Warning: Major spoilers ahead for those who haven’t seen episode 2.02 “White Light”

A moment of truth here. Given that we are now past the season 2 premiere of Z Nation and have learned that all of our beloved survivors are, indeed, alive, I must admit I let my guard down. I mean, we’re only on the 2nd episode of the new season, and so, surely to God, nobody’s going to die now. After all, that stuff is reserved for mid-season and season finales, right? Yeah, well if this were The Walking Dead that would probably be a safe bet, but this is Z Nation, and as we should have learned from season 1, there are no rules for this show. No one is safe (REALLY, they aren’t), and anybody could see the “white light” at any time.

Anyways, I honestly wasn’t expecting anything major to happen in this episode, and as a result, I waited until this morning to screen it. Big, big mistake. HUGE. Contrary to what I had thought, this turned out to be a major episode, with one main character not making it out alive by the end of the hour. Needless to say, this was a shocker and ended up ruining my entire day. Thank you, Mr. Schaefer and Mr. Engler, for that!

Okay, now to the episode. As the title of the episode “White Light” should have hinted, this installment was about near-death experiences for the majority of our characters. Thanks to Citizen Z (DJ Qualls)  and his brilliant idea of putting a false bounty on Murphy’s (Keith Allan)  head, every asshole left alive is chasing the guy and is willing to kill anyone who tries to get in the way of their big pay-day. Nice. The zombie apocalypse is bad enough with all the Z’s trying to kill you. Suddenly the world has gotten 10X more dangerous, with our team of survivors now having to worry about people betraying and stabbing them in the back.

Yes, total mayhem times 10. Even still, Team Warren has one goal and one goal only — find Murphy and get his ass back on the road to California. Normally, that wouldn’t be too hard, except now everyone else has that same goal, and oh, by the way, they want Warren and her group dead too. And, they get pretty damn close too with virtually every character having a brush with death by the episode’s end. Doc (Russell Hodgkinson)  is nearly strangled to death by another bounty hunter, and ironically, the thing that saves his life is his own spirit. While walking through the white light and looking in at his own self dying, Doc is able to see a weapon he can grab, and so, at the last moment, is able to kill his attacker.

Doc is saved, but death moves on to Warren. After a huge fire fight with another of the bounty hunters, she is out of ammo, on the ground and down for the count. Just like the others, her childhood flashes before her eyes, and for a second, it looks as if our fearless leader’s time is up. But, then Mr. Hottie Vasquez (Matt Cedeno)  shows up to save the day as well as Warren. Yay. I like this guy and definitely think he’s a keeper.

This same scenario repeats with most of the other characters, with each time the character being saved literally in the final second. The brilliant thing about this is by the time we get to the last 10 minutes of the episode and we see Mack (Michael Welch)  under attack by a group of Z’s, we’re comfortable and we’ve let our guard down. All of the other characters lived, and so, naturally, Addy (Anastasia Baranova)  will be able to break through the door in time and save him, right? If you thought this, don’t feel stupid because the writing team did an impeccable job setting it all up, and even I fell for it, hook, line and sinker. It wasn’t until I saw the blood coming from Mack’s mouth that I knew this was really happening and he was actually being eaten alive. Of course, the real wake-up call comes when we see Mack’s corpse re-animate, and poor Addy is forced to put a bullet in his brain. What a total buzzkill. This is definitely a face I don’t think any Z Nation fan will forget anytime soon.

Talk about something coming completely out of left field. Completely unexpected and totally heart-breaking. Of course, having watched enough zombie shows and seeing terrible sh*t like this happen all the time, I have become a glass-half-full kind of girl and try to see the good in an obviously bad situation. While Mack’s death is a horrible blow to the team, I see several good things that can come out of it. First, I think it was a much-needed wake-up call for Murphy because that guy was way out of control. He may have been having fun, but his childish antics were putting everyone else at risk, and tonight, actually got a fellow comrade killed. On the upside, while the guy may be half zombie, there’s still plenty of humanity left because when he learns of Mack’s death and sees Addy’s hysteria, it stops him completely in his tracks. It’s sad to think that it took Mack dying to bring the group back together. But, it definitely happened just in the nick of time. With Emilio Rivera  arriving on scene, I think we just met the show’s next big villain, and the last thing the group will need to worry about is babysitting Murphy.

Secondly, if you have been following Z Nation  from the beginning, you’ll know that Mack actually dying is, in a way, funny. Why? Because the guy has actually “died” twice before! Once in a “mock death” in the episode “Die Zombie Die…Again,” and then, he’s presumed dead after being shot in “Sisters of Mercy.” This guy just keeps on coming, but unfortunately, his time finally ran out (and, yes, folks, I think it’s safe to say that he’s really dead this time).

Lastly, with Mack now dead and with Citizen Z’s prospects at the North Pole not looking good, how many of you think there is a possibility of an Addy and Citizen Z hook-up? I personally think it would be nice for Citizen Z to finally meet Addy in person instead of just pawing all over her picture. Plus, I just like the idea of the nerd getting the girl. I know it’s a morbid thing to say in the midst of Mack’s death, God rest his soul, but hey, remember what I said — I’m a glass-half-full kind of girl.

Z Nation airs on Fridays at 10/9c on Syfy.

Critic Grade — A

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