S05.E10: State of Mine

[ottoDbusdriver]

Altura militiamen force Talkers to mine a hazardous waste landfill for the secret ingredient to bizkits.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Too bad this episode is going to take place in Altura -- I was hoping maybe it would take place in a settlement that wasn't on Addie's map called New New York.

And in New New York maybe they run into a zombie Billy Joel, so this episode could be about a New New York State of Mine.

I'll see myself out.     :)

[ottoDbusdriver]

That was an Ok episode, I guess.

We find out that Estes has enslaved talkers to mine lithium batteries out of the recycling yard, because it looks like lithium is the secret ingredient to Z biscuits.

Not quite sure what the Zombinator's motives were, but once he was confronted by OBM I thought the Zombinator turned out to be rather underwhelming.  And then compacts himself (though his eye was still moving in the compacted block of metal).

I did like Doc pretending to be one of Estes' new lackeys and bossing the guards around.

Warren and George worked pretty well together.

I'm a little confused by Estes' plan -- he's gone full anti-talker to take control of Altura, but was producing the ingredient that allowed for the creation of Z biscuits that allowed talkers to become functional in the first place.  If he never created the Z biscuits, the talkers would have never become a problem.

Edited December 8, 2018 by ottoDbusdriver

[Ohwell]

10 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

And then compacts himself (though his eye was still moving in the compacted block of metal)

Thanks for the clarification because I was wondering whose eye that was.  That makes sense.

I was disappointed that the talker in the opening scene got beheaded because I thought he would have made an interesting character.  (Plus, he was cute and I would have loved to feed him Z biscuits.) 

I thought it was an interesting episode overall.

[rmontro]

On 12/1/2018 at 6:18 PM, ottoDbusdriver said:

Too bad this episode is going to take place in Altura -- I was hoping maybe it would take place in a settlement that wasn't on Addie's map called New New York.

And in New New York maybe they run into a zombie Billy Joel, so this episode could be about a New New York State of Mine.

That might have been a better episode than this.  I think stories like this bore me because they don't advance the plot any.

It wasn't awful, it wasn't good, it was just... there.  IMO.

Oh well.  See what happens next week (if anything).

[Jordan61]

What the heck, I thought Tobias was dead? I cracked up when Doc was playing around with the claw machine and the big magnet. The Zombinator (thanks Otto!) kind of reminded me of Bane.

[AngelKitty]

That was hilarious. I love this show. Last night I had Z Nation, Midnight Texas, and VanHelsing on my DVR list. Now Mr. Kitty does not enjoy zombies and vampires but there was nothing else on so he said, "We can watch anything but Z Nation." And I said, "But that's the best one." And he said, "To you!" I chose Midnight Texas since I figured that would be the one with the least gore. Well, about ten minutes in, he said, "This is like a soap opera." So I reluctantly (because I thought Sam was in it) switched to VanHelsing. Sam wasn't really in it too much so it was tolerable to me but Mr. Kitty was bored and went to bed.

The moral of this story is to go with my first instinct on which of my shows to watch with Mr. Kitty because funny horror is the best. Especially when it has pot smoking references since we are both sixty-year-old potheads. Turns out he had Z Nation mixed up with The Walking Dead so I totally understand now.

Back to this episode: anyone else disappointed the Zombinator wasn't someone we knew, like The Man?

[ottoDbusdriver]

18 minutes ago, AngelKitty said:

 

Back to this episode: anyone else disappointed the Zombinator wasn't someone we knew, like The Man?

I was thinking the same thing before the Zombinator's face was revealed.

[Jordan61]

3 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

I was thinking the same thing before the Zombinator's face was revealed.

So was I! 

[Ohwell]

Me too!

[51Muses]

6 hours ago, AngelKitty said:

Back to this episode: anyone else disappointed the Zombinator wasn't someone we knew, like The Man?

That would have been fantastic!

I've loved this season. One pet peeve is the dribbling of info episode by episode - too much like Season 4. After several rewatches and looking through past episode notes, here's what I got as far plot.

Estes: He did build up Altura after his Zona exile. Altura was the most successful settlement until the other settlements began to work together via George's efforts. Perhaps, Estes knew about the Reset and Altura was his means of surviving it. Black Rain messed up his plans, poor man.

