Z Nation Season 4 Episode 4 Review: A New Mission: Keep Moving
Ron Gilmer
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Something is VERY wrong with Lt. Roberta Warren, and Murphy isn't feeling too chipper, either.
On Z Nation Season 4 Episode 4, more and more clues emerge about just what in the hell Warren went through at Zona, and it's painting a pretty scary picture.
Roberta finally came clean to the gang about the visions we've known about for weeks, and they were just as gobsmacked as all of us.
Murphy was ready to put it all aside as PTSD, but Doc and Lucy knew better.
Even though the crew reluctantly agreed with Murphy to backtrack to Newmerica, Lucy especially sided with Warren, given the creepy Z connection to her.
Warren: I just feel it. I feel it in my gut. It's not something I can tell you with words. I just feel it.
Murphy: What is it? Is it these visions of yours? The nightmares from your coma, or what?
Warren: I'm alone, outside, and the sky is on fire. I see the world, and there's a black rainbow blocking the sun, and it starts to rain. It's a black, ashen rain, that melts everything that it touches: humans, Enders, zombies. The rain, when it hits my skin, it burns.
The fact that Lucy has a psychic connection with Warren, the way she used to with the Zombie formerly known as Murphy, is troubling, to say the least.
Just what the hell did the Zona scientists do to Warren? We know some of Murphy's Z blood went into Warren when they were both shot by the same bullet last season, so that may account for it.
Warren's white hair also mimics the transition of Murphy from Z to human. Did Warren transition from human to some sort of Z back to a human in the two years she was cocooned?
My theory is that something MUCH more insidious is going on here, courtesy of the Zona scientists.
How can you have deja vu of a place you've never been?
Warren
Two things: when Warren was clinging to the radio tower, she looked at her hand, and had flashes of her hand looking VERY different.
It seemed like it was almost robotic.
The second thing: the image I can't get out of my head is when the eye (which I always thought was Warren's eye from the beginning) turns into what looks like a robotic eye after the black ash burns away the human eye.
Did the Zona scientists do some kind of freaky Terminator thing to Warren?
Is she some sort of human/Z/robot hybrid?
The visions are almost like programming in her brain: she is compelled to follow the path to wherever the Zona scientists want her to go.
Is she a vital part of The Reset? Maybe she is the next gen of what Zona thinks is humanity's destiny.
And what are we to make of Murphy; when he tasted his blood from the wound he sustained in a fight and had a very strange reaction?
Later, he carved off a little piece of his flesh from the wound and ate it (gross), getting an even weirder reaction.
Is he devolving back to his former Z state? Will he be Jonesing for some brains soon?
Weirdness has always been a strong point of Z Nation, so I'm loving the possibilities going forward.
Warren is the heart and soul of Z Nation, so I truly hope whatever changes she's going through don't ruin her character.
Other than the Warren drama, the b-side primarily dealt with Lucy being all bratty about Daddy Murphy.
Don't get me wrong: I totally get why she is on the outs with him.
Aging 25 years in a little over a year would mess with anyone's head.
Her Z connection with him is gone as well, so the only real relationship she has at this point is a quasi Mother figure fixation with Warren.
Murphy: I'm still you're father. You know, things change. You changed. Zona cured me.
Lucy: You didn't need to be cured. You weren't some kind of disease to be cured and neither am I!
Murphy should empathize with her: he used to have the same protective instinct about the Zs that Lucy has, and yet he insists on wasting every Z he comes across.
No wonder she hates his guts right now.
If it weren't for Warren, the whole crew would implode.
Murphy: She likes you more than me, you know.
Warren: Uh huh. So does everybody.
Warren is the linchpin of the narrative, so the changes happening to her concern me going forward
Right now I'll have faith in the showrunners not to make Warren too tragic a figure.
Something you may not be aware of: Keith Allan, who plays Murphy, takes a bow as Director in this episode, his first time Directing an episode of Z Nation.
Working from a taut, action-packed script by Z Nation veteran Delondra Williams, Allan does a very good job showing the claustrophobic nature of The Great Pile, the miles long auto graveyard our heroes find themselves navigating.
The tight POV shots and quick swish pans ramp up the danger of the situation, and the random shots, like a doll inside one of the abandoned cars, really add a creepy touch.
The sweeping overhead shots of the rows and rows of cars show the scope of the crew's problem, as well as being a very cool visual.
Shots like that are essential in telling the whole story, and Allan has a good eye for that.
I especially liked the split screen of Warren's tight profile juxtaposed with the apocalyptic black rainbow tableau during her confession to the group.
Kellita Smith was wonderful in this scene, continuing her fine work.
I don't know what's going on in that head of yours, but I'm gonna throw a little faith your way, for now.
Murphy [to Warren]
So off we go, still heading east, to whatever destiny awaits Warren.
Random Bites
- Shout out again to Delondra Williams, for the clever use of IZEDs (Improvised Zombie Explosive Device) against our heroes.
- Finally, a sign of life from Northern Light. Kaya and her baby are alive, at least via a radio transmission, but no word on Citizen Z yet.
- It was nice to see the Enders back in town, with my particular favorite being the Rat puppet Ender.
Doc graces us again with The Line of the Night:
Oh, they smashed my kiwis!
Doc
This was another very inventive side trip episode. Warren's story is firmly front and center now, and bets are off as to where it will end up.
That's my take: tell me yours. Do you have any theories about Warren? Will Murphy and Lucy ever resolve their differences? And why is Murphy eating himself?
As always, you can watch Z Nation online, anytime, at TV Fanatic!
