Z Nation Season 3 Episode 11
Although Syfy’s Z Nation is never a show that demands to be taken seriously, every once in awhile, it takes a big swing for the fence. Many times throughout Season 3, these high-concept stories-of-the-week have failed to land, but “Doc’s Angels” is a welcomed exception. “Docs Angels” picks up where last week’s confusing outing left off, with Doc and Addy splitting up and the former on his way to explore a radio tower. Throughout the seasons, Z Nation has been bringing viewers small glimpses of Enders. These are human beings that have survived the almost decade-long zombie apocalypse, but have allowed their brains to turn to mush in the process. They’re feral, dangerous and a pretty rad way to hammer home the “humans are the real threat” gestalt that was the core message of The Walking Dead Season 2… and 3, 4, part of 5, 6, and 7 thus far. The Enders pose an interesting question, just what kind of people are left alive in this world? Doc makes his way to the radio tower and stumbles upon three very gorgeous women named Linda (Debra Wilson), Sarah (Annette Toutonghi), and Camilla (Nadine Valezquez). They’re hippies in their own right, seemingly surviving the apocalypse on organically grown food, a defense of garden zombies and some good old fashion sisterhood… seemingly. It quickly becomes clear, as they fawn over Doc and argue over who can be the most hospitable, that something strange is going on. Our hero even senses that something is amiss, but shrugs it off thinking that he’s only there until the morning when their radio is recharged. However, when things get pushed over the edge and all three women are beckoning him into the coolest/scariest foursome in TV history, he acquiesces. The character visited his trusty inner monologue and determines that, risks aside, it’s the apocalypse – so you get while the getting is good. So, the ladies are murderous psychopaths, but everyone saw that coming. What turned “Doc’s Angels” up to 11 was his confrontation with the ladies, once armed with his new findings. He entered the house to find his three lovely suitors wearing their scariest human-flesh mask that you ever did see. That’s right, they went full Texas Chainsaw Massacre and chased him around their horrific little fun house. Our hero was only able to escape with the help of some prisoners in the basement who were seemingly being harvested for hair, flesh and, somehow, weed. It’s at this point that the episode’s slow beginning starts to become forgivable, given that a place Doc called his literal heaven the night before is now a pretty uncomfortable and genuinely terrifying place for both him and the viewer to be in. Honestly, shout out to Debra Wilson for leading the pack. Who knew the former MadTV star had these kind of horror chops? It seems the show opening by reminding us of Enders was a bit of a bait and switch. Just when you think you’ve been confronted with the worst of humanity, in the thick of the zombie apocalypse, one of the intrepid members of Operation Bite Mark finds himself facing horrors that are genuinely too messed up to really fathom. I mean, the weed prisoner was silly, but one could totally see how a twisted-enough mind could come up with the hair and flesh harvesting strategy… it’s messed up, but efficient.