Settlements: Each one was a piece of the puzzle. In the beginning, the Dam provided water and power to the Heartland mill. The mill made grain for food. Pacifica provided the Library. Limbo was "Las Vegas." Altura provided medical, science and communications. Then Black Rain happened.

Black Rain: Enter the Talkers. The Baker family start up the bakery. At first they used raw brains. Then they got biscuit flour from Heartland. Then they made mass quantities of cookies which stabilized the Talkers in all the settlements. Not something in Estes plans I think. I think Estes figured out early that lithium had an effect on Talkers. Who knows maybe it was part of his work in Zona? Anyway, he started mining junkyards secretly. The lithium dust was packaged as biscuit mix and given to Heartland then the bakery for distribution.  The Talkers were used as farm laborers and for other manual tasks. Then the Talkers got "rights" which was not something Estes wanted but could not stop without looking bad. Never a good thing for a power hungry politician.

Biscuit Power: Between George, Black Rain and the rational Talkers, the balance of influence and power changed. I think Estes does not want any Talkers at all. They are too much trouble. He wants to return things to the way they were pre-Black Rain. No more Talkers. So, he plots with Pandora to kill 2 birds with 1 plot. Discredit the Numerica movement, eliminate George as a future leader/rival to Estes and put the Talkers in their place. Also, he manipulates SunMei to keep working in the lab. He tells her it is to find a brain substitute. In Ep 4, Estes says that SunMei must find the protein that controls zombie behavior then figure out how Black Rain affected the protein restoring zombie consciousness.  So, if SunMei finds the solution, she can also figure out how to turn it off so the dead do turn and not become a Talker. SunMei may already have the answer via Murphy's blood/tissue but is keeping it from Estes. 

Pandora: Her plan is well thought out and executed. Since Z turn into Talkers, she had no choice but to import old Zs hence the Z tourists. To keep suspicion off Estes/Altura, she systematically targets the settlements in a certain order with tourist Z. The Dam is attacked forcing the Waterkeepers to stop providing water/power. Then Heartland and the Bakery. Pacifica was destroyed because it was Rebel HQ aka Alderan. Pandora is Vader. Estes is Senator Palpatine. Is 10K Luke then? They both have lost a hand. And Pandora has that mask.

The Big Biscuit Brick: This ep confirmed what the secret ingredient was - Lithium. It's more accessible than brains but still finite in supply. The foreman made it seem that this mine was not the first one he had been involved with. Is the Brick ground up for powder and baking is done at Altura? I think it was Dante who said that biscuits had a metallic taste to them. Are the bricks meant for some other purpose? To keep the Talkers under control? I did not like the whole Talker as slave labor theme in this ep though I had suspected that slave labor was the idea early on. "He who controls the biscuits, controls the World." Humans are dying out and I'm sure Estes wants to reverse that. Conveniently, there has been no mention of where the biscuit additive originated from. How come Finn didn't know? Did the bags just appear out of nowhere? Given how toxic the brick is (it is encased in a solution and people are in hazmat suits), what is done with it after it gets to Altura?

Limbo (aka the new Rebel hangout): Murphy's building up quite a power base. He has the bakers and the associates who know how to run a town and keep it secure. He has the numbers to defend the place against future attacks. Why hasn't it been attacked yet? Hmm, maybe Estes/Pandora is herding them into one spot for one last assault. All the humans can be killed then all the Talkers taken "captive."

Murphy: He's still red. There has to be a reason for that. Wonder what he's been up to while the others have been away. I expect Addie to fill him in once she and Finn arrive at Limbo with the Heartland Talkers. Limbo is not the Mos Eisley of the apocalypse but the rendezvous point for all the rebel factions.

OBM Allies: I expect the Hackers to become firm allies joining Limbo and the Watertalkers. What would Hackers be supplying in the Apocalypse? Weapons? Bullets? Info that Estes needs to rebuild the world? The Killing Drones in the preview were cool. Does this mean that OBM may have drone air support later on? Would there be more ex-Zona at Hackerville? Or are they the gamesmasters from the Maze. Yeah that one keeps hanging around in my head. Maybe, I need to write fanfic to get it out of my system. I hate loose ends!

