S03.E01: No Mercy - Part 1 / S03.E02: No Mercy - Part 2

[ottoDbusdriver]

Episode Description:

First hour:

Quote

 

A new enemy presents new problems for the heroes in the Season 3 premiere.

2nd hour:

Quote

 

To protect the town against The Man, a new alliance is formed and zombies are battled like never before.

Note: This is a 2-hour season premiere.

Edited September 17, 2016 by ottoDbusdriver

[Jul 68]

So. Umm. WTH was that about?

Anyone else think 5k is still alive? He didn't look mercied. The crow bit put me in mind of The Stand.

[SoSueMe]

Since this is supposed to be a flashback, the show makers have left themselves a lot of wiggle room. Citizen Z and the Hispanic guy (Vasquez ?) may still show up at some point. Or did Vasquez get it, I don't remember. Should have watched the marathon, lol.

It was kind of sad how the crows surrounded 5K to mourn him.

So it looks like someone powerful is abducting genius doctors?

[Ohwell]

I'm so glad this show is back but it's gonna take me a minute to figure out just WTH happened and comment on it.  However, one thing I did notice is that Roberta somehow managed to find some eyeliner in the ZA.   

[madhacker]

so even in a flashback episode......10k still can't get laid. Goddamnit, I hate the apocalypse.

worst thing about this episode...we still don't know if 10k made it off the sub alive (he better have).

As usual Doc gets most of the best lines tonight. "Mr. Clean" "Kojak".......classic.

[peach]

1 hour ago, SoSueMe said:

Since this is supposed to be a flashback, the show makers have left themselves a lot of wiggle room. Citizen Z and the Hispanic guy (Vasquez ?) may still show up at some point. Or did Vasquez get it, I don't remember. Should have watched the marathon, lol.

It was kind of sad how the crows surrounded 5K to mourn him.

So it looks like someone powerful is abducting genius doctors?

I watched the season 2 finale right before this, and Vasquez took off on his own.

On the sub, Dr Murch explained to Murphy that some "world leaders and businessmen" had formed the island compound of Zona to restart humanity, and they were messing about with vaccines that weren't working out, so they needed Murphy.  The side effects of whatever vaccine they were using at Zona caused people's eyes to glow blue.  The founder of Zona and his pals found out their first vaccine just slowed the virus way down, and now the founder was starting to turn. 

So, the guy sitting by the pool, using his zombified hand to call The Man on the sat phone must be that founder, and they are seeking any doctors that were researching the virus.  But Dr Turner is now infected with the super fungus, I think?  Since he took his mask off, and then kissed his grody fungus morphed wife?  I told my husband he never has to kiss me goodbye if I have blue, glowing brain/fungal matter popping out of my face.

[ottoDbusdriver]

The episode description really did need to indicate that this was a flashback episode -- a flashback episode that appears to take place between episodes 5 and 6 from Season 2, because Cassandra was dead by the end of episode 6 AND Murphy had given Lucy over to that couple. Which means that they are still physically located near the Mississippi/Mid West. And where is hell Vasquez in this episode ?  I was kind of hoping that the giant Cheese Wheel might make an appearance since it was in Episode 5 of Season 2.

Wouldn't Lucy suffocate in that cooler with the lid closed ?  Nope, it looks like the lid has a smokestack for air.  
But wouldn't Lucy get infected from breathing the air in the fungus building ?  I doubt they have newborn-sized respirator masks.

Addie (after observing Cassandra nursing Lucy): "How is this even possible ?"
Murphy: "It's the apocalypse baby, roll with it."

Where exactly did 'The Man' hide himself when Roberta went after that Z by the power lines ?  It's scrub land, and there's no caves or trees to hide behind.  Is 'The Man' magic ?

If 'The Man' lives withing walking distance of the research lab (along the same set of power lines), and could basically sneak in anytime, what took him so long and what's with all the confrontational nonsense ?  And who is the ancient dude lying around a pool with a bevy of hotties calling the shots ?  And what happened to the drone that took those surveillance photos -- 'The Man' could have been using that all the time for aerial reconaissance.

Umm, how many days have those people been in that container ?  Since none of them can move, it's got to smell like shit and piss inside that container.

