 South Korean studios continued to impress me this time with a TV series on Netflix called all of us are dead Now at this point when the word zombie is uttered a lot of people just walk away. They have no interest It's played out. Everything's been done to death. So what does all of us are dead have to say and offer that's unique? Let's find out I want to make something clear right out of the gates all of us are dead is a show I both really enjoyed and was really frustrated by there's a lot of push-and-pull when it comes to this series on one side I think wow the effects are so good the gore is great The acting at times is really top-notch, but then there's a lot of times where I'm also watching thinking Why was this 12 episodes at almost an hour each? There's so much redundancy There's so many times where I want the thing to speed up So while I do recommend people watch this show it comes with some caveats it comes with some warnings from me number one I don't think this works well at all for the Netflix binge model This is a show I think works a lot better week to week had there been time in between episodes I think the whole thing would have gone down a lot smoother as it stands And this is more my problem than anyone else is as a critic I wanted to get through this in a decent amount of time so that I could get the review out for people But I was having a really hard time getting through more than one episode in the city And I pinpointed exactly why that was at around episode 9 The show primarily follows a bunch of teenagers in a high school trying to get out before they're infected by this virus That's going around turning people into zombies There's also other adult characters and side stories But really the crux of the show is on these kids and their interactions And I've never for the life of me seen people interact in such a slow Process here's an example of what I'm talking about pretend I'm two different people having a conversation in the same vein as this show. Hey, what's wrong with you? Nothing Really it seems like something's wrong with you. No Nothing's wrong Really dialogue takes an eternity to get through it's like there's two Snaps in the room two alan rickmans having a conversation and while that would certainly be fascinating and interesting for a while After some time goes by I just want them to get to the point And it would be another thing if there was something to these conversations But 80 of the time they're just nonsense It feels like padding to an otherwise great show and that really becomes apparent around the episode 5 Through 8 or 9 mark where the show seems to be spinning its wheels And not really pushing forward. There's also focus on characters that are really nothing more than red herrings You think they're gonna amount to something interesting, but ultimately they just die at the end of the day Now I understand the show's called all of us are dead So that's kind of also the quirky charm of it We're following characters that seem like they have something to say like there's a story to tell there and then boom They're just unceremoniously killed the same way a lot of others are the reason shows don't traditionally do such things Is because it's pointless and you're left feeling unsatisfied with the conclusions The whole gotcha moment the whole subverting expectations just feels done for the sake of doing it for pulling the wool over our eyes And it just goes unappreciated by me most of the time Now there are certainly plenty of characters that do go out in a heroic fashion or at least with some spectacle Characters that we've loved and grown with over the course of the show Which is very much a coming of age zombie tale And uh in those moments it really does shine it really does work Seeing the struggles of a father trying to leave the military base to get to his daughter at the school Seeing a kid who is shy and timid early on take charge and lead this fellow classmates to get out of danger Watching others be humbled by the courage of their fellow classmates and their lack of it All talk no action sort of a thing. There really is great moments throughout every episode I just wish it was tighter focus instead of 12 padded out episodes We could have cut that number in half hell. This could have been a two-hour movie Especially when I look back at the show as a whole and all the interactions and where they led Which ultimately was nowhere for most of these characters now. I did post the question early on What does this show bring to the table that we haven't seen in all the zombie stuff over the years? I am legend walking dead shon of the dead Zombieland I mean I mean there's there's a ridiculous list of movies and games and shows that have been going on The big thing for me is the realism. I mean kids are getting their eyes gouged out their bones are breaking They're getting you know contorted in different ways. It's really intense. These kids are beating on each other It's got the hunger games vibe going on if it was a hard r-rating Nothing is held back kids will die on a whim. You will think that oh this person's gonna go far dead Oh, those two are in an interesting relationship. Can't wait to see where that go dead Spending an awful lot of time following this pregnant girl around. I wonder where that's gonna lead Another interesting area is the focus on the little things we take for granted in some of the shows like walking dead And whatnot asking the tough questions Where are these kids going to go to the bathroom and then solving the situation? The other major thing the show accomplished for me that all these other properties haven't Is really the fallout of decisions made by some of the leadership It's not black and white either the army guy is not a sinister villain You know this character of a human being he very much is struggling with decisions on a day to day Same with the the politicians and the other leaders. There's Actual depth to the characters the same can be said for the students now again on the negative side of things There's a lot of choices made in this show with some of these kids and the adults where i'm just yelling at the tv thinking Why are the teachers so laissez-faire about what's happening? Why is the principal not too concerned about kids in the next room over? Taking out their fellow classmates and converting them to zombies They're they're barely doing anything or addressing anything at all. I get really frustrated in horror movies when characters make bad decisions That's happening constantly and all of us are dead I get that they're high school students that they're still gonna worry about trivial things But it seems really comical when some of the characters are like, how are we gonna graduate when everyone's dying around them? It feels like their priorities at times are comically misaligned with what's going on around them Now there is also the possibility that i'm misunderstanding some of the tongue-in-cheek moments Some of the comedy aspects of it because there definitely is some of that there There is a language barrier, of course. I'm just reading what's on the screen. I'm not using the terrible english dubs I don't know how anybody can I just don't my wife watched this show by fast-forwarding large Swaths of it to get to more of the meat of the situation I stuck through all of it the good and the bad and believe me when I say there are so many slow moments where you're just thinking Move on. I don't want to listen to these kids sing a song around a campfire and people will say in the comments Well adam, that's character development that you know, we need to spend time with these we've spent time with them We've had plenty of slow moments. You can cut some of it We we just had a moment before that where they were laying down and rain was falling on them And it was a very special magical scene and and you really do feel for these kids So to summarize it all this is a great show great first season. It's obviously built to go further I would love to see a season two. I think for season two I might try to just watch one every few days, which is going to push the review out But at this point that's just it's just for me, right? I'm trying to be entertained and I want to do the show justice the right way and burning through this thing It just isn't pleasant You really do need a couple of days before you jump back in and get that slower dialogue and and some of the more Padded out moments. I hate using that term, but it really does feel like Netflix and some of these studios are trying to make these shows longer than they need to be To keep viewership going on it And that sucks it sucks to say especially when it is kind of a theory of mine And I have no proof outside of what I'm seeing and hearing from this show It feels like a show that should have been shorter Gone quicker and it would have been Virtually perfect for me now. I want to hear from you though Let me know what you thought of all of us are dead in the comments below Like the video if you enjoyed this review Maybe think about subscribing if you haven't already I post movie and tv show content each and every week multiple times There's a notification bell you can push somewhere because uh youtube's not going to show this in your feed unless you hit that bell That's that's paramount to getting these in your feed And hopefully I'll see you around take care Thanks again for watching unrelated, but I'm also on twitch at twitch.tv slash adam olinger That's my first and last name. That's what I use there. You can see me playing a bunch of good games pretty poorly I mean, I'm decent, but there's going to be some commentary. It's it's usually light. It's fun I don't go into politics or any of that garbage. It's just very much focused on the game and having a good time So maybe think about joining me there. I would love to have you. I stream a couple times a week now