S02.E10: We Were Nowhere Near the Grand Canyon

[ottoDbusdriver]

Episode Description:

 

 

The heroes are forced to split up when threatened by a massive horde of zombies. After going their separate ways, they meet two factions of a once united Native American tribe.

 

 

 

[ottoDbusdriver]

I know that there were a lot of zombies in that herd, but how in the hell did they take down the casino ?

 

What has Citizen Z been doing all this time ?  Over the course of 3 episodes in the time it took the group to go from Memphis to Texas to Rozwell to the Grand Canyon, Citizen Z has only killed 10 or so zombies .... and most of those this episode.

 

Thank goodness Citizen Z's dog is still alive -- and apparently still doesn't have a name.

 

10K is never going to get laid, but at least his latest romantic prospect didn't die by the end of the episode so he still has a shot.

Edited November 14, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[MrHufflepuff]

Oh, no!  Roberta has a crush on Vasquez.  You know he dead next episode.

 

The Chief and his wife built a parking garage with their bare hands?  Really?

 

Ugh.  Bringing this type of satire into minority issues (particularly Native American issues) is highly problematic and kind of offensive, as well as smacking of cultural appropriation.  Do not go there again, show.

[SoSueMe]

I'm a sap but I really enjoyed the tender moment between Murphy and Roberta. For a goofy Asylum show, it does have its share of emo.

[Ohwell]

For a minute I thought Doc was finally gonna get some lovin'; instead, he got...peyote?  Is that what it was?  Anyway, I'm glad he found a friend.  Maybe they'll find each other sometime later.   

 

Glad they finally hooked up with Citizen Z again.  Also, that was a nice moment between Roberta and Murphy.

 

I think Roberta's dream about Vasquez showed how afraid she was of falling for him and then him dying.  Go for it anyway, Roberta.  Get that!

[ottoDbusdriver]

For a minute I thought Doc was finally gonna get some lovin'; instead, he got...peyote?  Is that what it was?  Anyway, I'm glad he found a friend.  Maybe they'll find each other sometime later.   

 

And really good peyote at that -- we're talking hallucinating 3 foot high ravens and taking down zombies via astral projection quality peyote.

[Peanut]

I enjoyed the episode.  I was worried it might cross the line, but I think it was okay.  However, I am willing to listen to reasons why it wasn't.

 

That said, I liked the blue man pictograph added to the wall, and the zombie outbreak slot machine.  And someday, one of these ladies is just going to have to throw herself at 10K. Clearly, he isn't going to make the first move.  

 

eta:  Hey, Rick Grimes?  The idea is to put the zombies INTO the canyon/quarry.  Not take them out. 

Edited November 15, 2015 by Peanut

[MrHufflepuff]

It was sort of borderline, so I'm not going to be writing into SyFy or anything, but...

 

I think it's problematic to discuss discrimination issues re: Native Americans as happening 200 years ago.  The son's point of view at the beginning was that Doc and 10K were essentially responsible for stuff that happened hundreds of years ago, through some kind of generational sin.  But that puts off current issues of discrimination into some distant past, which nobody alive is responsible for.  But the issues facing Native Americans today aren't some distant past, they're current.  And by reducing those current issues to people being irrationally pissed off at individuals for things that happened long ago that they had nothing to do with, it trivializes current issues of discrimination.

 

It would have been far better (and probably more amusing) for the son to have the position that he really didn't care that a society which had been treating his people unjustly to the present day collapsed because of Zombies.  Instead of blaming Doc and 10K for stuff that happened hundreds of years ago, I think it would have been funnier and far less problematic for the son to go, "Look, before the Zombies came, your government was discriminating against us and restricting us from our tribal lands.  Now, thanks to the Zombies, we get our land back and we don't have to put up with discrimination, so don't come in here with that mess and get off our property."  That would have acknowledged the current issues with Native Americans while still giving them a conflict with 10K and Doc without resorting to some trope about how racial issues are just minorities being pissed off over stuff that happened long before anybody was born.

 

That's just one of the things I found problematic.  There were several others throughout the episode, which would take me paragraphs to unpack and contextualize properly, and I don't want to end up writing a dissertation about a dumb Asylum show.  But, I do think there were a number of shlocky, stereo typical characters in the show.

 

It's tough, because it is nice to see underrepresented actors get work, but it'd be nicer if the writing had handled them better.

Edited November 15, 2015 by MrHufflepuff

[peach]

I found it problematic because it was boring.

eta:  Hey, Rick Grimes?  The idea is to put the zombies INTO the canyon/quarry.  Not take them out. 

 

My thoughts exactly!  lol  I did like the moment with Roberta and Murphy at the end, just like after The Collector, when he asked her to promise not to leave him alone if they got to the lab.

[wayne67]

I enjoyed the fact that someone finally did something with the zombies. It always bugs me that no one in a zombie apocalypse ever digs a spike trap.

 

Admittedly I was confused by the zombies avoiding fire. I never knew they had much of a self preservation instinct. I still have no idea how those zombies broke the casino. Probably shouldn't think about it too much. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

Admittedly I was confused by the zombies avoiding fire. I never knew they had much of a self preservation instinct. I still have no idea how those zombies broke the casino. Probably shouldn't think about it too much. 

 

Unless the zombies were driving giant bulldozers or were packing demolition explosives, I have no idea how they took down that casino.

