Z Nation: Season 1

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 232 Ratings

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6.5

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6.5	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 232 Ratings

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Z Nation

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Season Details & Credits

SyFy | Season Premiere Date: September 12, 2014

Starring: Kellita Smith, Michael Welch, DJ Qualls

Summary: Set three years after a zombie virus nearly kills everyone, a team that includes leader Hammond (Harold Perrineau), second-in-command Garnett (Tom Everett Scott), and a computer hacker who goes by the name Citizen Z (DJ Qualls), seek to move a survivor of the virus from New York to the only functioning lab in California to produce an antidote.

Creator: Karl Schaefer and Craig Engler

Genre(s): Drama, Action & Adventure, Fantasy, Horror, Suspense, Science Fiction

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Season 1 Episodes

tbd
S1:E13. Doctor of the Dead
Air Date: December 5, 2014
tbd
S1:E12. Murphy's Law
Air Date: November 28, 2014
tbd
S1:E11. Sisters of Mercy
Air Date: November 21, 2014

See all Seasons and Episodes

Metascore

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Critic Reviews

LaToya Ferguson

Sep 11, 2014

Z Nation is the show you watch if you want to see zombie guts splattered across the screen--and there’s nothing wrong with that. Read full review

Rob Owen

Sep 9, 2014

Overall, Z Nation is pretty grounded and also manages to surprise viewers with the characters it chooses to sacrifice in its pilot episode. Read full review

Uncle Barky Ed Bark

Sep 10, 2014

Although the acting can be a bit mechanical, Syfy’s Z Nation may have enough pop, intrigue and indispensable gore to serve as more than a mere placeholder for AMC’s The Walking Dead. Read full review

Brian Lowry

Sep 10, 2014

While the series incorporates a specific quest element in the form of its possible “last, best hope to save humanity,” there’s just not enough to distinguish it from the other programs dealing more inventively with similar material, including “Dead” and this summer’s FX entry “The Strain.” Read full review

Mark A. Perigard

Sep 11, 2014

Gore-hounds will find a couple of visual shots fascinating, but there’s little here for anyone to justify the hour investment. Read full review

David Hiltbrand

Sep 11, 2014

If you'll take zombies any way you can get 'em, Z Nation will hold you over. More discriminating fans may want to wait until next month, when The Walking Dead rumbles back to life. Read full review

David Wiegand

Sep 10, 2014

Even for SyFy, this is Grade Z television. Read full review

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User Score

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6.5

User Reviews

Knobel-One

Sep 13, 2014

It's a fun show. Isn't The Walking Dead and isn't trying to be. If you want a soap opera to relentlessly explore the feelings of characters, then enjoy TWD. If you want a zombie action show, then enjoy Z Nation.

22 of 35 users found this helpful2213

Ammy

Mar 4, 2015

This is waaaaaay better than The Walking dead. Thank God! I love zombie movies and was so excited for a zombie TV show when TWD came out. I was so disappointed. Don't get me wrong - I don't hate TWD. It works to pass the time. Z Nation on the other hand is just so much more intelligent andThis is waaaaaay better than The Walking dead. Thank God! I love zombie movies and was so excited for a zombie TV show when TWD came out. I was so disappointed. Don't get me wrong - I don't hate TWD. It works to pass the time. Z Nation on the other hand is just so much more intelligent and enjoyable. I don't get pissed off at the characters for doing stupid stuff as much - you know, because they don't do stupid stuff yet *gasp* they still manage to have a story.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Moviefan1

Sep 15, 2014

Super-entertaining new zombie series. Z Nation plays with long-standing zombie tropes -- accepting some and twisting others. The series does have gore, but ultimately, the writers have created a diverse group of characters that I cared about. And most importantly, these characters have aSuper-entertaining new zombie series. Z Nation plays with long-standing zombie tropes -- accepting some and twisting others. The series does have gore, but ultimately, the writers have created a diverse group of characters that I cared about. And most importantly, these characters have a mission to accomplish, which sets the show apart from Walking Dead. Definitely worth watching!… Expand

12 of 16 users found this helpful124

MeritCoba

Apr 12, 2016

Zombies are hot, but their entertainment lifespan is limited. So when the zombie apocalypse is the source for a series more is needed to keep the audience entertained than running away from the shuffling dead to find a safe place and begin rebuilding humanity from there. The walking deadZombies are hot, but their entertainment lifespan is limited. So when the zombie apocalypse is the source for a series more is needed to keep the audience entertained than running away from the shuffling dead to find a safe place and begin rebuilding humanity from there. The walking dead series outlasted its first season by turning into a soap in which the relations between the humans became the focus and the zombies were shoved into the background. They might as well be orcs.

