Hi WWW
With the Black Summer having a second season released* we see this show is much more serious than it's tongue in cheek older sibling Z-Nation.
One of the cast of Black Summer has denied links between the shows, I felt this denial was done in shame of how Z-Nation wasn't afraid to show its farcical side.
What was Z-Nation?
It was the story of a man who gains the power over zombies via a cure and the tale of his survivor family. But not just that.. it is a story of a super anti-villain, Murph hates being 'good' but his survivor family loves him and he know it and values it greatly.. he sees the world as a useless place that he should be king of.. but again his survivor family grounds him, reminds him they love him and in his own way he loves them back.
Does he betray them? FLIP of course!.. he's trying to be a villain! Murph will betray his way through the apocalypse, however that said, when it comes to his survivor family.. it is bitter for him to betray them. He doesn't want these emotions, feeling bad/feeling guilt for hurting them..he wants to hurt everyone and feel nothing.. but that's not what happens.
So.. we get many moments of strong feels when he defends them and shows his love for them.
Keith Allan (Murph) is an *excellent* actor. And even though farce was the backdrop, when those emotional moments came, he did not hold back his performance.
Why wouldn't the zombie apocalypse be farcical, most definitely it would be surreal.. farce's second cousin.
Z-Nation was far from perfect.. While Kellita Smith is a competent actress. she was given an unbelievable character in Roberta Warren, Warren just doesn't' make sense overall and when the writers pushed her to the forefront instead of Allan, this made her character all the more surreal.
The survivor family, Doc 10K.. fitted in nicely to the roster. Russell Hodgkinson (Doc) especially impressed me with his acting range, but also the casting director got him *spot on*.. well done casting!
Story quality fluctuates.. flip even TWD, are the same.
In many ways it is what Red Dwarf was to Star Trek.. and at times I felt this was a shame. At times it DID need to lean into those emotional moments.. but instead shied away and told some awkward joke..but other times WERE leaned into and result was a furtherment of the emotional journey.
Black Summer Season 2 is now on Netflix.. It is TWD meets Pulp Fiction told in the 'wrong' order of events.. which I loved, it added a sense of poetry to the season.
I hope we see a season 3.. and that we have location lineups for Z-Nation.. but not cast members, as that would be TOO surreal, even for me as a fan.. but mentions of the same events and locations are fine for me.
Black Summer season 2 (iirc) is set 3 to 4 years before the first season of Z-Nation.. so the US Army should be everywhere in season 3 or 4 as per Z-Nation history (Marshall law.. no wait Marshall Law was in season 1 of Black Summer.. so are we only 2 years behind Z-Nation?).
But do we need to see Murph again? Not unless we are getting a reworked version of Z-Nation, with Allan reprising his role as I dub him 'King-Z' super anti-villain name .. but that story has been told, I don't think we need to revisit it again.. Black Summer is what it needs to be; a serious zombie apocalypse told in the form of Pulp Fiction. And.. I'm fine with that.
Roll on season 3!
Dava
*(recommended.. not perfect but 4/5 stars good show!)
