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This article took a little longer than usual to come out, because the show took a little longer than usual to watch.
Warning: mild spoilers ahead.
Before
Considering other Korean zombie hits like "Train to Busan" and "Kingdom", we were excited even before "All of Us Are Dead" actually premiered on Netflix.
The premise sounded promising enough—high school and zombies? (Literal ones too. Not just tired students.) We're in.
During
Unfortunately, in the days following its release, all I heard about it were mostly complaints (from my TV junkie colleagues).
Most of these centred around the slow pace, the "stupid decisions" made by the characters, and a high school romance my colleague deemed childish.
"You didn't make stupid decisions in school last time meh," another colleague shot back.
A different writer who rated it a solid 7/10 promptly got booed at by the rest of the team.
Anyway, none of it deterred me, a sucker for the zombie genre, from watching the show.
As you can tell, I like to set myself up for disappointment. And disappointed I was.
Episode 1 was achingly slow, and served as an introduction to the characters' dynamics. The virus outbreak is only depicted towards the end, after being padded by the day's events.
Screenshot via Netflix
Screenshot via Netflix
But never mind, on to Episode 2.
At this point none of the characters are particularly likeable. Except Su-Hyeok, of course.
Where do you have to hang on till?
GIF via Netflix
Things get better after the third episode, where you've grown a bit more invested in the characters and their predicament.
The plot starts to move along faster too, and for a story that takes place largely in a high school, it's not too constrained by the setting.
What works in its favour were some surprisingly tender moments between the characters, and less of the archetypes one usually gets in zombie shows.
The antagonists, despite clearly being the "bad guys," are a little more nuanced than that, while the protagonists sometimes undertake hard decisions as well.
And while most of us might have outgrown high school romances, the developments between the main pairings were at least somewhat realistic.
Screenshot via Netflix
Lastly, rather than having a main lead that is impervious to death or infection, "All of Us Are Dead" focuses on a group of survivors where even the popular ones may get axed.
The scattered focal point works as it makes the series less predictable, especially for those who are frequent watchers of zombie shows.
After
Bottom line? Get past the third episode to really see if this series is for you.
You'll also get a somewhat satisfying full stop to the apocalypse scenario, rather than just a storyline of survivors trying to reach an oasis.
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Top image by Netflix