| Murphy's Miracle | |
| Season 3, Episode 3 | |
 | |
| Air date | September 30, 2016 |
| Written by | Michael Cassutt |
| Directed by | Alexander Yellen |
| U.S. Viewers | 0.86 million |
| Episode Guide | |
| previous "A New Mission" |
next "Escorpion and the Red Hand" |
"Murphy's Miracle" is the third episode of Season 3 of Z Nation and the thirty-first episode of the series overall. It first aired in the United States on September 30, 2016 at 8/7c .
Plot Synopsis[]
The gang is hot on Murphy's trail as Sun Mei tracks his hijacked military vehicle, which Hector affectionately calls the 'Murphy Mobile'. Though they soon discover that Murphy's since ditched the transponder in the belly of a Z. They have no idea where he is now, and here they are in McCloud, California, short on gas, food and supplies.
However, they seem to find an unlikely ally in the form of Wally Becker, a former postal worker who still drives around in a mail truck and hides out in the local post office. He seems lonely, he's been slowly going through everyone's undelivered and unopened Christmas cards, but harmless enough. He also is feeding the zombies with supposed "roadkill", which puzzles the team. The zombiefied folks of McCloud also follow him wherever he goes, "because they remember me and love me," he says, but Roberta's more than a little suspicious, especially due to the fact that the zombies pass by everyone else without even noticing them.
Sun Mei tries to contact her lab via the two-way radio at the local motor pool, but all she's able to pick up is a piece of melancholy music. This is apparently a code to say that her mission has been aborted and her reinforcements are all dead.
Meanwhile, up north, Kaya is encouraging Citizen Z to exercise and get his strength back so he can get back on the air, though Citizen Z wonders if there's anyone left to listen to his broadcasts. Kaya becomes discouraged when she's unable to get any signal on her radio until she comes across the music that Sun Mei's people are playing. She says it's beautiful, but CZ says it's sad. Addy suddenly tries to use the radio to contact Citizen Z, who's still shacking up with Kaya and her family; he can hear her, but the equipment he has isn't powerful enough to contact her back. The radio goes dead, leaving Addy frustrated. Roberta and the others stop by in the now working postal van. Addy and Doc explain about Sun Mei's people and how they couldn't get ahold of CZ.
Up north, Citizen Z is shocked to see that he's been given by far the largest portion at dinner. He shares out his food to the others, only for them to scarf it up within seconds. CZ realizes that Kaya, her Nana and her Uncle Kaskae are actually starving, to which Kaya admits and shows him their already meager food supply, which is almost gone. Citizen Z says he knows where they can get food.
Back at the post office, our survivors have finally had enough and are done with not having an explanation as to why the Z's are only following Wally around. Roberta takes Wally's gun and Sun Mei takes a blood sample of him. Wally hasn't been bitten and there's nothing unique about his blood. Wally is offended at being poked and prodded and tells them to leave town as soon as he gives them food and supplies, to which Roberta agrees.
Sun Mei stays in the main office to do more blood tests as Wally leads everyone else to the basement, where he says there's a fully stocked civil defense emergency shelter for the entire county. What's actually down there are the bodies of several postal workers and a zombie horde waiting to take them out. The treacherous Wally flees as Roberta and the gang fight the Z's in the obscured darkness.
Wally takes Sun Mei at gunpoint to his personal workshop, a room filled with the remains of the unfortunate passers-by that he uses to feed to his zombie horde. Wally had grown tired of 17 long years as a mailman, never getting his own greeting cards or love letters but instead being hated as the guy who's late with delivering a paycheck or unwanted catalog. On Day 1 of the zombie apocalypse, Wally wanted to get revenge on them for their treatment of him and killed his co-workers, as well as every single person in town. Since he was the last thing they saw before turning Z, they are now fixated only on him.
Sun Mei manages to get to the door and open it, letting a bunch of Z's into the room who quickly attack and kill Wally, finally turning him into one of them. She reunites with the gang, and they hightail it out of town, with Wally, now a Z, stumbling about the streets of McCloud.
Meanwhile, Team Murphy is stuck in traffic, which in the zombie apocalypse means there's a vehicle blocking an already impossibly narrow roadway. It's a young couple whose little girl is dying, so Murphy, genuinely moved, offers to help and gives her a Murphy bite.
Murphy and company arrive in Spokane, Washington, where a mighty waterfall seems to be key to Murphy's plan to populate the world with Blends. They set up shop at the long-looted Museum of Progress, where Murphy finds a space for Dr. Merch's lab, his own fancy inner sanctum and, of course, his throne room.
Oh, and a room for Lucy. 10K is surprised to hear that she's still alive and then discouraged when he's put on sweeping duty.
Murphy is lounging about on his throne when Dr. Merch says he has visitors: the young couple whose little girl he bit. The parents thank Murphy for not only curing their daughter but for making her not afraid anymore. The little girl jumps into Murphy's lap and gives him a hug as the husband asks, "Would you bite my wife?". Murphy smiles.
Up north, Citizen Z, Pup, Kaya, Nana, and Uncle Kaskae get on a sled and brave the elements on the icy road back to the Northern Light military base.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Kellita Smith as Roberta
- DJ Qualls as Citizen Z
- Keith Allan as Murphy
- Anastasia Baranova as Addy
- Russell Hodgkinson as Doc
- Nat Zang as 10K
- Emilio Rivera as Hector Alvarez
Guest Starring[]
- Carl Johnson as Fake Wally Becker
- Sydney Viengluang as Sun Mei
- Ramona Young as Kaya
Co-Stars[]
- Lisa Coronado as Marilyn Merch
- Cecil Cheeka as Kaskae
- Aaron Trainor as Will Chaffin
- Kathryn Brown as Hope Chaffin
- Lexie Lovering as Cassidy Chaffin
- Darlene Mccarty as Nana
- Wizard as Pup
Deaths[]
- One of Murphy's Men
- One Ender
- Unnamed Town People (Confirmed Fate)
- Unnamed Postal Members (Confirmed Fate)
- Walter J. Becker (Confirmed Fate)
- Unnamed Fake Wally Becker (Alive)
Notes[]
- First (and last) appearance of Unnamed Man aka Fake Wally.
- First appearance of Will Chaffin.
- First appearance of Hope Chaffin.
- First appearance of Cassidy Chaffin.
- The Fake Wally Becker refers to Zs as Walkers.
Memorable Quotes[]
"He went postal"- Doc about mailman
"That mailman licked the wrong stamp" Doc about mailman
"Special delivery" - Doc killing zombie
"The definition of insanity is doing the same exact thing over and over expecting a different result"- Murphy after 10K calls him insane *Far cry reference*
Videos[]
