Ok, Murphy has to die this season

Love Murphy! He is the best, they better not kill him off because he makes the show, he is charismatic, funny and relatable. Never really cared much for Warren, maybe in the very beginning she had potential, but she has shown exactly why Humanity failed. I like 10k but now like him even more that he is with Murphy. Doc is also ok and Citizen Z and the Eskimo crew too but the rest of Bitemark humans i can gladly do without.

" . . . he IS a monster, . . . you see this when he closed the door on the other prisoner to protect himself." I suspect it was the average character traits of criminals that prompted the choice of his situation prior to being experimented on. Can you imagine if they took Average Joe Family Man away from his lovely wife and 2.3 children and turned him into a nasty, self-centered, almost zombie? It would have messed up the entire story because viewers would have been sympathetic to Average Joe.

Sorry, but the old lady had to put down that thought while it was still with me. As for the rest of the ideas in this thread, I personally, think they're being viewed incorrectly. Throughout the show, we've had hints and clarification that Murphy is constantly undergoing changes due to the virus even if he's not a complete zombie. Besides, turning blue and developing an aged leather look to his skin, during the 3 years of this show, I'm quite certain that everyone watching the show and reading this forum have also undergone some changes, some more significant than others. I do have a sympathy for those who are struggling with physical disease or problems because it certainly does affect your personality - add to that whatever environment you find yourself in and there are times you feel like your bouncing off walls with the ups and downs and might be heading towards turning blue yourself (or is that just me? tee hee hee!). But, back to the universe of Z Nation - we've seen physical changes as well as emotional and personality changes - sometimes making sense, sometimes they just are.

Then in S03E04 (sorry, I'm not able to keep up with these like you younger folks are - Shucks, Ok, you showoff kids shamed me and I had to go back and confirm what I was claiming here. Good thing I did, since the conversation was not with 10K but Murphy himself and there was no reference about Patient Zero eating brains . . . ) we heard Dr. Merch talking to Murphy about the changes that happened to the first victim of the vaccine, she even called him Patient Zero. First, Murphy admitted that there were times when he had no pep and was just dragging, then he said sometimes he felt himself slipping away and becoming one of them. That's when she explained that he needed the booster shot, not to feel human again, but to feel less dead. That's a pretty radical change that he has no control over! Because of this conversation, I was not at all surprised to watch Murphy being tempted by the availability of Merch's fresh brains in E05. The situation with this Patient Zero is different from Murphy's so I don't believe that Murphy will have to die just because Patient Zero did. Murphy basically lived his human life as a selfish, manipulative, cold-hearted person and now he's mostly doing the same as someone who is progressively becoming more zombie all the time.

Your example of 10K being friendly when Murphy got them food, goes as a good example to what I'm saying. When things are going good for us, it's much easier for us to be kind, considerate and even to tolerate those we don't particularly care for. Any person, even without the vaccine or the virus, tends to be drawn towards acting like those people they are around most often. If it's a friendly, easy going group - we'll respond in kind - it doesn't really mean that our core personality has completely changed or has changed permanently, it's just the way we're built. However, during times of illness, unwanted changes, or simply unpleasant or stressful times, most people end up reverting to being like they've been most of their lives so no one should really be surprised to see that happen - virus or no virus.

I've actually been pleasantly surprised by this show and how they have killed off main characters even though I've liked those characters, but I'd be really surprised to see them kill off Murphy - too much of the story surrounds him and he does an excellent job playing the character - IMO. So, I can easily imagine seeing the dynamics of the group radically changing if Lucy were to come live with her father and he rejoins the group, but I really can't imagine Z Nation without Murphy - at the end of their run, sure.

Oh, someone tried to say that it was out of character for Cassandra to stop 10K from sacrificing himself near the end of the flashback episode this season. Although I can't be as helpful as most of you and give you exact references, I do recall watching Murphy indicate to Cassandra, either with a simple nod of his head or with a command, to go with and protect another character - sometimes to the displeasure of the person that Murphy was sending her to "help" - they didn't want her help. I've always assumed that just because they didn't use the time to show Murphy specifically ordering Cassandra to rescue 10K, doesn't mean that she was actually thinking on her own - now that idea would be a surprise to me. If there was one character that I really didn't mind losing, I guess it would have to be Cassandra, but she was entertaining once in awhile and useful to the story.

Anywho. those are just my thoughts on this thread. Now we'll just have to watch and see how it all comes out!

Shauna & Ms. Phoebe, my God-given Happy Pill

I think you mean strong, not obnoxious. All the women are strong and intelligent. Warren has, at times, shown a lot of sympathy for Murphy and so has Addy, despite the fact that it was his fault Mack died. Sun Mei (your "Asian Soldier woman") is not used to the group and is still getting to know everyone.

Bear in mind that nobody wants to be a bad person. Nobody is a villain in their own story. Murphy is human, so is Warren and both sometimes do some things that they may regret. This is what makes Z Nation so compelling and the characters so real.

Look at it this way. Z Nation has a character who eats human brains and enslaves people and he still manages to be a relatable character with a lot of warmth and humour.

I think you dislike the female characters because they are not soft, feeble bimbos. A lot of people don't like female characters who act like real people. One of the things I like about Z Nation is that every character is doing their best and every character sometimes gets it wrong. When a disaster happens, like the loss of Lucy, the team unites and there is genuine affection between them.