S02.E05: Z Is For Zombie

[formerlyfreedom]

Father Mulvehill asks the team for a confidential evaluation, as he fears that he might be the victim of diabolical oppression.

Dropping Sunday, July 18, 2021.

[Snazzy Daisy]

Evil is taking digs at The Walking Dead and Amazon! 😅

I love Lila and Alex’s CongoRun zombie’s adventure. It’s good to have an episode focusing on Lila this season, she’s always in the background. She is less annoying without her siblings (Laura is the most annoying sister). Maybe Lila should bring Kristen and Ben The Magnificent to that spice shop. That lady could help them with some potions to get rid of their late night demon/demoness/jinn.

Thank you for that ammonia Sister Andrea! After watching Leland faking his exorcism, it’s so satisfying to see him screaming and running out, terrified by the chemical burns. Welcome to Leland’s watchlist Sister Andrea!

Leland wants to undress for the exorcism is funny. Dude, except for Sheryl, no one wants to see you naked! 😂

Cute outfit Leland, very appropriate! 🤣

Edited July 18, 2021 by SnazzyDaisy

[Annber03]

Sister Andrea is a badass. I love her. That thing with the ammonia was quite sneaky. I like how she's constantly reminding David that he has more power and control over everything than he realizes or believes he does, too. She's a good motivator, and I like how she's just straightforward and no-nonsense in her advice. I also love how she's got a comeback for anyone who's annoying the crap out of her, LOL. 

I too liked Lila and Alex working a mystery of their own, even if there were moments at the beginning where I was like, "No! Stay where you are!" But with Kristen as her mom, it's not surprising Lila would be motivated to investigate-I liked that we could see the mother/daughter resemblance in that way :). And Lila and Alex had a really cute friendship, too-it was fun seeing them bonding over horror movies and whatnot. I'm with Lila on her preference in zombies, the slow ones are creepier. I also found it interesting that the pop up book that we've been seeing at the beginning of each intro this season was in Alex's closet. 

I was bracing for a nasty little twist to the story with the CongoRun storyline, though, and ooh, yeah, that ending, while not surprising, was also a nasty little punch to the gut. Seeing Alex's reaction to her dad's behavior at the end there...poor kid :(. This is why you don't mess with potions, people. Clever way to comment on the awfulness of the stories we've heard about Amazon in recent years. 

So Ben's still understandably rattled by his recent experience with the elevator game. Aw. I'm not surprised he'd want to just throw himself back into his work, that seems very true to form for him, but the longer he refuses to deal with this, the more you know that's gonna backfire on him down the line. I'm glad he was able to discover what was really going on with Father Mulvehill, though-when David was asking about the money woes, and Mulvehill remarked that he doesn't make a lot of money in his profession, I was thinking we'd learn that he was stealing money from the church to help fund his gambling debts. They never said that aloud, but I'm guessing that was a factor here. He had to get that money from somewhere, after all. Somehow I doubt these six months away are going to be all that helpful for Mulvehill, but...we'll see, I guess. 

Also was amused at how Kristen came ever so close to revealing to Ben the kinds of ads she was seeing on her computer :p. Just like she was so close to confessing about the murder a few episodes back. If Leland was targeting Mulvehill with the gambling stuff, though, then I imagine he's probably targeting Kristen, too...which would mean he's aware of her recent sneaking out to that bar and whatnot somehow. Either that or she's got some 'splainin to do about her internet searches, one of the two. 

Edited July 18, 2021 by Annber03

[AimingforYoko]

Interesting they gave the Father Mulvehill a gambling problem. Those of us who are old enough remember Brian Stokes Mitchell on Trapper John, M.D. where his character's name was Jackpot.

The AmazonCongoRun plot with the girls reminded me of the best X-Files episodes, just a step or two beyond plausible.

[Snazzy Daisy]

1 hour ago, Annber03 said:

Also was amused at how Kristen came ever so close to revealing to Ben the kinds of ads she was seeing on her computer :p. Just like she was so close to confessing about the murder a few episodes back. If Leland was targeting Mulvehill with the gambling stuff, though, then I imagine he's probably targeting Kristen, too...which would mean he's aware of her recent sneaking out to that bar and whatnot somehow. Either that or she's got some 'splainin to do about her internet searches, one of the two. 

Am still waiting for David & Kristen to hook-up. Come on show, bring it on!!!

[Chaos Theory]

Loved Lila and Alex playing zombie hunters.   It was ultimately a tragedy because they with the best of intentions made Alex’s the father the new  Slave Master  But watching their youthful exuberance was entertaining and Lila’s opinion of what her mother does for a living.

 

Edited July 19, 2021 by Chaos Theory

[Athena5217]

I hope we see the voodoo lady again. She fixes cell phones, makes potions, and is reading about stem cells? Ben may have some competition.

As satisfying as it was to see Leland’s skin burn, the substitution of ammonia for holy water was not plausible. Ammonia has a very strong smell. It would have been noticed when David used it on Leland.

[Nellise]

I was surprised nobody checked the water to see if it really was water. It was the first thing I thought of so that felt kind of dumb that Kristen didn't bring it up. Maybe she was protecting David a bit, let him keep believing.

It was nice to have an episode around one of the girls other than Lexie. I didn't even realize Lila was one of Kristen's kids until a few minutes in.

Scariest part of the episode for me: I started watching the episode on my computer. Stopped after 15 minutes and switched to watching on my tv's app. They messed up on that app and had the English with Descriptions as the only audio. I'd never heard it like that before for so it was quite disconcerting having a voice describing what was on the screen in between the regular dialogue ("David raises an eyebrow and shrugs").