Z nation is set around a mission and thus has a focus, which is to transport a survivor of a zombie attack, named Murphy to a lab at the other side of the country so he might provide his blood as an antivirus against the zombie virus.This is the macGuffin that propels the story.
As a consequence the group is small(they fit in one truck), ad hoc and more busy with the challenges that arise from travelling through a zombie infested country in which humans are hardly any friendlier than the living dead. While many concerns are similar(food, water, petrol) the aim of the group is limited as it is temporary and the need to socialize is less. When people are in dire straits they look no further than the next day and the group has never time to settle and get social. As Murphy tells an outsider: they are like foxhole buddies. It fits the mood.

Z nation has some subplots. For one, the survivor Murphy is slowly changing because of the virus. He is also a selfish person and he will do some nasty things to people during the series, but his infliction also helps him to save the group(but for selfish reasons) several times. For another, there is Citizen Z who is holed up on the north pole on a NSA base and able to contact, guide and help the group via all kinds of communications devices he hacks from a distance. There is also a few love affairs.

The makeup of the group throughout the series will change. Some people get killed and get replaced. At one point two members will split off and even be followed in an episode of their own..The group that starts out is therefore different from the one at the end of the season.

The quality of the episodes varies. There are hilarious moments, for instance when the group finds the liberty bell and lose it again with the bell bouncing away and plowing through scores of zombies. There are some things that feel like a direct rip off from movies, such as one where someone relives an episode, gets killed, relives it again but changes his reaction, gets killed regardless and lives again and so on. Just like edge of tomorrow. There are the obvious setups like when someone steps in a car and doesn't check the back a zombie pops up or when one person is left alone she gets abducted. Guns run out of ammunition at convenient moments (storywise). A heavily drunken group member can shoot straight(try that with half a bottle of whiskey) when it is needed.There is an episode with religious fanatics, who think the zombies are the resurrected that walk the earth again. There is one with people who turned to cannibalism.It isn't top notch writing and sometimes an episode feels rushed.

The redeeming factor is that the group members are basically likable people who are in a bad situation and you wonder if they ever reach their goal.There is fun, lots of zombie killing, the acting is decent but the drama flat and the story nothing remarkable. Looking forward to season two just to see how it will develop.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Echtzeit

Sep 14, 2014

Not as horrible as I expected it to be. If you're tired of the endless talking in TWD and are in the mood for some brainless zombie killing, then this could be the show for you. But you have to be willing to tolerate it's shortcomings.

2 of 7 users found this helpful25

Knighthawk81

Apr 17, 2015

This is a poor man's "Walking Dead." Sure there's zombies, but this is done in a kinetic style that strips it of narrative relevance and good characters. How did this get a second season?

1 of 7 users found this helpful16

cylian3

Dec 1, 2014

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. All the drama spewing and horrendously written dialog aside, Z Nation did reach aspects of being entertaining in the form of me laughing at the creators..

Until they decided to indulge themselves into mind control. That's where I draw the line.… Expand

0 of 5 users found this helpful05

SEE ALL 95 REVIEWS

Seasons & Episodes

48

Series Overview
Season 5

tbd
- Season 5 Overview
  Air Date: October 5, 2018
Season 4

tbd
- Season 4 Overview
  Air Date: September 29, 2017
Season 3

tbd
- Season 3 Overview
  Air Date: September 16, 2016
Season 2

tbd
- Season 2 Overview
  Air Date: September 11, 2015
Season 1

48
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: September 12, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E13. Doctor of the Dead
  Air Date: December 5, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E12. Murphy's Law
  Air Date: November 28, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E11. Sisters of Mercy
  Air Date: November 21, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E10. Going Nuclear
  Air Date: November 14, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E9. Die Zombie Die...Again
  Air Date: November 7, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E8. Zunami
  Air Date: October 31, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E7. Welcome to the Fu-Bar
  Air Date: October 24, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E6. Resurrection Z
  Air Date: October 17, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E5. Home Sweet Zombie
  Air Date: October 10, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E4. Full Metal Zombie
  Air Date: October 3, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E3. Philly Feast
  Air Date: September 26, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E2. Fracking Zombies
  Air Date: September 19, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E1. Puppies and Kittens
  Air Date: September 12, 2014