Z Nation: Welcome to the Fu-Bar Recap

Z Nation: Welcome to the Fu-Bar (1×07)

Synopsis: Tensions are high and the truck breaks down, forcing the group to make an interesting pit stop in an attempt to procure a new vehicle.

Rating: ★★★★☆

To open the episode, Citizen Z gives a pretty good eulogy for Garnett and it’s just mildly gut-wrenching. Not to mention the hits keep coming as the truck breaks down on the side of the road – but hey! No zombies! Warren is still mourning Garnett’s death and a rousing pep-talk from Murphy isn’t enough to get her out of the vehicle to help with the repairs(who’s surprised?). While 10K fixes the radiator and they pour all of their water into it, Mack and Addy decide to take the bike and go ahead of the group. Once they get far enough away, Mack tries to convince Addy to ditch the rest of the group, but she refuses and they turn around to reunite with everyone else. And they would have, if not for the zunami they spot.

10K calls dibs on driving the truck and ends up finding his way to an outpost offering guns and liquor at the Kansas Gun Show! Even more fun, Doc reunites with some guys he knew… at some point. Maybe pre-z? Sketchy McClane and Skeezy are running a live-zombie shooting contest offering up a giant gun as the grand prize. It just so happens to be the kind of gun (with ammo) that could be traded for a better vehicle, so you know the group is signing 10K up.

Warren ends up finding the little makeshift saloon, the Fu-Bar, and all of the moonshine she can drink while Doc, Cassandra, and 10K try to talk to someone about getting a vehicle. Inside the Fu-Bar, when they ask around for a car, they find Forman. He is drunk, rude, and not at all willing to give up the Forman-Mobile – a tricked out zombie-proof vehicle that would probably get the group far. When he stumbles outside to relieve himself, Murphy follows him and sees him topple over. For his efforts in making sure the man is alright (and trying to take his keys), Murphy is attacked by Forman. He sees Murphy’s zombie scars and assumes he’s a Z, which leaves Murphy just a few options – he goes with biting the guy, knocking him out with a rock, and stealing his keys.

Sketchy is nothing if not a showman as he calls out zombie targets for the contestants to shoot. A whole line of zombies is pulled behind an ice cream cart and it’s so absurdly hilarious that I hope they’ve had many successful contests just like this in the past. 10K is holding his own against the grizzled sharpshooter he was warned about, Darren Cooper – an ex-Ranger sniper with confirmed kills in Afghanistan under his belt – and a mysterious woman who is just as determined as he is. She’s basically female 10K with a dad.

Meanwhile, Warren is still drinking when Forman stumbles back into the bar and rallies everyone to go after the man who looks like a zombie that attacked him. As they weapon up and head out, Warren shares with the bartender that their intended target is definitely not a zombie, but she makes no move to stop them.

Citizen Z notices the zunami and feels the need to spastically announce that there’s a zombie flood headed for western Kansas over the airwaves. He tells everyone to get the hell out as soon as possible and then sits back to continue monitoring the situation.

The angry mob ends up cornering Murphy by the Forman-Mobile, forcing Cassandra and Doc to step in. Some stray bullets are fired, turning a man on the toilet (because that’s another horror trope, nothing good ever comes from the toilet in the zombie apocalypse, Dead Snow anyone?), the grizzled sharpshooter in the contest, and the bartender that Warren is drinking with. The man on the toilet is seen attacking people, everyone in the contest takes care of the sharpshooter, and Warren sticks the zombie bartender to his own bar with a knife. Problems solved, the contest resumes!

Doc gives Murphy the ‘I’m so disappointed in your actions’ talk and tells him to wait in the truck while they return to the contest. Naturally, he doesn’t. Instead, Murphy goes in search of his missing tooth – finding it stuck in the body of Foreman. As gross as it was is that Murphy digs his tooth out of a dead body and shoves it back in his mouth, it doesn’t distract from the fact that the dead man didn’t turn like the others. What does that mean? Does Murphy have to bite every human being left? Murphy might not have a problem ending the apocalypse this way since he so cavalierly bit the first guy.

Some of the contest watchers go off to clear the zombies that have crept into the perimeter as Warren has an emotional talk with the bartender. She’s drunk or out of it with grief and addresses the zombartender as Charlie. She believed in him because he was a badass who saw it and faced it and had hope. The hope made them weak and she laments what happened, freeing the zombie to have a physical fist fight with it before ultimately deciding that she would find another reason to live.

As they attempt to determine the contest winner, after a brief tie is called, they go into sudden death overtime. Only it never gets there because more zombies seem to be creeping in from the impending zunami. After 10K beats out the mysterious girl in sudden death by mercy killing the ice cream truck driver, more zombies are discovered creeping into the perimeter and everyone decides to call it a day and get the hell out of dodge. While the zombies start to overrun the place, 10K saves the girl’s dad and then gives them the gun anyway.

Leaving Fu-Bar, Warren shows that she’s back and she means business. She kills the toilet zombie and a few more that run her way. As they’re leaving, the mysterious female 10K (whose name is actually Brittany) earns the gun by saving 10K’s life when a zombie attacks him. Without reuniting with Mack and Addy, the group takes off down the road once more and we’re still on track for California. Citizen Z comes over the airwaves again to warn about the zunami. If you’re not already west of it, it’s time to hide.