticipating a satisfying conclusion between Zona’s number one enforcer, the egocentric Murphy and aggressive Warren. We got that and more, with most of the cast involved in the last minute shenanigans involving Zona… but no one expected to witness anything so remotely crazy.

Alvin and Roberta continued to underestimate the strength and fighting skills of The Man as both took a few ego-humbling smacks before they were laid out on the peak of Mount Casey gutshot from the same bullet. Well, damn. Say what you will about the morally ambiguous nature of The Man and his questionable allegiance to Zona, he sure does know how to neutralize an opponent. While the two of them are bleeding out and probably seeing the last three seasons flash before their eyes, Warren will most likely be super pissed if she turns into some kind of Blend after taking Murphy’s bullet.

With Doc tending to Alvin and Roberta, Addy is ready for her rematch with The Man and two of them GO OVER THE EDGE OF THE MOUNTAIN??? Seeing as she can’t live without her Aunt Addy, Lucy jumps after her! Then 5K flaps his little post-apocalyptic tassels bird-boy wings and dives over the same cliff, in hopes to save his two pals? What… why… huh?!

To top it all off, the Zona craft that has a bird’s eye view to all this mayhem decided it’s best to atomize the top of Mount Casey and activated some kind of plasma cannon. Granted, they didn’t immediately fire their weapon because it takes some time to charge up a death ray, obviously. So if they could stop feeling sorry for themselves and hold their guts in place, Murphy and Warren could potentially escape the blast radius. It appeared they only had two seconds before they were singing with the angels, but anything is possible in Z Nation!

In any case, “Everybody Dies in the End” was what we’ve come to expect from Syfy’s zombie opus: lots of punch and panache mixed with a wild narrative and foreboding visuals, all wrapped in a thoroughly satisfying conclusion. Z Nation has done it again and piqued our concerns to ridiculous levels on the status of well, practically everyone. It’ll be awfully intriguing to know exactly how DXD and their newfound allies managed to pull their fat out of this fire, if they did at all.

It’s going to be a long, hard wait until season four’s premiere. Knowing the reputation of The Asylum, it’ll be well worth it.

NOTES OF THE DEAD

• It seems that Lucy has stopped aging or at very least has stalled indefinitely. Now that Kelly Washington has jumped into the role, it should be a lot of fun to watch father and daughter catch up now that she’s a grown woman. Kinda sorta.
• Apparently no one has heard from Citizen Z or Uncle Kaskae in twelve hours. A troubling sign indeed. Surely either one of them wouldn’t be removed from the equation off-camera. However, it’s a dangerous proposition to have a positive outlook when watching Z Nation.
• Nothing was mentioned but it’s only logical that Alvin left Murphytown under the command of Will Chaffin. Having no Blends on the rescue team probably was a condition Roberta demanded; it wouldn’t be surprising if Murphy made contingencies with Will in case he didn’t return.
• Don’t forget Hector is still out there! Whatever was in Sun Mei’s vaccine managed to revive him after his fight with Vasquez in “Heart of Darkness”… but into what exactly? You can bet your bottom dollar that his cat eyes weren’t the only alterations to his physiology.