‘Z Nation’ Season 2 Premiere Recap & Review: Just Nuke The Zombie Apocalypse

Of all the zombie apocalypse movies and TV shows over the years, why hasn’t anyone decided to simply nuke them? That is how season one of SyFy’s Z Nation ended, and the new season begins with all the non-infected inhabitants scrambling to escape the fallout. In the process, Murphy has escaped and considered an extreme threat, not to mention he is needed in California to develope a vaccine.

‘Z Nation’ Recap and Review

DJ Qualls plays CItizen Z and starts the show off by doing what he doesn’t do best: shooting a gun. He survives the nuclear blast when a plane intercepts the missile bound for his remote National Security Agency base in Colorado. He then makes a call over the radio warning everyone to be on the lookout for Murphy. The only human to survive a zombie bite. Or so they thought. Now, Murphy, played by Keith Allan, is some kind of zombie hybrid who can control the walking dead. He’s picked up by a redneck in a department store and saved by Cassandra, a girl with a clear history of trauma who has miraculously survived thus far. He takes Cassandra back to his strip club lair and things get uncomfortable.

Warren (Kellita Smith) is stuck in the middle of nowhere and splits from the rest of her group to find help. But her search leads her into dire straits when she runs out of food and water. Weakened and demoralized, she decides to take herself out when suddenly she hears a young girl screaming. Warren goes to the rescue and stabs a zombie through the head with a sword among other things before collapsing on the ground. She gets the provisions she needs from the family of the little girl she saves.

When Warren the other humans catch up with Murphy, he oddly has to explain to them that he as no interest in going to California to save humanity. Isn’t that why he ran away in the first place? “The apocalypse means never having to say you’re sorry,” he claims and puts on a zombie stripper show for his guests. A fight breaks out and, among the chaos and the strobe lights, he gets away again.

Between outrunning nuclear fallout and striving to develop a vaccine, everybody wants a piece of Murphy in the season premiere. But it would seem he just wants to start his own zombie kingdom. Good action and quippy dialogue throughout and the race to recover a rogue guinea pig make the new season worth a view.

Pictured: Anastasia Baranova as Addy Carver