Who hops up a Jaguar sedan a la monster truck ?  Because that looked like a Jaguar XJ6.

After 'the Kraken' was released, why wouldn't the gang just shoot them in the legs and immobilize the Zs ?  Problem solved.  Or shoot the handler in the head ?  Again, problem solved.  Though that home-made cannon seemed to do the job.  Seemed to at first.

With that logo for Mercy Labs all over the building during the final confrontation with The Man and the Kraken, I thought this was an episode of Masterchef gone horribly wrong.

How did 'The Man' know which room Teller and Murphy were in ?  Apparently 'The Man' is part MacGyver with that homemade biohazard suit he whipped up.  And isn't Teller now infected with the fungus after breathing the air in that building and kissing his wife ?

I liked when they showed the shot of a single hawk flying accompanied by the sound of a crow.

Speaking of crows, 5K speaking crow was kind of funny.  Has that same appeal as Dory from 'Finding Nemo' speaking whale.

Where did all those Zs come from that were chasing after 10K and 5K ? Were they also on that truck ?  Because they seemed to come out of nowhere.

And we got another GTFO from Roberta like we did in the Season 2 finale.

Did some of the helmeted Zs actually throw punches ?  That seems unlikely.

Where did that helicopter come from ?  And where was it going with the container full of prisoners -- including the recently infected Dr. Teller ?

So 'The Man' gets a new list after completing his job ?  Why ?  How is he getting paid ?

So all the new survivor characters encountered at that lab appear to be dead -- maybe 5K is alive, maybe he's not.  I think Red is definitely dead -- Red's dead baby, red's dead.  Seriously, even if 10K survives that sub explosion at the end of S2 he is never going to get laid with his luck.

So maybe this old partially infected dude and all the hotties are all that is left of Zona, so who's doing all the work ?  Because they all seem to be living the life of luxury.
 

Edited September 18, 2016 by ottoDbusdriver

[shrewd.buddha]

For lack of other options, we gave this show another shot... But it hasn't really changed much since the first season.
Lots of half-baked ideas, random zombie attacks, ramshackle sets, and not a lot of sense applied to anything.

There were countless opportunities for the main characters to kill 'the man', yet no one really tried. Why? 

[Shriekingeel]

I liked it compared to the boring mess of Season 2, which went too far into slapstick. Doc's one-liners were plenty funny, no need to turn the entire show into a comedy. 

[peach]

13 hours ago, SoSueMe said:

It was kind of sad how the crows surrounded 5K to mourn him.

My husband and I were talking about this, and he thinks the crows rescued him, and he's not dead.  They pulled him out of there and laid him on the grass somewhere.  He remembers seeing them flocking around, and then suddenly the kid had disappeared.  There was so much nonsense going on in the last half hour that I didn't remember that part.

3 hours ago, shrewd.buddha said:

There were countless opportunities for the main characters to kill 'the man', yet no one really tried. Why? 

Agreed.  That was the worst aspect of the episode, IMO.  Especially the scene where the kid shot that gear into The Man's chest, and then 10K, the sharpshooter, just grabbed up the kid and ran away, instead of killing the guy. 

I love our characters, so I'm in, but that episode did NOT need to be two hours long, and I hope that big of a plot hole does not keep happening.  Like the literal hole in the fence they were all using to get into the compound but somehow a very organized and determined adversary doesn't use it, and zombie didn't find it til the end.

[diebartdie]

5 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

The episode description really did need to indicate that this was a flashback episode -- a flashback episode that appears to take place between episodes 5 and 6 from Season 2, because Cassandra was dead by the end of episode 6 AND Murphy had given Lucy over to that couple. Which means that there are still physically located near the Mississippi/Mid West. And where is hell Vasquez in this episode ?  I was kind of hoping that the giant Cheese Wheel might make an appearance since it was in Episode 5 of Season 2.

 

THANK YOU!! I was so confused! I didnt watch the marathon, I love this dumb show but not enough to watch a marathon lol so I was sitting there wondering about when exactly this flashback was situated so thank you. It's a goofy show but it has its moments and overall, I like it better than The Strain and even better than Fear the Walking Dead (which might actually improve this season.....) Z Nation has a lot of heart.