[Snazzy Daisy]

Robert King commented & clarified on TVLine re ammonia and the narration.

 

[phalange]

I love Sister Andrea. She's so tired of everyone's bullshit, especially Leland's. I wonder if Leland realizes that she was messing with him or if he actually thinks he's possessed now. I hope it's the later, because after everything he's done he deserves to feel freaked out for a bit.

Um, Kristen, maybe use headphones on your laptop if you're going to be clicking on sketchy ads while the kids are home? 

The show does a good job of incorporating real-life present day issues like the way CongoRun (aka Amazon) treats employees. Poor Alex, realizing her dad is now treating his former warehouse co-workers the way he was treated by the old manager. Lila and Alex got what they wanted, but at what cost?

[Anela]

The zombie story was cute, and I love the nun!! I actually cackled at the reveal that she used ammonia, not water.  Followed by the prayer.  

Edited July 19, 2021 by Anela

[Chaos Theory]

It says something about a show where it actually took me a beat to realize the narration wasn’t part of the show and a bug in Paramount+.    Got around it by getting the 2 week free trial On Amazon.   Had a lot of commercials.  

I actually did enjoy the kids story more then the adult one which says a lot about the show.   Maybe because the priest performing the exorcism was just annoying.  I do like Sister Andrea and her no bullshit attitude.    

 

[Hudson0325]

I’m glad I wasn’t the only one having a problem with the video description. I tried watching last night and could not figure out how to get rid of it so I gave up. Tried tonight and it was fine

[Norma Desmond]

On 7/18/2021 at 8:48 PM, SnazzyDaisy said:

Am still waiting for David & Kristen to hook-up. Come on show, bring it on!!!

They really toned down the sexual attraction angle between these two.

Sister Andrea is the episode's most valuable player. I love her! And I adore her interactions with David.

Judging by next week's preview, courtesy of George, Sheryl's back to her shenanigans.

[Stuffy]

 

45 minutes ago, Norma Desmond said:

They really toned down the sexual attraction angle between these two.

I’m not surprised they toned down Kristen and David after I saw an interview with everyone in the show. The Kings mentioned being bitten by the obsession with two characters on The Good wife, and people ignoring other things on that show. I would be okay with Kristen and David being best friends because I really liked their friendship season one. I’d also be okay with a relationship down the road.  Hopefully wherever they head with it, they tread lightly with her having four kids. Also I prefer there to be no adultery between the two characters especially if he actually goes through with being a priest. 
 

I’m liking Sister Andrea, and I do think she’s good. She’s helping David believe in himself even if the ammonia is cheating. 
 

If she’s not losing her mind, I’m thinking Kristen has a good Jinn because it’s always around when she’s tempted.  

[Madding crowd]

I didn’t like the zombie storyline; it was too obvious and seemed like lazy writing to me. Little girls aren’t going to run after what they think are zombies and a person whose foot is bleeding from being on their feet all day wouldn’t bleed through his shoe to the point it would show streaks like Lila stepped in.

Sister Andrea continues to be great and I liked the storyline about the targeted ads. We all get them and it would be an easy way for an evil being to infiltrate. Still not sure why the church is bothering with Leland, he is obviously mocking the whole process. And yes he would smell the ammonia. 

[tennisgurl]

Nice to see an episode focusing on Lila, she's one of the least focused on of the daughters, and I thought her zombie hunt with her friend Alex was fun, at least until the end. Poor Alex, that's sometimes what you get when you mess with potions, you might technically get what you want, but not in the way you want it. Her dad isn't a zombie anymore...but now he's become the slave driver. This show always finds the most interesting ways to deal with issues like abuse of labor in huge delivery companies. The girls friendship was really cute, and I liked hearing some of Lila's perspective on her moms job. 

Can we see the voodoo lady again please? I feel like a woman who makes voodoo potions, fixes cell phones, braids hair, and studies stem cell research would be a very useful person to have on speed dial. 

Sister Andrea has quickly become one of my favorite characters, I just love her take no crap attitude, especially towards Leland, and how supportive she is of David. David has felt so insecure about himself this season, he really needs that push to realize his own power. 

I knew it, those annoying targeted ads are the work of the dark side! Kristen was really close to telling Ben at least something about her temptations, but like with her possible murder, she pulled back at the last minute. Ben is still struggling with what happened to him last time, which is very understandable, but he wants to just keep working instead, which is probably not a great idea in any situation, let alone when your work involves demon hunting. 

[kwnyc]

Spoiler

Quote

Can we see the voodoo lady again please? I feel like a woman who makes voodoo potions, fixes cell phones, braids hair, and studies stem cell research would be a very useful person to have on speed dial. 

Looks like your wish will come true. In the "when we come back after the hiatus" previews, we see voodoo lady. Looks like she's turning over a table!

 

 

[raven]

I enjoyed this one, though when we first saw Lila I didn't think she was in her own house - it looked really different.  It always appeared that the house stood by itself to me.

Liked the girls' sleuthing but hey, girls?  don't go putting unknown substances into someone's food or drink, okay?? 

I also enjoyed Leland - I like him much better as having-fun-with-ulterior motives-Leland than trying-to-be-scary-Leland.

Ben's PTSD  made sense but the priest's gambling problem came out of left field, though I guess we didn't really know anything about him anyway. 

Sr. Andrea and voodoo lady are great supporting characters who need to see more of.