Wow. Um. This show is a lot to handle. Both visually and emotionally. It starts off strong and I think it even gets better as it goes along, though there were parts that got a bit muddled towards the end. This show is very stressful to watch, but is certainly worth watching, especially if you’re a fan of zombie/survivor type shows. It is super violent and hits about every trigger warning (suicide, self harm, bullying, etc.), so be warned. The biggest strength of the show is its well written and compelling characters and their relationships. The show does an excellent job of developing these characters amidst all of the action. Though I actually did appreciated that this show didn’t go too in depth with the psychological aspect. There was nuance to the characters, but it didn’t feel like the show was trying to impart any deep messages. I think that works well for a show like this that has so much plot to cover. But it still managed to sneak in quite a lot of character development without you even noticing. It’s really well written, and the characters are a diverse group. Their situations in life, their baggage, their attitude towards the monsters and each other are all different. It’s also great to see how people’s opinions about the monsters change over time. I enjoyed the monsters too. They’re quite creative, and finding out about them is interesting since you have no frame of reference. A complaint I have is that there are still quite a few things that are unclear, which is certainly intentional in some places, but I think the rules may have applied a bit inconsistently so I wasn’t 100% certain about how to kill them, etc. I think the show could have used a few more episodes to explain a few things, and a few of the character/relationship development felt like it skipped forward a bit, but that was likely due to lack of time. Oh, and the music occasionally didn’t feel like it fit the scene, so I had to dock some points there.

Don’t expect everyone to survive, do expect to be emotionally devastated when they die, and good luck surviving the end of episode 8.