Our lead Lin Zai, his brother, and random people walk through a school building when ZOMBIES! The fast-moving kind!
Lin Zai reveals he’s the selfless kind of hero
He’s the only one willing to risk himself to save a woman who stumbled. But he can’t save another guy who’s bitten and almost instantly ZOMBIE.
Lin Zai and his brother become separated from the others, beat back zombies, and escape upstairs. With the full power of a DOOR between them and zombies, they chill.
The brother declares so much confidence in being saved by Lin Zai that he’s going to have to die. On cue, a zombie appears, bites Lin Zai, and then his brother.
Lin Zai’s brother shoves him away and drags himself and the zombie over a low railing, falling several stories. Lin Zai sobs as his brother dies, and the zombie gets up and walks away.
He tells us that 22 days ago the zombie crisis broke out. His parents are gone. His brother is gone. He’s been bitten. In hours, he’ll be a zombie.
Meanwhile, our other hero, A Lie, rescues everyone else
Maybe not because he’s a hero. He tests each of them for something with his watch. Then he casually kills a man who’s been bitten.
A Lie reports to his watch that no Immunogen has been found.
Lin Zai suddenly wakes up, not a zombie. He looks at his brother’s good-luck charm and vows to live on well, if only for one day.
6 months later, Lin Zai and the good luck charm are on a compound, along with Chen, Li, and Grandma Qiu.
The place is fortified against zombies. Lin Zai watches Chen cut off the head of one that reached the fence. When she kills it, Lin Zai flashes back to being bitten and clutches his arm.
Later, he’s checking on things alone when A Lie staggers towards him. He tells Lin Zai to leave him be, and collapses.
Chen and Li come to check on him. They confirm he’s not infected, but they don’t want the burden or risk of saving him. So they take his stuff and leave.
Later, everyone but Lin Zai is talking about how OK it is to leave him to die. Lin Zai looks less than okay. But he accepts A Lie’s watch.
That night, he dreams A Lie is his older brother. Immediately, he leaves to save him secretly. A Lie regains consciousness, only to pass out again. Lin Zai panics, does chest compressions, and mouth-to-mouth.
But it’s more like a prince kissing a fairy-tale princess awake
Except A Lie strangles him right after opening his eyes. Lin Zai breaks free and promises he won’t hurt him. A Lie rejects his help, thinking Lin Zai wants something from him.
Lin Zai ignores him, returns to camp, and grabs more food and medication to sneak out.
A Lie is still deeply suspicious. As Lin Zai checks his bandages, their faces get awfully close…
Lin Zai wonders why A Lie tried to drive him away instead of accepting his help. Lin Zai thinks he should know he’s not a bad person by now.
More face closeness and… staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaring.
Then A Lie BITES the hand giving him medication
He makes it a teachable moment about trust for Lin Zai. Lin Zai is not impressed. He knows good people from bad. A Lie isn’t bad, and he’s not good either. He’s just a jerk, not that he says it to his face.
But he takes care of A Lie, chattering at him and spoon-feeding him while A Lie eyes his stolen watch.
Meanwhile, the compound needs more supplies. Armed with A Lie’s weapons, they head to that school we saw earlier, with Lin Zai leading.
Before they can leave, A Lie appears. He’d like his stuff back. Chen says finders keepers and tries to shoot him with his own arrow. He grabs it from the air and thrusts it at her, but Lin Zai stands in front of her. He knows A Lie won’t hurt them.
A Lie agrees, if he gets his stuff back, otherwise…
They give him his stuff back. Including the watch. Lin Zai lies that it was his idea to steal his stuff, but since he saved A Lie’s life, they’re even.
Alone, A Lie discovers his watch has no signal. But it tells him Immune Target Confirmed.
At the school, Lin Zai sees the bloodstain where his brother fell, but the body is gone. While they get supplies, Lin Zai apologizes to the others for lying. Chen admits they were heartless to leave A Lie for dead, and Li thinks maybe they should strive for more than just surviving.
Speaking of that, Zombies! They’re surrounded! Lin Zai fights them back with his comically large wrench! And steps on a nail sticking out of a board. My. Worst. Nightmare.
There are too many, and the three of them are overwhelmed. Lin Zai is about to be bitten when A Lie saves him!
This is campy, low-budget zombie stuff, and I love that
The zombies appear out of nowhere and just run forward frantically, throwing themselves at people. Our heroes flail back at them. Whether or not they’re bitten feels like luck (and what the script says), not skill.
I prefer not to take zombies too seriously or make them make sense. They’re zombies. They zombie. That’s enough.
These zombies do seem like the kind that can die. So, that makes life easier.
And, romance! A Lie and Lin Zai are opposites. A Lie doesn’t care about others, and Lin Zai is a bleeding heart.
Although that “Immune Target” search has to be about finding a cure. Which would mean A Lie is helping save a LOT of people. Unless this show is going to go darker and it’s for some other reason?
Meanwhile, Lin Zai is the kind of bleeding heart who lets the others casually leave someone to die. A conflict-avoidant bleeding heart? I’m curious who Lin Zai would call a bad person?
It’ll definitely be interesting to see our too-good-guy and too-bad-guy fall in love and influence each other’s attitudes towards life.
Oh, and zombies. Those are fun too.
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