[Peanut]

It said at the beginning that it was a flashback.  I don't remember how exactly, and I've erased it from my DVR.  

Im wondering if the kid is alive, too.  And if he'll make an appearance soon.  

I didn't see 10k in the previews for next week, but I'm going to be optimistic and just say that was deliberate to keep us wondering.  

 

Even with all the giant plot holes, I still didn't mind it.   This isn't supposed to be super serious like TWD, so I can forgive most of them.  The doctor should be turning into a fungus, though. I can't forgive that. ;)

[CletusMusashi]

On 9/17/2016 at 8:01 AM, ottoDbusdriver said:

Where exactly did 'The Man' hide himself when Roberta went after that Z by the power lines ?  It's scrub land, and there's no caves or trees to hide behind.  Is 'The Man' magic ?

Try, try, try to understaaaaaaaaand... he's a Magic Maaaaaan... Either that, or he's a dime-a-dozen Yul Brynner impersonator with too much plot armor.

I don't really mind if Crowboy survives, as long as we aren't subjected to him tagging after the group week after week. If his hot sister came along, then maybe... but honestly, as a character, I don't think "one more tough chick" really adds much to the ensemble.

Kind of nice, albeit confusing, seeing Hombie again, but holy crap did that enormous flashback break the show's overall narrative! I honestly wonder if they still had a bunch of footage from an older unaired episode and decided to tweak it into a "two hour event." Which did not by any stretch of the imagination need to be that long.

Are they trying to be a Walking Dead clone? Unbeatable heroes, lots of action at the expense of characterization and humor, disposeable redshirts (at least that was lampshaded,) unbeatable villains who the writers obviously expect us to be awed by, random laws about how zombies can be controlled (as long as you're a villain, you can just crack a whip at them! Is it a Magic Whip? Maybe it gives a +5 to Necromancy?) Zombie skulls that are so flimsy that they can be destroyed by a slingshot which, we now know, barely has any effect at all against a human sternum?

I'll tune out the stupid as long as I get the funny. This episode rarely even tried to be funny, nor was the action in it as awesome as it thought it was. I mostly spent the entire two hours saying "Shoot him," "Shoot him now," and "Why aren't they shooting him?"

I hope that my hypothesis about this just being an unaired episode that they decided to try to use is correct. Because if it was actually indicative of the season's new tone, then I'll be gone after one more try. I don't mind shows getting stupider and sillier. Season Two of "Baywatch Nights," where they had David Hasselhoff punching it out with reanimated mummies and unfrozen Vikings, is one of the most underrated gems of bad television. Or Seasons 2 and 3 of "The Strain," with it's Nazi vampire makeovers and random luchadores- what's not to love? But this looks to be going the other direction, the one where a fun parody decides to become the exact same thing that it used to mock. Remember Season 2 of "She Spies?" Of course not. No one does. Because we all watched two episodes of it, said "Well, that sucks now," and left.

Edited September 18, 2016 by CletusMusashi

[NurseGiGi]

I didn't care for this episode at all.  I hope the rest of the season gets better.

[seacliffsal]

I like the series, but did not like this episode.  Too much stuff that made me go "hmmmmm."  If the zombies had metal helmets so they couldn't be shot in the head, then they had metal helmets that wouldn't let them bite anyone.  Everyone in the camp was killed except for the doctor.  They should have just handed over the doctor and saved themselves (I know, I know...gotta save our friends).  The whole detour only led to more deaths...so they are like The Walking Dead.  I didn't enjoy the story as it seems like nothing really happened (except: crows), and there was a noticeable lack of humor.

[raven]

I thought at first it was maybe a fever dream that 10K was having before they revealed the flashback.

No one attempting a shot at the bald guy took me out of the episode.  There were lots of opportunities.  WTF?  I know it's Z Nation but that was dumb, as was shooting at the heads of the "kraken" when they were wearing helmets.  This group knows better.

I'm thinking 5K is alive because wouldn't he be a zombie instead of lying there quietly?  He was shown to slip out of sight earlier so that's what he probably did while they were surrounded.

Wasn't sure what the plan was - why drop all the red sheets or whatever?  I was annoyed that the Dr hadn't killed those fungus people earlier; they let them stay that way for 4 yrs and needed Murphy to tell him they were suffering?  Though the fungal effect was cool. 

