Once again we learn that the zombie apocalypse is dangerous and hilarious.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
With Cassandra dead, the team continues on their journey to California. Before they can get there, they run into the strange but hilarious Sketchy (Mark Carr) and Skeezy (Doug Dawson) who, along with 10k, take over this week’s episode with an adventure of their own.
Sketchy had been a lot of fun previously, but he pretty much single-handedly makes this episode great. He’s definitely the type of character who works best in guest appearances, so I was glad to see that he and Skeezy weren’t going to continue traveling with the group, but in short doses he can be fun. The stories he tells throughout the episode and the cons he puts on are hilarious. The skeezy biting scene was disgusting but fun and the court monologue was great as well.
Along with Skeezy, they make a great duo who I didn’t expect to see beyond the first episode. It’s a fun idea to have them showing up every so often, and I do hope we see them in the future. I am going to assume with that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ending that they will be guaranteed to return.
The legend of Murphy that has been developing is funny to hear about. It seems just about everyone has heard of him at this point and most people claim to have seen him as well. Most of the descriptions were naturally and hysterically off the mark, much to Murphy’s chagrin, yet the still managed to capture the essence and ridiculousness of the character. The levitation rumor continues to spread as well.
The dentist dump truck was a neat setup to start the episode, but I was kind of hoping there would be something more to it than making zombies, although it did lead into Leisure World and some creepy allusions to slavery that started to feel a little awkward. Of course, all of this was being spearheaded by the slimy Tyler Burr and his associate, someone we’re all familiar with by now, Scorpion.
It was good seeing Scorpion and the Zeroes again, although they didn’t do much of anything this week. They’re definitely the season long villains, but it would be nice to see them do something that has a detrimental impact on the group. So far they’ve had their moments, but they really aren’t that menacing.
As for the rest of the group, Doc’s need to save 10k was admirable. It’s great seeing that sort of camaraderie between him and 10k, especially since the group has seen so much death over the past few weeks. Vasquez wanting to stay on mission was pretty much within character, although he seemed to be a little more of a jerk about it than we’ve seen from him in previous episodes.
It was great seeing the group work together as a team to save 10k. There’s no way that either 10k or Addy should be that great of a shot to hit those ropes like they did, but it is, Z Nation so it’s just best to expect the unexpected. Even Murphy was willing to participate in 10k’s rescue, which was nice to see considering what happened last week.
While I am enjoying this show, episode-to-episode the narrative feels like it’s starting to drag a little. Moments like Cassandra’s death and the birth of Murphy’s baby should be big hits, but as the season moves along their impact doesn’t feel all that important at best, and almost forgotten at worst. It’s crazy to assume that we won’t be revisiting Murphy’s baby at some point ,but the weight of him abandoning her last week should have been felt this week yet it wasn’t notable at all. Fifteen episode seems like a lot for a show like Z Nation at times.
“Down the Mississippi” was a nice little distraction from the usual ridiculous nature of the show with some antics from Sketchy and Skeezy. Z Nation continues to deliver on humor but needs to carry over the impact of some of the more dramatic events from episode to episode.
