You’ll be on the edge of your seats while watching Z Nation, “Escorpion and the Red Hand.” In the latest episode, the past comes back to haunt us, Murphy realizes the extent of his mortality, and someone’s name is being dragged through the mud (though it was already pretty muddy to begin with).
Episode 3×04 of Z Nation opens with Delta Xray Delta encountering a strange sight—zombies hanging from a bridge with their intestines spilled out. They are then confronted by some men who accuse them of being part of the Red Hand. The Red Hand, they say, are a group of thugs headed up by Escorpion, and are so named because they paint red hands on their victims. Hector (Emilio Rivera) obviously didn’t do this, so why do the men think Escorpion is responsible? Suddenly, the Red Hand attacks, throwing bricks and Molotov cocktails down upon them. Doc (Russel Hodgkinson), Addy (Anastasia Baranova), and Sun Mei (Sydney Viengluang) take shelter in one abandoned warehouse, and Warren (Kellita Smith), Hector, and the two other men, named Clive (Wesley Walker) and Ryan (D’Angelo Midili) hide in another.
Tooth Company | Addy doesn’t look so good, and it turns out that one of her teeth is infected. She refuses to let Doc or Sun Mei touch it, but she starts going into septic shock. After giving her some of Doc’s drugs, Doc and Sun Mei try to hold her down on a table and get a pair of pliers into her mouth. Addy head-butts Sun Mei in the nose, and Sun Mei finally chokes her until she loses consciousness. They finally get the tooth out, and Addy still looks rough, but feels better.
Sinners and Saints | Hector and Warren find a wounded woman (Nira Parker) in the warehouse they’re in. She’s one of the Red Hand, and calls Escorpion the protecter of the innocent. Hector thinks someone must be impersonating him, so he asks the girl what Escorpion looks like. She responds in Spanish that Escorpion looks like him. She dies before he can ask any more questions. But there are more pressing matters to attend to—specifically, the zombie covered in dynamite headed for their warehouse. Hector, Clive, and Ryan manage to take cover, but Warren is right in the line of fire, and is hurtled to the ground by the explosion. For several terrifying moments, Hector tries desperately to wake Warren, who remains unresponsive. Finally, after lots of pleading from Hector, Warren regains consciousness. Just then, a zombie attacks Hector. As Warren staggers to her feet, several more zombies join the first, and it looks like we might be saying goodbye to Hector. Warren is still dazed, and the other two are no help at all. Finally, Warren manages to pick off a couple of the zombies, and Hector kills the last one. But in the fray, Hector’s sleeve was ripped off, and Ryan and Clive see the tattoo on his arm that identifies him as Escorpion. The men refuse to believe that Hector had nothing to do with the killings, and attack. Hector and Warren are forced to kill them. Hector feels guilty that his ghosts have caused still more deaths, and tries to leave the group. But Warren won’t let him, because she needs him.
Immortality Bites | Outside Murphy’s (Keith Alan) lair, people are camped out, waiting to be cured by him. He has two parallel fences running around the outside of the museum, and the “moat” is filled with zombies. Murphy has added to his collection of slaves, but is feeling weakened from having blood drawn by Dr. Merch (Lisa Coronado) to create a vaccine. He confesses to her that he’s feeling run-down, and like he’s slipping more toward the zombie side than the human side. Dr. Merch gives Murphy a micro-dose of the original vaccine, to help him feel, if not more human, at least less zombie. Dr. Merch is working on a vaccine to create more human-zombie blends, and Murphy’s plan is running smoothly. But once Murphy leaves the room, Dr. Merch stabs 10K (Nat Zang) in the neck with a syringe! When he wakes up, Dr. Merch tells 10K that he had been under Murphy’s control. She’s discovered that the original vaccine counteracts Murphy’s control, and has been treating herself. However, the effects aren’t permanent, and they’ll need to keep taking the vaccine to stay themselves. She plans to destroy all of Murphy’s vaccine while 10K finds a vehicle for them to escape in. 10K loads his gear in the back of a truck, then returns upstairs to get Dr. Merch, only to find fresh teeth marks on her other cheek. Murphy walks into the room, holding the bag of boosters that he needs to stay un-zombified and 10K needs to stay out of Murphy’s control. Murphy tells 10K he can be the first to try the new blend vaccine, brandishing a large needle, but 10K manages to snatch the bag of boosters and crashes out the second-story window to land on his back in the bed of the truck. But one of the blends is in the driver’s seat, so 10K leads the blend army on an intense foot chase through the forest.
All In Vein | Meanwhile, a recommitted Dr. Merch administers Murphy’s vaccine to people lined up in front of the museum. Murphy talks of his plan to create blends out of every person left in the world, and tells Dr. Merch that he can feel that she’s still resisting. 10K makes it to the bridge, but is then trapped between zombies approaching from one direction, and blends from the other. He knows he has only one choice, and jumps into the rushing water far below. Finally, Murphy is reading a book on his throne, and suddenly hears Dr. Merch resisting him in his head. He looks out the window, and she is determinedly walking toward the entrance to the zombie moat. As Murphy rushes down the stairs, she stands in the midst of the zombies and injects herself with the original vaccine, which makes her no longer immune to zombie bites. Since she was unable to destroy his vaccine, she thwarts him another way.
Now what?! How is Murphy going to continue to create and distribute his vaccine? Did 10K survive the drop into the water? And who is impersonating Escorpion? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!
Z Nation airs Fridays at 9/8c on Syfy.