I guess they're setting something up with the bluish guy at the pool collecting scientists as the big bad.  I would have liked this better if the flashback portion was an hour.   Except for the Doctor (and maybe 5K), the group ended up dead anyway.

On 9/17/2016 at 3:22 PM, Peanut said:

The doctor should be turning into a fungus, though. I can't forgive that. ;)

I thought of that too but maybe it will just take some time.

Spoiler

I was worried about Roberta - if you look here Addie's pic is featured prominently and Roberta looks sorta zombie-like.

   Spoiler tagged just in case.

[Rapunzel]

I watched the last episode of the previous season right before this mess and I was really hoping to find out what happened to 10k and whether or not Vasquez changed his mind and ended up meeting up with the rest of the group after all - it's better than being alone.

When I saw Doc giving an intro stating that this episode was a flashback, I was still a bit hopeful as I thought maybe the flashback part would only be the first hour. Unfortunately that was not the case.

I agree with many who have posted here and felt this was pretty unnecessary - especially for it to go the full two hours. What, exactly, was the point of it all? To show us a bit about Zona and who was there and the fact that they were kidnapping doctors to try to find a cure? To introduce "The Man" as the next big bad? If so, that could have been done with a few simple comments as the military guys on the sub knew about Zona as well and "The Man" doesn't seem all that compelling to me so far.

As for 10k, when I re-watched the previous season finale, it appeared he had possibly had surgery to remove the bullet since he was bandaged and able to get up and walk. I can only hope that when they showed Murphy's bite marks on the cheeks of the head military guy from the sub and the female doc and the others as they were riding in the Zodiac that Murphy got 10k out as well (without biting him, of course) and he was lying down in the Zodiac so we just couldn't see him. I really hope they did not kill off 10k - I'd rather lose Addie. I also don't want to lose Vasquez as I think we need another strong, good looking, male who can fight as part of the team.

Edited September 18, 2016 by Rapunzel

[ottoDbusdriver]

6 hours ago, CletusMusashi said:

Try, try, try to understaaaaaaaaand... he's a Magic Maaaaaan... Either that, or he's a dime-a-dozen Yul Brynner impersonator with too much plot armor.

Nicely done.

6 hours ago, CletusMusashi said:

I don't really mind if Crowboy survives, as long as we aren't subjected to him tagging after the group week after week. If his hot sister came along, then maybe... but honestly, as a character, I don't think "one more tough chick" really adds much to the ensemble.

But if Crowboy/5K does survive, how does he follow the gang across the country ? This entire extended episode took place somewhere in the Midwest not far from the mighty Mississippi, so does 5K get up, dust himself off and trail the gang for a couple of thousand miles (since they didn't exactly take a straight path to California) without revealing to them that he was alive (nor does the gang ever mention him for 6 or 7 episodes).

Because that sounds exactly like the same plot path that Escorpion took -- we were all pretty sure Escorpion was Z Chow, but somehow he fought his way out and successfully tracked the gang from the Mexico/Arizona border to California without the gang finding out about him.  So guess that means 5K should be joining them any day now when we get back to regularly scheduled programming.

7 hours ago, CletusMusashi said:

I hope that my hypothesis about this just being an unaired episode that they decided to try to use is correct. Because if it was actually indicative of the season's new tone, then I'll be gone after one more try. I don't mind shows getting stupider and sillier. 

That is what it felt like.

[peach]

3 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

 Everyone in the camp was killed except for the doctor.  They should have just handed over the doctor and saved themselves (I know, I know...gotta save our friends).  The whole detour only led to more deaths...so they are like The Walking Dead.

 I was thinking if The Man just explained they had the last working lab trying to find a cure, and they needed all the scientists working on it, wouldn't he just AGREE to go?  lol  Doesn't seem like kidnapping was necessary in the first place.  Oh, well, hand wave for now.  I'm looking forward to them picking up where they left off, being held at gunpoint by Chinese soldiers.

2 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

But if Crowboy/5K does survive, how does he follow the gang across the country ? This entire extended episode took place somewhere in the Midwest not far from the mighty Mississippi, so does 5K get up, dust himself off and trail the gang for a couple of thousand miles (since they didn't exactly take a straight path to California) without revealing to them that he was alive (nor does the gang ever mention him for 6 or 7 episodes).

