Z Nation Season Finale Review: Ad Omnia Finem
Ron Gilmer
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Ad Omnia Finem. To the end of everything, for this season anyway.
Z Nation Season 4 Episode 12 went down almost exactly as I predicted in my review of Z Nation Season 4 Episode 11, with Warren being the human trigger for the Black Rainbow, not the savior.
The lead up to the final episode was a bit of a snore: the crew went to Mount Weather, found the President, and was off to Washington, D.C. to save the day.
Warren's visions have been spot on all season, and they were that way to very end.
One thing I did enjoy was the flashbacks, which explained a good bit of what Warren went through.
As I correctly predicted, she was programmed by Dr. Teller to complete her journey, step by step.
The show open, with the robotic eye at the end, gave me the idea that Warren was some sort of cyborg.
At this point, however, it appears she was just given subconscious instructions with a VR thingy.
In a couple of previous episodes, Warren's visions included what looked like robotic hands.
Those turned out to just be gloves for the VR training.
The swerve in this whole thing is Mr. Sunshine. Was he, in fact, trying to stop Black Rainbow, or was Warren just a backup to finish the mission in case he failed to install the cylinders?
My guess is he didn't know she was on the Zona side, but time will tell.
When Murphy fought Sunshine, and the gas engulfed them, I had no idea what was going to happen to Murphy.
The gas turned his skin blood red, but he seemed to have no ill effects at this point.
So now Murphy has been red, white, and blue at various points in the series: how patriotic!
I like the dichotomy of Warren's wardrobe in this one.
At the Zona lab, she was dressed all in white when she thought she was the avenging angel, but since then she has been all in black, and now that her genuine mission has been revealed, it makes sense.
I'm the Reset.
Warren
Teller sold her a bill of goods, assuring her that what she was doing was a cure for humanity and not the spreader of a flesh-eating virus that will destroy everything on the planet.
It wasn't until she was knocked silly by Mr. Sunshine that she finally remembered the truth.
The Founder intended all along for Warren to be the bringer of destruction.
That truly turns Warren into a tragic figure.
She is a soldier, whose mission is everything.
To turn her inside out, making her mission one of death instead of saving lives is heartbreaking.
Where I'm going, no one can follow.
Warren
To her credit, she essentially sacrificed herself to try and change the cylinders again.
But this leads us to the Mr. Sunshine conundrum again. Were his cylinders meant to unleash the Black Rainbow, or stop it?
Warren took one of his cylinders and held it in place as the drone flew, distributing the gas. So does this mean she did, at least, blunt the effects of Black Rainbow?
We shall see about that.
One thing that especially concerned me was Z Nation presenting us with a massive cliffhanger and being on pins and needles wondering if the show would be renewed for another season.
That fear was quashed earlier in the day when SYFY announced that there WILL be a Z Season 5. Excellent!
This season was a vast improvement from a writing and storytelling standpoint from prior ones.
The Black Rainbow arc was terrific, lending much-needed gravitas to the proceedings that played out as we watched Z Nation Season 4 Episode 13.
Kellita Smith absolutely killed it, bringing even more heart and soul to an already fantastic performance.
Z Nation is positively trending upward, unlike that OTHER zombie show. Yes, I'm looking at YOU The Walking Dead.
Random Bites:
- The season ended with still no sightings of Addy, Sun, or Red. Maybe we'll see them next season, but I'm not holding my breath at this point.
- Sarge jumping 10K's bones at the end was sadly predictable. I wish they would wait until we truly know what's up with Red.
- One of the warnings on the Black Rainbow tape warned about "country line dancing" as an enhanced interrogation technique. I chuckled.
And Murphy and Doc give us the Line of the Night:
Murphy: Wow! My mind is officially blown!
Doc: I told you Bigfoot was real!
That's my take: tell me yours. Did you like the finale? Any theories about next season? Let me know in the comments section.
And if you missed any episodes be sure to watch Z Nation online on TV Fanatic!
