Zombie Nation
The final three episodes are really where Black Summer gears up for its finale, acting almost as a three-parter across this trio of short episodes. We begin with two soldiers playing chess on the roof of a building as the mass group of survivors approach, looking for refuge. Rose, Carmen and Manny try to get into the building only to be stopped by a guard who promptly searches them to make sure they’re not bitten. He takes them underground to the sound of thumping techno music and multiple people having sex or taking drugs. Rose is then separated from the group, taken into a room where other people are being kept, where a man named Lance witnesses Rose being attacked by the guard. A different man takes Carmen and Manny to a separate place in the building where they manage to overcome and kill the guard before finding a whole stash of guns. Before they get there though, they manage to let the rest of the group into the building, splitting up to cover more ground. While Sun and Manny go through the vents to see if they can spot a way out, Williams heads off on his own, where he turns off the electricity and causes chaos to ensue. With the sound of gunshots and screaming echoing around him, he tries to find another way out but can already hear people have started to turn into zombies. Meanwhile, Rose’s captor tries to abuse her but stops as the lights go out. As she leaves with Lance, she sees the guard being bitten. Taking refuge in a small room for the time being, they listen as the zombies run past, leaving them a small pocket of window to escape. With the help of the bearded man they do just that, while Spears manages to elude several zombies before scrambling to the vents where Sun and Manny were crawling through. Unfortunately, a stray gunshot causes Manny to turn and he immediately goes straight for Sun. Struggling to get out, Spears saves her just in time from the zombified Manny. At this point we cut back in time to see the start of the chaos. With the lights going out, Carmen stabs one of the men in the neck causing a panic. As dread sets in, we realize it was Carmen who started the chain of events and the reason everything descended into madness In terms of action, Heist has a lot of it and it’s here where the handheld camera work comes in very handy indeed. Although the chapter breaks still alleviate tension at the worst possible moments, there’s enough here to make for an enjoyable episode nonetheless. The different groups of survivors are interesting although 6 episodes in, the lack of names for some of the characters makes this a really difficult show to recap at times. In terms of emotional investment, beyond a few survivors there really isn’t anyone here you really warm to which is a bit of a shame. Still, there’s enough here to make for an enjoyable episode and the cliffhanger ending certainly leaves things wide open going forward.
