Black Summer – Season 1 Episode 5 “Diner” Recap & Review

Diners, Drive-Ins & Zombies

Back at the diner, things are heating up between the survivors and the people from the black truck. After exchanging a few tense words, the survivors tell each other their stories as tensions rise between them.

It turns out Marvin was the one who was driving the truck but he’s now a zombie, turned by Barbara a few episodes ago. Another man from the black truck, Phil, suggests they team up together in order to get to the stadium. Phil seemingly knows a lot about the apocalypse too and explains to the group that he heard the disease has been contained and they’re safe to go there for refuge now.

Alone, Phil tries to plant seeds of doubt in William’s mind about Sun while our Korean survivor speaks to Carmen about what’s out there. Carmen then tells her an ominous story about thousands of zombies all walking in one big horde.

As the two sets of survivors continue to discuss their options, they realize they need to get through Downtown in order to reach the stadium and that journey will not be easy without weapons. As the frail peace between the group appears to be intact, at least for now, they think of a new plan. Phil, Manny and Carmen decide they need to sacrifice someone to feed to the zombies outside as a distraction so they can get away. That someone being Sun who they deem to be the weakest of the group. William vehemently declines to go ahead with this, pulling out his hammer ready to fight them.

Sun then notices that Phil has a cut on his arm which he insists is where he scratched it on a door. As loyalties shift in the face of this newfound evidence, Phil is thrown outside as they don’t believe his tale, just in time too as Rose and the others converge on their location. After several segments involving them walking this episode, they scramble for cover behind a car as they notice Phil outside being eaten by a few zombies. Seizing their opportunity, they begin fighting the zombies along with the survivors inside the Diner, leaving all of them panting for breath and seemingly forming one big group.

If there’s one thing Black Summer does well, it’s converging these storylines together in a believable way. It’s something that’s been evident since the first episode and it’s really showcased well in this episode in particular. The actual plot line is good too though, as loyalties are questioned and the true colours of our survivors are shown inside the Diner. It’s something that’s written really well here and despite the poorly placed chapter segments, keeps the pacing and tension running throughout the series. We’re over halfway now and the final few episodes look set to end things in dramatic fashion.