Summary
The finale of Amazon’s S.O.Z. Soldados o Zombies exists as an extended battle scene between zombies, drug lords, DEA agents, soldiers, and the occasional journalist. Outside of that, it’s a waste of time and talent.
Who died and who survived in the first season?
The finale of the first season of Amazon’s S.O.Z. Soldados o Zombies starts with a crash. The helicopter, carrying DEA Agent Joel Taft (Steve Wilcox) and Alonso Marroquín’s brother, an ex-convict, bangs into the ground as the mutated converges onto Paradise, Marroquín’s (Sergio Peris-Mencheta) hideout.
S.O.Z. Soldados o Zombies season 1, episode 8 recap
Everyone continues on this collision course until the helicopter riders, journalist Lilia Acal Prado (Fátima Molina), and Marroquín’s guards and his young son all begin fighting zombies from the inside of the home. It’s a bloodbath, though most of the main characters remain relatively unscathed. The middle of the episode exists as an obvious action sequence, one that neither adds to the narrative nor ratchets up the tension of the previous seven episodes.
One moment stands out, though: when the leaders of the zombies, who can have sex with one another (canon since Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead), wave the white flag to the U.S. military. They communicate for the first time, showing that they still have cognitive functioning, even tricking the military into believing that the zombie forces are giving up. It’s the single moment of inventive filmmaking within this final episode. It gives off a “What the hell will happen next?” vibe, something completely missing from the back half of S.O.Z.’s first season. It raises dozens of possibilities without a certain outcome.
S.O.Z. Soldados o Zombies season 1 ending
During the above scene, Marroquín’s group sneaks out of the house and goes towards a trapdoor, hopping into an underground tunnel to escape. Before they can all climb down, leaving Taft in the process, the show’s charismatic cartel leader is bitten on his arm by a zombie. With his health in doubt, the episode and the season concluded, with little to show from eight episodes and four hours of storytelling.
Outside of the absurdity of the dialogue and over-the-top performances from everyone besides Molina and Peris-Mencheta, S.O.Z. finishes with a whimper, a cliffhanger between characters you have little care or mercy for, most of which somehow survived the zombie onslaught. The zombies even survived, with their leaders using a smokescreen to dash away from military forces. As for the scientist, the military general, and his troops, they will likely head back to the drawing board, hoping to find another solution to contain this snowballing infection.
The series creators, Nicolas Entel and Miguel Tejada-Flores, have more stories to tell, but they don’t have the necessary groundwork for this huge cast of characters. Without a foundation, S.O.Z. becomes more farcical than fierce, especially in its final moments of continued senselessness. The choices rarely feel anything more than telegraphed, even if the show provides a necessary level of campy enjoyment.
If season two arrives, after deliberation from the suits at Amazon, Entel and Tejada-Flores will have to give audiences more reasons to care for these people who seem constantly under threat. And if Marroquín succumbs to his zombie bite, they’ll have to find another anti-hero to take his place.
What did you think of Soldados o Zombies season 1, episode 8, and the ending? Comment below.
