Warren and Cooper are
all wonderful together and it’s so sweet and loving and real - so it’s
definitely going to go to hell
And it does when Murphy arrives. He runs into Cooper first who is duly suspicious of this bright red guy suddenly appearing asking after Warren. As Murphy talks it becomes increasingly clear he is who he says he is and Cooper is faced by the realisation that Warren has friends in Newmerica she may want to be with.
That Warren may leave him
So he knocks Murphy out and locks him in the trunk of his car. Which isn’t very effective because Warren quickly finds out, sees Murphy in the trunk then slams it closed again to confront Cooper.
He protests that he’s
doing it for them and he desperately wants her to promise to stay with him and
try to explain things - even adding that this “devil” is going to destroy their
dreams. Warren is enraged and sad and confused and repeatedly hits Cooper even
as he tries to drag up an explanation for what he did. Warren’s not having it,
there is no justification for this and she knocks him out
She frees Murphy and
locks Cooper in the same car boot Murphy was restrained in. She then leaves him
- telling Murphy that she’s leaving it to Darwin.
And that’s just sad…
because I liked Cooper and Warren together - it was good, it was sweet, it was
beautiful. And I think if they were going to go with his obsession over her and
delved into his own guilty and loneliness they could probably have done more
with this. But then he’s not technically dead so this could still happen.
They then leave on a
Tractor
The rest of the gang
have arrived at Altura, one of the larger outposts that is looking to become
part of Newmerica. They’re all heading up to the Signing the Constitution to
form this new nation - even though the Constitution isn’t exactly written, the
vote is more a vote on the concept of Newmerica. Of towns working together for
common value as a nation state in which both the living and the dead have a
presence.
And central to that is George who is clearly one of the greater founders of this movement and massively respected by everyone, even people who disagree with her. She wants this to go ahead not just because it’s her dream, but since the Black rain zombie attacks are becoming more frequent and more intelligent - as she explains to Roman Estez, the founder of Altura, rich guy and genius (yet so far not evil - and rich + genius = evil unless there’s angst. It’s a TV law) that if they don’t decide to unite then a lot of the smaller outposts will be on their own and totally devastated by the new menacing zombies
The gang go through
quarantine and medical testing though this seems less exclusionary and more to
make sure they pick up everyone who is a “Talker” so they get their biscuits.
10k (oh, they fill in his paperwork as 10k which is amusing - but everyone is
now calling him Tommy) fuzzes the radar a little - after all he’s been through
he’s not exactly living and not exactly a zombie but who knows what he is. He
is adorable. They get work orders - but that again will be super liberalised
with the new constitution (I do think they put a whole lot of hope in this
change)
There are a number of
dead people in Altura with various masks and patches to cover their,
presumably, damaged flesh. And there’s Red. Yes, Doc sees Red is alive - but
also seems to be in a relationship with a child which is awkward because Doc
does not want to tell this to 10k because yeah… not easy
And we begin to see
more of what makes George so perfect. When a Talker is struggling with control
and being handled roughly by the guards she intervenes to calm her down and get
her biscuits to make her human again. Dante expresses his endless admiration -
he’s not even sold on Newmerica - but George supports it. And if George was
walking into Hell, he would be right there behind her
Warren and Murphy
arrives and there is wonderful reunions - not just with the gang but with
Warren and George. In the early days of the apocalypse she was part of a
military unit that saved several students -including George. She saved George’s
life several times which George tells everyone, but it’s Warren who has to put
in that George saved her as well. George is so self-deprecating, often denying
how much this settlement is down to her even while everyone sings her praises.
We see her effortlessly being awesome repeatedly - when a Talker and human nearly get in a bar fight (the Talker gets shot… which is no big deal) she steps in to talk them down, bring peace and even convince the human to vote for Newmerica despite it allowing equal rights for the Talkers. It’s excellent how she is depicted as being so important in these wonderful examples rather than just talking her up.
Murphy is taken by
scientists who want to know exactly what he is - and he is really really
against this because he has very good reason not to be a fan of scientists. But
George and Murphy reassure him - and it helps that the scientist is Sun Mei.
Yes it’s old home week! Everyone is reappearing. She’s working to try and
figure out what makes Talkers Talkers.
And Citizen Z is
there…. Is this the first time they met him in the flesh? I can’t remember.
Honestly I think they needed to make more of a thing of their reunion than just
having 10k rescue him from overzealous fans
Warren also
recognises Estez as being from Zona… though he claims he got out early because
he knew it was evil. This is ominous…
Also ominous is the
obvious theme of humans not liking Talkers - and Pandora - a Talker in a
mask who doesn’t like humans and is clearly Up To Something. And she may have a
moment with Estez. I say again, ominous.
The 10k/Red storyline
resolves fairly quickly when it turns out she’s actually single and was just
babysitting for a friend. I won’t say the storyline was pointless because 10k
looking all cute and confused and tongue tied was always worth it.
The voting begins and
there’s a whole lot more of George being awesome - and then Pandora leaves the
building looking ominous….
And a bomb goes off
just before the results are announced.
You better not kill
George, 10k or Warren, Z Nation (the rest of them I’m shedding no tears
over).
