Keith Allan

Throughout the duration of Z Nation there have been some gaping flaws and shaky plot turns, and the culminating two episodes suffer because of this, despite being stronger installments in the series. We follow the survivors to the end of their journey, after narrowly escaping another group of foes in “Murphy’s Law”, to the government laboratory where Murphy’s antidotal blood was to be rendered into a vaccine to save the human race, and as to be expected, nothing goes according to plan. It is immediately discovered that instead of a team of good-natured scientists awaiting them, there is a group of deranged mad men lead by the maniacal Dr. Kurian.

There is always room to play with clichés in zombie features. If the choice is deliberate, using clichés can act as a good-humoured nod between the filmmakers and the audience, because there is an understanding that what is occurring is passé or predictable and instead of trying to pass it off as original, the film or series celebrates the fact that it is overused and has some fun with it. With that being said, there is a very fine line between using a cliché as a clever and knowing jab, and tired and lazy writing that lacks self-awareness. The latter unfortunately occurs in Z Nation’s latest installment, “Zunami”, which is even more disappointing, because the show is otherwise laden with originality.