I'm glad that the show is getting closer to the showdown. Next ep with Citizen Z looks like another fun episode. Wish Addie was there, too, darn it. With three episodes to go, where is the Z-Wheel?

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Once we learned batteries were involved, I expected to see an energizer bunny talker.  Don't disappoint me, show! 

[raven]

23 hours ago, Jordan61 said:

I cracked up when Doc was playing around with the claw machine and the big magnet.

I did too!  Loved that bit.  I also liked Doc getting a little of his bad ass on by beating on the two guys in the truck, which I didn't expect.

Though I like George, I wonder why they didn't have Addie take the George role (instead of casting the actress who plays George).  I don't know why this just occurred to me now, LOL.  Maybe Anastasia Baranova was busy with other projects.

I really enjoyed this one.  It was fun but also had a lot of good horror movie moments and I loved the teamwork.

[AngelKitty]

15 hours ago, 51Muses said:

Maybe, I need to write fanfic to get it out of my system. I hate loose ends!

Yes, yes, do that but right now my brain is exploding trying to compare this with Star Wars while wondering who the fuck Finn is and I'm not really sure if I know which one Estes is. If this show tells me to take a left turn, I'm taking it, no question and if it actually makes point A fit point B in the end, well that would be wonderful. I've learned not to expect loose ends being cleared up. And where the hell is the guy from the beginning played by that guy from the other show where he was an immortal witch... I watch way too many of these shows.

Edited December 10, 2018 by AngelKitty
ETA: If you do write the fan fic, let me know.

[51Muses]

17 hours ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

Once we learned batteries were involved, I expected to see an energizer bunny talker.  Don't disappoint me, show! 

Princess, I thought the mining monster WAS the energizer bunny. He had the rig on the back like the bunny.

AngelKitty, Doc has to be Yoda. Finn is Murphy (he who just wants to get out of the Apocalypse and do my thing.) If Estes isn't the Emperor/Palpatine, then how about General Hux or Orson Krennic. The Man is Jango Fett. Warren did her version of a left turn with Cooper. Still hoping Cooper comes to Newmerica at season's end. Will let you know about fanfic. I'm obsessing right now to get my 2nd book done. 

Warren: I see a bit of mystery with her. Other characters are driving the plot a bit like George and doing the settlements quest. We don't know what happened to her from the time she collapsed outside Cooper's place and she woke up. She was the only one in the epicenter when Black Rain was "mixed and released."  Murphy was exposed to a different set of chemicals mixing, remember. Since, Warren was so close, could she have gotten the full effect of Black Rain somehow? So, is she now Human, Blend, not-quite-Talker or something else altogether? An immortal Undead? An immune next evolution Human?  If SunMei knew about Warren and the rocket ship, she would have gotten her blood/tissue to analyze as well. Everyone is still fixated on Murphy when they should be looking at Warren. 

The way the Talkers were created made me think of Richard Matheson's book I Am Legend. In the book, the vampires were created from a biological agent that changed human DNA. Inevitably, humans died out or changed leaving one man still human who had some immunity to the bio agent. The book has been made several times. The first and closest to the book version was with Vincent Price in Last Man on Earth. That was followed by Charleton Heston's Omega Man with the different Christ-like ending where his blood led to a serum that by implication saved the remaining human survivors by making them immune, too. The last version is Will Smith's I Am Legend. As George has repeated a few times, they will all die and become Talkers. Is Murphy (or Warren or 10K) being set up to be the savior? 

if the Talkers continue, it's a species dead end and not to mention depressing. If the effects of Black Rain are countered in some way, then there's hope. Hope for more future stories. Hope for more seasons. Assuming SunMei finds a cure to Black Rain, will Warren be launching aboard another rocket to spread the cure far and wide as before?

[UNOSEZ]

Damn.. They got rude of my man Charles Michael Davis aka Marcel before the opening credits.. Shame he would/could been a character worth knowing 

[Ohwell]

1 hour ago, UNOSEZ said:

Damn.. They got rude of my man Charles Michael Davis aka Marcel before the opening credits.. Shame he would/could been a character worth knowing 

I had never seen the actor before but I looked him up on IMDB.  I agree, it's a shame they got rid of him.  

[jhlipton]

At least Lithium makes some sense, as it does help with mental conditions!