 

Since when have zombies ever been wary of fire -- they're zombies, not Frankenstein's monsters.  I'm curious how anyone even knew that would work to divert them.

[Joimiaroxeu]

I got the impression that someone on the Z Nation writing staff has been reading Carlos Castaneda recently. Whatever, I'm not Native American and it's perhaps not my issue to complain about but Doc's trippy dippy peyote use kind of bothered me. I thought peyote was mainly for religious or medicinal purposes but the show made it look like it was just another recreational drug for Doc to have fun with. I'll be curious to see if he ever finds a reason to use it again.

[peach]

I got the impression that someone on the Z Nation writing staff has been reading Carlos Castaneda recently. Whatever, I'm not Native American and it's perhaps not my issue to complain about but Doc's trippy dippy peyote use kind of bothered me. I thought peyote was mainly for religious or medicinal purposes but the show made it look like it was just another recreational drug for Doc to have fun with. I'll be curious to see if he ever finds a reason to use it again.

 

Well, at the beginning, he was in pain with that gash to his head, and that's when she offered it to him.  I think the trip was just an added bonus. I realize this is Doc, and he was seeking such a bonus, but he was definitely injured.  I know nothing about peyote and if anyone would actually use it for pain medication, but I guess it would at least distract you from pain.  

[Peanut]

Well. to be fair, there is a lot of discussion in the Walking Dead forums about the roles of women, especially in the early seasons, where the women did the washing and the men did the guarding and killing and whatnot.  

 

Also, re: the fire.  I don't know how they knew it would divert the zombies, but I thought some of the slo-mo shots were really cool.  

[Bongo Fury]

Well. to be fair, there is a lot of discussion in the Walking Dead forums about the roles of women, ...

 

But other than the zombies, TWD and Z Nation are two totally different shows. TWD brings up questions of morality as part of its core. The questions of what you do in order to survive, how far do you go, what IS right and wrong, and the varying shades of gray, is what the show is all about. While Z Nation is a fluff piece. it has its serious moments, but they are a minority and never go into depth. Comparisons of TWD and Z Nation are problematic because the shows are SO different.

[Ohwell]

I'm not at all concerned about morality on Z Nation, but I am concerned about the whereabouts of the Cheese Wheel.  I hope the writers come back to it.

[ottoDbusdriver]

I'm not at all concerned about morality on Z Nation, but I am concerned about the whereabouts of the Cheese Wheel.  I hope the writers come back to it.

 

I'm hoping it's like the log on the Simpsons episode 'Lisa the Tree Hugger' -- traveling back and forth across the country under it's own power.  Or the mill wheel that Johnny Depp was riding in 'Pirates of the Caribbean'.

[MrPissyPuppy]

Peyote tastes AWFUL!   So I've heard.   

[jhlipton]

I'm waaaaaay behind but:

 

I thought peyote was mainly for religious or medicinal purposes but the show made it look like it was just another recreational drug for Doc to have fun with. I'll be curious to see if he ever finds a reason to use it again.

 

They used it first for medicinal reasons, but, by connecting it to the petrogylphs, brought in the religious aspects.  This being a silly Asylum show, they also had to add a giant raven, but I thought that, for Z Nation, they handled the peyote pretty well.

 

 

That would have acknowledged the current issues with Native Americans while still giving them a conflict with 10K and Doc without resorting to some trope about how racial issues are just minorities being pissed off over stuff that happened long before anybody was born.

 

That sounds a bit more didactic than this show has been.  They did acknowledge (at least in passing) the recent Supreme Court case hearings on using peyote for religious reasons.  

[allthatglitters]

Latecomer

 

OK the dog situation of Citizen Z is just plain absurd.

It started episodes ago, and I swore I'd never bring it up but once again CZ is up and about with no rin tin tin at his side. Unless he tied the dog down, how would the dog just sleep all day and night in the same spot? Watching him just sit there looking sheepish, not barking at all at the threat, as zombies attacked the barricades of CZ. Maybe having a dog in the ZA wouldn't work because dogs will always attack, (except for this one rare breed of CZs dog that only attacks other zombie dogs). And probably get bitten right away, because they are not privy to the only method of killing one, so they wouldn't be of much use as a guard anyways.  The writers should have thought this through. The only use in giving CZ a pet dog to keep him company, would be if he doesn't actually act like one. Which I guess as luck would have it, CZ just happened to miraculously stumble into the only dog in the world that would prefer to just yawn, sit back, maybe a whimper or two, but generally take it easy and relax while threatening beings all around tried to attack you and your master. Perfect ZA pet I guess. Totally ruins the plausibility (yes even in a ZA show) with such undogly behaviour. 

Edited January 4, 2016 by allthatglitters

[Bongo Fury]

OK the dog situation of Citizen Z is just plain absurd.

 

Please don't take this the wrong way, I mean no offense.

 

You're OK with the zombie/weed hybrid (vegezombie?) walking around?

You're OK with the giant rolling cheese wheel with the zombie legs sticking out?

You're OK with the talking doctor's head in a box?

You're OK with the zombie nativity scene?

You're OK with the whole Murphy baby story line?

The pole dancing zombie stripper?

 

But when it comes to the acting of the dog, you draw the line?

[allthatglitters]

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Definitely

 

Its preposterous