A group of ill-fated individuals were desperate to do whatever it takes to go to the promised safe haven amidst the terrible and horrifying sickness that is somehow making the dead reanimate and threaten the lives of everyone.
Black Summer is a zombie horror drama that is set in the same universe as SyFy's now cancelled show, Z Nation. Created by John Hyams and Karl Schaefer, this series is an expansion to that storyline — a prequel that promises to give a much richer backstory to how it all began.
Z Nation in its own merits tried to reinvent the genre by having a lot less serious tone, sometimes overly campy, perfectly establishing its own identity in comparison to its bigger and more popular brother, AMC's The Walking Dead.
In this Hyams and Schaefer's prequel, the show strips out the quirkiness of its original and went for the more serious take that I would personally say looked and feels like a prologue to
The Walking Dead rather that
Z Nation (looking at you
Fear of the Walking Dead).
Rose (Jaimie King) was separated from her daughter when the military were conducting their quarantine operations on their neighborhood, possibly due to the uncontrollable outbreak that reanimates the dead. Somewhere along the way, she met Spears (Justin Chu Cray), a military personnel that promises to accompany her in finding her daughter that was transported, to the stadium, together with the other survivors.
Meanwhile, the show also introduces us to the other group of unfortunate locals, Kyung-Sun (Christine Lee), William (Sal Velez Jr.), and Lance (Kelsey Flower) among others.
8-Episodal Drama
Although it's a lot shorter when it comes to episodal quantity, the show for the most part packs a respectable punch when it comes to a more grounded psychological thriller and zombie-fest killing spree that's both satisfying and a welcome upgrade for the franchise.
The overall cinematography looked great as it attempts to give you an apocalyptic vibe to it — a typical eerie atmosphere as one might expect from this type of show. I also liked some episodes where the camera moves behind the character's perspective, letting you feel the panic as if you were there in the situation. My personal favorite are the ones where the scenes are done in a single take — a feat that not so many dramas out there can pull off.
The general editing of this feels weird at first, operating on a person-to-person quick jump, forcing the audience to follow a certain character or sometimes a certain screenplay act which doesn't work for me personally as it doesn't feel seamless as it intended to be.
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| - Photo from EW |
As for the story, well, not so much were elevated in that department. Everything that happened leading up to the finale were the things that we have seen a billion times in other zombie shows. Half of the episodes was a drag to watch and feels like a prolonged chapter just to fill in that promised 8-episodal drama.
The acting performances were great but other than that, the show lacked the charisma and the heart that makes the overpopulous genre more interesting and compelling.
Let's Be Reel
Black Summer on the surface is successful at giving teeth-grinding thrillers and fan service zombie actions.
At the core, however, this show lacked the personality and doesn't add much to the already crowded meat and bone genre, making the audience drag alongside its deadpan narrative that no one would probably cared for.
5.5/10
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