Z Nation: Zombie Baby Daddy review

This Z Nation review contains spoilers.

Z Nation Season 2 Episode 6

The only problem with a show whose prime directive is to see that its cast travels from one side of the country to the other under circumstances most urgent, is that it can act as a pretty quick get out of jail free card. In “Zombie Baby Daddy,” for the first time in the series, the zombie-slaying gang made choices and left things behind them as they went that could come back to haunt them. No amount of mercy killing can unring the bells in this episode, one of the darkest to date.

Murphy is forced to grapple with the changes in his character that fatherhood hath wrought. Luckily for those of us without a rampant case of blue baby fever, this meant doing “the bigger thing” and leaving his beloved Lucy behind in the care of his latest thralls, a mom and pop duo wryly named by Ma and Pa Kettle by the writing team.

It’s a move that in many ways is classic Murphy — in that it’s on one level self-serving and evil. I mean, the dude used his bite to mind-control some yokels into raising his half-zombie daughter. But considered under another light, it was the least Murphy-like thing to do: Because he wanted to keep her. Realizing she might not be safe with the group, he gave away something he wanted (which is like, the opposite of Murphy) putting Lucy’s needs first.

I can’t in good conscience think that we have seen the last of Lucy, anymore than I can believe that 10K’s murder (in self-defense) of Cassandra won’t have a lasting impact not just on him, but one that will send ripples throughout the entire gang. It was a shocking decision on the writers’ part to usher Cassandra out into that good night. Appropriate then, that it was 10K who actually did the deed: Generation Zombie, where mourning the death of the crush you murdered is just par for the course.

Tensions in the group are high as ever, but the roles have shifted. Yes, Murphy’s still got his animosity for all and sundry, but it’s mostly directed now (and with good reason) at Cassandra. But Warren and Vasquez have reached a bloody detente after he disclosed the gory details of his past life as a DEA agent pre-Zombie apocalypse. For one moment while she was stitching him up and trying to bring him back to life when he faded I was pretty sure we were going to get a Val Kilmer and Elisabeth Shue-type love scene a la The Saint. While that didn’t happen, there’s no denying that chemistry crackles between the two and will lead to something butt-touchy.