Day of the Dead – Episode 9 – Death Comes to Paymart
With only one episode left, Day of the Dead is beginning to build towards its climax, although unfortunately Episode 9 isn’t particularly good. There is certainly a sense that everything is moving towards some sort of conclusion, but rather than feeling like a carefully constructed finale, it often feels as though the series is simply trying to get some of the main plotlines and story elements into place before the credits roll.
One thing I do continue to appreciate is the show’s rather brutal attitude towards its characters. Just when you think the series has established someone as one of its main protagonists, it seems quite happy to throw them into danger and dispose of them altogether. That willingness to kill characters is something I enjoy in a zombie story, particularly when it means you genuinely don’t know who is going to survive the next episode. It prevents the audience from becoming too comfortable and gives even some of the more predictable situations an element of uncertainty.
The make-up effects and action remain broadly on par with the rest of the series. There’s nothing particularly spectacular here, but the zombies continue to look decent enough and the action provides the necessary entertainment. I would still like to see considerably more gore, though. For a show called Day of the Dead, there are surprisingly long stretches where the undead aren’t on screen, or being talked about. That said, practical make-up, prosthetics and effects aren’t cheap, particularly when you’re producing a full television season, so the budget limitations are understandable.
What is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore is the feeling that the writers are rushing to close everything down. Given that this ultimately remained a single-season series, I can’t help wondering whether, by this point, the production knew there wasn’t going to be a second season and had to start tying up the various storylines as quickly as possible. Also there is the noticeable drop in the show’s cinematography, lighting and overall visual presentation. Earlier episodes may have had their budgetary limitations, but they generally had a consistent look and a reasonable level of polish. Here, some scenes look flatter and more cheaply lit, and the production occasionally feels as though it has been stripped back. I can’t help wondering whether, as the season progressed and resources became tighter, some crew members may have been cut from the production or reallocated to another shoot, leaving the remaining team to work with fewer resources. That’s purely speculation on my part, but there is certainly a noticeable difference in the way the series looks and feels at this stage.
Some of the mysteries introduced earlier in the series now look like they will be abandoned. The question of who the military-esq faction responsible for incarcerating the characters is doesn’t appear to be receiving any attention, despite being one of the more intriguing ideas introduced along the way. Likewise, the explanation for the origins of the zombie outbreak feels as though it has been thrown together rather quickly rather than developed organically.
In fact, the treatment of the zombie origin story makes me wonder whether it was something added relatively late in production. Much of the material is underdeveloped, and the fact that some of the relevant material was shot at night in an earlier episode gives it the appearance of something that may have been bolted onto the story rather than being part of the planned story from the beginning.
That’s becoming the frustrating thing about Day of the Dead. The series rarely seems capable of giving its better ideas the time or depth they deserve. Instead, it introduces something interesting, moves on to another storyline, and then occasionally remembers that it needs to resolve what came before.
Episode 9 feels more like a necessary step towards the finale than an especially satisfying episode in its own right. The impending conclusion does provide some momentum, and the uncertainty over who might survive remains one of the show’s strengths, but the storytelling feels increasingly rushed.
I’m still invested enough to see it through to the end, particularly because the show has surprised me before. One episode remains. Hopefully the finale can pull everything together and give the series the ending it deserves.
