Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Everyone has fantasized about what they would do in a zombie apocalypse. But no matter how many zombie shows and movies there seem to be, Hollywood never feels like it gets it quite right. Overnight normal people turn into undead bashing superheroes or political masterminds. That’s been what has set Netflix’s Black Summer apart. Karl Schaefer and John Hyams’ horror saga is the rare show that makes the apocalypse feel real, while also delivering hands-down some of the coolest zom fights and chases you’ll ever see.
It makes sense that Black Summer would be a great zombie show. The series comes from the same production company responsible for Z Nation, and is a prequel series for the SYFY comedy. Basically everyone involved in this project really loves zombies. But what sets Black Summer apart is its dedication to feeling grounded.
Typically, shows about zombies go one of two ways. Either the human characters become so comically good at battling these brain eaters that the zombies stop feeling like a threat, or the humans get so absorbed in the politics of their new world order that they hardly matter. These shows and movies suddenly become reflections on power, corruption, and politics rather than a battle for survival. Black Summer never takes either route.
Every zombie that appears in Black Summer always feels like a very real threat, and that is pushed to its absolute limits in Season 2. One vignette completely revolves around a man being chased by a zombie in the snow. It’s funny in a dark way. Out of ammo and weapons, this man’s only chance for escape is to keep running, resulting in the deadliest game of tag ever brought to screen. Another short breaks the mold entirely to focus on a recently-turned zombie’s reign of terror. Through this perspective change we can truly see how much damage a zombie is capable of causing. These threats are never met with eye rolls or casually head shots. They’re treated as the real, pressing, adrenaline-pounding danger they are.
Black Summer‘s zombie-focused vignettes speaks to another reason why this series continuously feels so fresh. Because Black Summer is unafraid to jump from character to character, the show’s sense of danger is preserved but its heroes never feel too lucky or overpowered. When Rose (Jaime King) or Sun (Christine Lee) aren’t on screen, it’s easy to imagine them gathering supplies, repairing coats, or doing the dozens of other mundane activities necessary to survival. Instead the task of battling an endless parade of zombies is farmed out the show’s dozens of side characters. In many ways these seemingly random side stories raise the stakes of this entire world. We have a good idea that Rose isn’t going to die of a zombie bite in Episode 3; but we have no idea what horrors are in store for a new guy in a parka.
There’s another fascinating aspect of Black Summer‘s many chapters. Nine times out of 10 even the most obscure-seeming story ties back to the main narrative. Season 2’s first episode contains an excellent example of this. The episode first starts with a sequence about a woman who is clearly part of some militia force getting trapped in the middle of an ambush. The episode then drifts to another narrative, examining the final moments of one of that militia group’s hostages. Finally, the scene is reset completely as we watch this ambush through Sun’s eyes, yet another hostage. This saga between two warring groups of survivors was always Sun’s story. But because it’s told through so many other perspectives it takes a while to recognize that.
If zombies were to inhabit the Earth, it wouldn’t be hell for a special group of survivors who are mysteriously immune to injury and getting too dirty. It would be hell for everyone. That basic truth is one that Black Summer always keeps in mind. The zombie-infested car chases, plane rides, and icy roads are just the cherry on top of this rotting sundae.