The crows can just fly him there.

[CletusMusashi]

Or, maybe he'll build a glider. Or turn out to be a savant at airplanes, helicopters, balloons, or flying Penguin umbrellas. None of which would be less plausible than the idea that he just randomly wears aviator goggles because... the crows told him about flying humans?

I have seen an extended story line about a boy learning things from crows. And that boy was named Bran Stark. Which is.. obviously.... not the name of an exciting person. Spoiler alert: the story has gone on for years without actually getting interesting or relevant.

Spoiler

Except for Osha.

R.I.P. Only Awesome Thing about that God-Damned Never-Ending Bore-y-line!

[maczero]

On 9/16/2016 at 10:16 PM, SoSueMe said:

It was kind of sad how the crows surrounded 5K to mourn him.

Really?  I saw one pick at him.  I assume they were going to eat him.

[Ohwell]

1 hour ago, maczero said:

Really?  I saw one pick at him.  I assume they were going to eat him.

He said earlier that the crows brought him food, and he brought them water, so I doubt they were going to eat him.

[ottoDbusdriver]

They posted the funky intro from this episode on Youtube

[jhlipton]

On 9/18/2016 at 9:21 PM, peach said:

 I was thinking if The Man just explained they had the last working lab trying to find a cure, and they needed all the scientists working on it, wouldn't he just AGREE to go?  lol  Doesn't seem like kidnapping was necessary in the first place.

The whole plot was silly, and not in a good way.

 

On 9/17/2016 at 8:01 AM, ottoDbusdriver said:

So all the new survivor characters encountered at that lab appear to be dead -- maybe 5K is alive, maybe he's not.  I think Red is definitely dead -- Red's dead baby, red's dead. 

 

On 9/18/2016 at 5:35 PM, seacliffsal said:

Everyone in the camp was killed except for the doctor.  They should have just handed over the doctor and saved themselves (I know, I know...gotta save our friends).  The whole detour only led to more deaths...so they are like The Walking Dead.

Some groups are "No man left behind".  Our guys are "no survivors left behind"!  This is not the first group decimated when the Z-Group comes to visit!

[natyxg]

So I'm catching up on Netflix. Haven't even finished with this episode, but I gotta say this because it's irking me soooo much: WHY WAS IT NEVER AN OPTION TO GIVE THE DOCTOR TO THE MAN? I mean, geez, say that the people were indebted to him because he saved them in their hour of need. Or that he was their leader and without him they were lost. Or that they were a family and they weren't gonna lose a member. SOMETHING.

Instead, we have this dude with low energy and low charisma who's gonna get them all killed if they don't give him up, and Warren and the gang come in and become the whole episode, so there are no inside the compound relationships explained and no one saying that they don't want to die and maybe the best thing is to give up the doctor to save themselves. It irked me SO much.

Having said that, if The Man is the antagonist of the season, I'd be down with that. I like him better than the drug gangs bs from last season.

And please, please, PLEASE can Murphy stop being blue at some point? He's so ugly to look at, it's tiresome at some point. Lucy, too.

[Paloma]

On 4/24/2017 at 1:36 PM, natyxg said:

So I'm catching up on Netflix. Haven't even finished with this episode, but I gotta say this because it's irking me soooo much: WHY WAS IT NEVER AN OPTION TO GIVE THE DOCTOR TO THE MAN? I mean, geez, say that the people were indebted to him because he saved them in their hour of need. Or that he was their leader and without him they were lost. Or that they were a family and they weren't gonna lose a member. SOMETHING.

I'm catching up on Netflix even later than you, but now I'm out after the ridiculous Season 2 finale (with the over-the-top Reina character and the unbelievably quick redemption arc of Escorpion/Hector) and the stupidity of this season premiere--besides the silly plot issues, I am furious that they used the flashback to bring back hot-pants Cassandra as Murphy's adorer/slave/baby wet nurse after finally giving her mercy/freedom in an earlier episode. It's a shame because this show has had its good moments and was for a while an entertaining alternative to TWD. Guess I'll have to keep looking for a good sci-fi series to motivate me to go on the treadmill.