Saturday, May 21, 2016

Zoo, Season 1, Episode 11: Eats, Shoots and Leaves



Most of the gang arrives in Zambia, looking for the mutated leopard that hasn’t been mother-celled yet. While the mutated leopards are looking for them… and well, everyone. As we’ve seen in the media slowly as the show develops, the animal pandemic is escalating. Zambia is in chaos.

The leopards quickly finish off Ray – because that’s one excess character we didn’t need – and we continue with many tense scenes to navigate leopards as huge numbers of civilians are displaced.

They do find a leopard cub – the best mutated animal to carry around that won’t eat them. Though it is immensely cute. They also find some militia which is a somewhat shallow view of Zambia (and, after Argentina and the general lack of global presence of this show, is frown worthy) but they also find an apparent state of the art hospital which excellently pulls back from that. Especially since last episode they seemed to think finding medical equipment in Africa would be difficult.

Even with leopards and crocodiles and bats, oh my, they do manage to make it to the hospital and Mitch makes a cure from Adorable Leopard Cub’s tooth. With Abe catching a dog to test it on (because testing the cure on a wild animal is difficult: how do you know if a wild leopard trying to eat you is a mutant or just a wild animal trying to eat you?)

Of course, not everything goes that smoothly. The hospital is overwhelmed by leopards, Jackson is shot (but a doctor puts him back together again) and everything is shaky. Abe continues to be awesome – gently but firmly chiding Jackson for his endlessly reckless leadership and how he has pretty much assumed leadership by not giving anyone else a chance to lead or offer ideas (to be fair, there’s no indication that any of them have had ideas to offer). He also leads Mitch through his initial set backs, also awesomely

Abe is my favourite character on this show – but his excellent insight and advice and support does tend to express itself through the other characters. He is, perhaps, the heart of the group, the backbone, the one who keeps all the brilliant but slightly uneven characters around him steady. This is an excellent role and definitely not a useless or weak one: but the role of advisor/supporter is one POC often occupy.


He also provides language and guidance for Zambia which is a more active participation which is definitely worth mentioning.

They also have no way to escape – leopards surround them.


Back in America, Chloe has been captured by FBI agent with a grudge who decides to do everything without back up is shot by Reiden minions. Because he has no back up. Ever. Even when hunting dangerous armed fugitives. He utterly fails at his job

This puts Chloe in the hands of evil Reiden people including Alves, her former colleague. Reiden has corrupt folks everywhere. They want to torture information out of her – and they do it by tormenting her sister brutally and horrendously. In an aversion of how many times we’ve seen this, Chloe doesn’t break – even as her sister is brutally tortured she doesn’t tell them that the gang has gone to Zambia

Until she is rescued by Delavene. I thought this was a trick to get information out of her as well – give her someone to trust and confide in. But I soon realise this is wrong because Chloe thinks the same thing. And Chloe has never ever been right about anything, ever. This is known.

He takes her to Washinton DC where there’s a big group examining the animal attacks which have finally been recognised as a crisis. Chloe stands up and speaks… complete unscientific bullshit

This isn’t her fault – it’s the canon of the show.

She is pretty much laughed off the stage, but she was also heard by government officials who believe her (unlike those silly silly scientists) since it matches some of what they’ve discovered. The powers that be are now listening to her – which means they have the US government and a whole lot of soldiers to help rescue the rest of the gang from the hospital

They can then fly back to the US with the cure, with the Adorable Leopard Cub and everyone alive. Except they’re in a plane. Which is so very vulnerable


Along the way we also have Mitch and Jamie head their way to love interest zone. Of course they do. Abe is going to feel left out, everyone else is hooking up. And what would every story in the world be without cishet white folks hooking up?