SPOILER ALERT for those who haven’t seen a single episode of this series.
SPOILER stars here.
I’ll admit that, when this new zombie series premiered on Syfy, and I saw that Harold Perrineau and Kellita Smith were both listed as leads, I was curious, and so I checked it out to find Perrineau actually was running the show, almost essentially playing the "Rick" role in that other much more zombie TV series, "The Walking Dead." But then, as you probably can guess, his character is killed off rather early in the series (at the end of the very first episode actually), and, well, I just stopped watching altogether. I knew it was too good to be true. BUT, what I didn’t realize was that, eventually, Kellita Smith’s character would emerge as the group’s leader. I only found this out when I was looking for new TV series to binge-watch on Netflix (or was it Amazon), and remembered that I didn’t finish this one, so I started from the beginning and watched the entire first season – which is when I saw other characters die (as you’d expect in a zombie apocalypse TV series), and Kellita Smith’s character evolve, becoming the de facto leader of the group; a nice surprise.
So, she’s back for the second season; although in what capacity, I can’t say, since no one has seen the new season yet (expect those who are making it).
END SPOILERS.
The new season premieres Friday, September 11th at 10/9c.
Synopsis: "’Z Nation’ starts three years after a zombie virus has gutted the country, as a team of everyday heroes must transport the only known survivor of the plague from New York to California, where the last functioning viral lab waits for his blood. Although the antibodies he carries are the world’s last, best hope for a vaccine, he hides a dark secret that threatens them all. With humankind’s survival at stake, the ragtag band embarks on a journey of survival across three thousand miles of rusted-out post-apocalyptic America."
It’s not of the caliber of "The Walking Dead" I should note; it’s like a cheap knockoff. After all, it hails from production company The Asylum (responsible for other cheap knockoffs of Hollywood fare; they also are the company behind those horrible, but, for many, entertaining "Sharknado" movies.
But I found "Z Nation" mostly watchable – especially as a series to binge-watch. I don’t know if I’d tune in weekly for each new episode. But on a lazy Sunday afternoon, while I’m working on other things, it’s something I’d have on my TV, streaming back-to-back episodes.
By the way, Kellita Smith plays Roberta Warren, who is ex-National Guard, weapons pro (she’s effective with both a gun and a blade which she carries in a belt), tough and fearless.
The 13-episode first season is available on Netflix, for streaming subscribers.
A first trailer for the upcoming season 2 has surfaced and is embedded below:
