I’m a huge fan of the zombie genre and I really enjoyed the parent series Z Nation (something I’ve enjoyed more than The Walking Dead series) so when it was cancelled needless to say I was extremely pissed. With so many questions left unanwered, it’s understandable as a fan I’m pissed. However, when it was announced that there was going to be a spinoff series titled Black Summer, I was still mad but still intrigued. How can the creators tell another story set in the same universe and make it as compelling and entertaining as the original?

From the start of the episode, we see that things are already pretty bad. People are struggling to safety towards the army with the signs of zombies starting to jump off. We’ve seen this before with the Walking Dead and Dawn of the Dead. Though the episode doesn’t start us off with the beginnings of the outbreak we are thrown into aftereffects of it.

We’re immediately introduced to a family of three, Rose and her husband and daughter, who attempt to find safety with the military only for their daughter to be taken and her husband to turn into a zombie. There are several other stories that interconnect that actually shows the series’ attention to complex storytelling.

Now, does this honestly feel like a spinoff of Z Nation. Well, it’s a yes and a no. Z Nation has had its dark moments, its series moments, its tradgic moments but there was always humor, jokes, and sarcasm to help offset the continuous serious tone. It’s one of the things that distinguishes itself from the Walking Dead. This episode showed no humor at all but maybe it’s because it didn’t have time to. In Z Nation the characters are use to dealing with zombies and in this episode the pandemic is ramping up.

The Verdict: In the end, Episode One “Human Flow” is actually a pretty intense episode and does set the tone for the series. There are some interesting characters and stories that I’m interested in seeing develop in future episodes. Episode One “Human Flow” gets 4 out of 5.