| Zunami | |
| Season 1, Episode 8 | |
 | |
| Air date | October 31, 2014 |
| Written by | Dan Merchant |
| Directed by | John Hyams |
| U.S. Viewers | 1.10 million |
| Episode Guide | |
| previous "Welcome to FU-Bar" |
next "Die Zombie Die ... Again" |
"Zunami" is the eighth episode in Season 1 of Z Nation. It first aired in the United States on October 31, 2014.
Plot Synopsis
Shortly after an unidentified alarm goes off in the listening station, Citizen Z's vision goes fuzzy for a second, and he looks up to see there's a fireball from outer space hurtling toward Earth: A Russian spaceship has landed near the station.
Meanwhile, things aren't going well in a small town in Nebraska. The team is having a hard time finding water and they're almost too dehydrated to run when a massive zombie horde starts closing in. Abandoning their truck, they finally make it to shelter in a coroner's office and are joined by some new survivors.
Back at the listening station, Citizen Z meets the pilot of the Russian spacecraft: Yuri, a seemingly good-natured cosmonaut. They both have some Earl Grey tea as Yuri describes how life was rough on his space station and how he fled on an escape pod. They break out the vodka and toast to their survival.
In Nebraska, Murphy tries to rally the troops as one of the new survivors tells them that the zunami is migrating from Canada because they don't like the cold. Most of the zombies were part of a colony of survivors in Alberta who all turned within a week. Murphy wonders if the zombies have an actual leader as the team hears a scratching sound coming from a nearby morgue. Doc and 10K take down a zombie and the team commences to climb into the body storage lockers to hide out.
Back up north, Citizen Z and Yuri play games and develop a friendship. To Citizen Z, it's touching until Yuri calls Citizen Z 'Simon' instead of his nickname.
In Nebraska, everyone climbs into the body storage units but by the time Roberta has secured everyone, the remaining unit is occupied by a zombie. As Roberta allows Murphy to seal her up in a body bag, she tells him that he has to return, as getting him to California is of vital importance.
Back up north, Citizen Z is getting very suspicious of his new friend. Things get even more strange and dangerous when Citizen Z gets out of the bathroom and finds Yuri wearing his space station suit. A big fight ensues and ends with Yuri tied to a chair. Yuri keeps asking Citizen Z what's wrong with his dog. The dog apparently has a grudge against him.
Citizen Z is now convinced that Yuri has poisoned both him and the dog. As he struggles to figure it out, assumingly with a splitting headache, Yuri turns the tables and now has Citizen Z tied to the chair. The cosmonaut keeps asking, "What do you know?"
Meanwhile, in Nebraska, the new survivor's claustrophobia gets the best of him and climbs out of his hiding place in the morgue to get eaten and Murphy meets a family that has been hiding out from the zombie horde. He steals their food and water and lets the zombified husband/father back into the house to snack on them.
Back up north, Yuri asks Citizen Z what's different about today as Citizen Z continues to believe that both he and his dog have been poisoned. Just as Yuri begins choking Citizen Z, the truth is revealed: Yuri was a hallucination caused by Citizen Z's rapidly deteriorating mental state due to the lack of oxygen in the station; the cause of the unidentified alarm. Citizen Z drags his unconscious dog to the main doors as the cool air revitalizes them.
Back in Nebraska, the horde is heading for the next town as Murphy returns to the morgue with the food and water, using his psychological powers to draw a zombies' attention away from Roberta, who is still hiding out in the body bag.
After the zunami moves on, the team has a family meal on a table and congratulates Murphy on finding so much food and water. Meanwhile, Murphy looks up at a mirror and realizes he has changed more than he thought.
Cast
Main Cast
- Kellita Smith as Roberta
- DJ Qualls as Citizen Z
- Keith Allan as Murphy
- Russell Hodgkinson as Doc
- Pisay Pao as Cassandra
- Nat Zang as 10K
Co-Stars
Uncredited
- Abie Ekenezar as Zombie Woman
- Lucas Rick O'Brien as Storm Zombie
Deaths
Memorable Quotes
Notes
- First (and last) appearance of Buck.
- First (and last) appearance of Otis.
- First (and last) appearance of Yuri. (Hallucination)
- First (and last) appearance of Janet.
- First (and last) appearance of Cam and Janet's Daughter.
- First (and last) appearance of Cam. (Zombified)
- As a point of interest, there were many, many hints as to the nature of Yuri in the episode. We see Z check a valve which reads "CO PPM" (carbon monoxide, parts-per-million) reading around 100, which according to the CDC is the minimum concentration at which CO becomes hazardous to human life. Further, Z's CO alarm goes off, which he chooses to ignore. Yuri (YOU-ri, being another hint) is wearing a cosmonaut suit with CCCP (the USSR) emblazoned. When the capsule crash-lands, the computer detects no life. The capsule has crash landed without even a parachute, but Yuri remains unhurt. Z goes to investigate the capsule, only to find footsteps leading into the site, with the outer door somehow opened. When Z asks Yuri to take off the helmet, Yuri responds that the air is not safe. Z convinces him it is. The dog remains "asleep" (like a mining canary) and Yuri points it out. Yuri keeps bringing attention to the CO monitor. Yuri knows Z's real name.As a further point of interest, at the levels of CO that Z was breathing, for as long as he was, and breathing rapidly from exertion, until finally ending up on the floor gasping for air- he would be dead. CO is particularly nasty not only because it crowds out the oxygen in a space, but because it will attach to the oxygen-holding points of red blood cells. Oxygen is normally attached and released by red blood cells, but carbon monoxide will attach and not release, preventing the body from using what oxygen it is exposed to.
- It appears that the video game Citizen plays is Dead Rising 3
- Jumanji is mentioned
- When Citizen Z says "go ahead, make my apocalypse" he made a reference to Sudden Impact
