Friends Or Family
Episode 5 of Zero begins with a simple choice for Shariff – will he choose his friends or his family? It’s something that drives this series forward as Shariff and Omar lead the charge to send a message to Sirenetta. In the neighbourhood, they completely trash the billboard. Not long after, Shariff’s house is searched by the authorities. There, they uncover a whole stack of drugs belonging to his brother, Honey. He’s taken away by the police and arrested for drug possession. Elsewhere, Omar prepares for a big comic event coming up. While he begins collecting up the comic strips, Anna talks to her friends and decides to go to the event as well. In fact, she’s even bought the tickets in advance. She greets Omar at the door and the pair head in together. With his comic strips in hand, Omar passionately talks to an artist whom he pitches his idea of Barrio to. As the man looks over the character drawings, he likes what he sees and asks Omar to bring more. On the way out the door, an ecstatic Omar is brought back down to Earth. Anna introduces her Father…who just so happens to be in charge of Sirenetta. Realizing everything is connected, Omar suddenly takes off and hurries home. While he does, Rico comes after Shariff with a knife.
The Episode Review
As more of this conflict comes into view, this episode abandons Zero’s powers in favour of a more grounded and dramatic approach. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, the show also loses sight of its unique hook. The idea that Anna and her Father are connected to Sirenetta is perhaps a bit obvious but it is still a nice touch nonetheless. What’s a little disappointing however, is the lack of a compelling superpowered antagonist for Omar to face off against. We also haven’t seen the strange casino lady either, although there’s still time for that to change. Instead, Zero hooks with the invisibility and then never really fleshes that out in a compelling way. The drama is okay but ultimately it’s the superpowers that people are most interested in seeing. Let’s hope more of that is shown in the coming episodes.
