Violence and destruction continue to bulldoze the town of Mawinhakin in the latest episode of SYFY’s Day of the Dead. Dr. Logan (Lucia Walters) of Cleargenix makes a startling discovery about the zombie “virus”, and Mawinhakin locals begin to question the ethics of killing the already dead zombies. Is it possible that the flesh-devouring creatures tearing their way through the town can be cured?
Beware of Streakers | Lauren (Natalie Malaika), Jai (Dejan Loyola), Amy (Kristy Dawn Dinsmore), and Herb (Gary Chalk) are on their way to Paymart where Mayor Paula Bowman (Miranda Frigon) is throwing together a makeshift crisis center for the zombie-infested town of Mawinhakin. On the drive, two women emerge from the forest that lines the road. One of them is severely injured with impalement of a tree branch to the belly. The impalement occurred when the sisters’ bird-watching was interrupted by a half-naked zombie that they believed was a perverted streaker roaming the forest. While describing the incident to Lauren and the rest of the gang, the pants-less flesh-eater pops out of the forest. The traumatized sisters’ flight response kicks in and they flee with the hearse, leaving Lauren, Jai, Amy, and Herb stranded.
Minutes later, the gang is fighting off zombies coming out of the woodworks. Bobby, zombie Peepaw’s grandson, shows up out of nowhere with a double-barrel shotgun and one hell of an aim. “Y’all need a lift to the Paymart?” Bobby casually asks after blowing the head off of an undead.
The Race isn’t Over | Mawinhakin townspeople are beginning to arrive at Paymart and the crisis center is taking shape. Pops Parker (Jay Brazeau) has arrived and he criticizes Mayor Bowman’s decision to allow teenagers to handle the security of the center with rifles. Still fuming over Pop’s earlier threat to expose the mayor’s secret about her son, Mayor Bowman gives him a big “F— you” and delivers an encouraging speech to reassure the surviving Miwanhakins that her leadership will keep them alive.
Not everyone was impressed with the mayor’s attempt to rally the survivors, however. Luke Bowman (Daniel Doheny), the mayor’s son, expresses his disappointment in his mother. Luke believes his mother is just taking advantage of the mayhem to elevate her candidacy in the Mawinhakin mayoral race, and in the process, she’s using her family as a prop.
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The Doc Is In | Thanks to Bobby’s help, Lauren, Jai, Amy, and Herb make it safely to Paymart. Jai recruits Lauren’s help to stitch up injured people in the center’s infirmary where they discover the sister pair that left them stranded on the road with zombies in tow. The woman with the impaled branch is in really bad shape. Herb believes she’s a lost cause but Jai insists on treating her. Herb instructs Lauren to search the Paymart pharmacy for pain killers for their patient. Lauren is hesitant given her very new sobriety, but she goes anyways.
By the time Lauren makes her way back to the infirmary with the pain killers, the impaled woman’s condition reaches a critical state, and Jai is forced to perform emergency surgery. Sadly, the woman doesn’t make it.
The woman’s death hovers over Jai and Lauren. Jai feels like a failed doctor and ends up taking it out on Amy. His insecurities in their relationship bubble to the surface and ends with Jai breaking up with Amy. As for Lauren, she is finally engulfed in the fear and sadness she’s been ignoring ever since the zombie pandemic began. She considers the woman lucky to have died before the pandemic gets any worse.
Pops Prevails | While Mayor Bowman is busy organizing the crisis center, Pops has convinced Bobby and everyone else on security detail that they should capture the zombies instead of killing them. Pops isn’t convinced that the zombie state is irreversible. Needless to say, Mayor Bowman is furious when she learns Pops has made this power grab. How will Mayor Bowman convince the townspeople that they need saving now?
“You Do Remember” | Dr. Logan pleads with Cleargenix to give her more time to research the zombie virus. She uses a now “zombie-fied” Detective McDermott (Mike Dopud) to run behavioral analysis tests on. Dr. Logan presents McDermott with objects to see if he recognizes them as his own. McDermott is drawn to his zippo lighter. He picks it up and ignites the flame. “You do remember,” Dr. Logan exclaims with excitement.
In an attempt to swipe McDermott’s wallet, McDermott latches onto her wrist. Lucky for her, McDermott recognizes his detective’s badge and releases her. He then removes the badge from his wallet and places it on his chest.
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Time to Make a Change | Amy and Trey (Christopher Russell) briefly escape the madness of the pandemic in the Paymart beverage department. After a few beers, Trey is in desperate need of a pep talk. Amy points out to him that he seems to only exist through the lens of others, especially through his wife, Mayor Bowman. Amy encourages Trey to figure out his own voice and take his power back. Trey leaves the conversation empowered to make a change.
Not So Lucky After All | Not long after Trey is feeling recharged and ready to conquer the world, the woman who died under Jai’s care is “alive” and very hungry. Pops attempts to talk the zombie woman down from eating her sister but his plan doesn’t pan out. Pops ends up on his back with the zombie ready to tear his throat out. Lucky for him, Trey comes in with a shovel and saves Pops from becoming zombie food.
Trey’s moment of heroism is quickly halted when the zombie sneak attacks him and latches on to his neck. Mayor Bowman eventually kills the zombie, but it’s too late. Trey succumbs to his neck wound and passes away in Mayor Bowman’s arms.
It’s quickly revealed through Mayor Bowman’s flashback that it was her that led the zombie to the group of survivors in the center. Mayor Bowman once again was attempting to use the current chaos to help her mayoral standings. Her hunger for power has finally caught up to her and it cost Trey’s life.
Day of the Dead airs Fridays at 10pm on SYFY.
Dani grew up on the West Coast in sunny California. With a passion for film and television, she’s always on the hunt for binge-worthy flicks with diversity and positive representation of Womxn, the LGBTQIAN+ community, and other marginalized groups. Favorite genres include supernatural dramas, sci-fi, fantasy, horror and magical realism. Dani’s current favorite shows are Motherland: Fort Salem, Killing Eve, Dickinson, and Euphoria.
