All Of us Are Dead(2022)

 

All Of Us Are Dead(2022)

Genre: horror, coming-of-age, zombie apocalypse

Rating:4.5/5 stars

Summary:

A science teacher at school creates a virus in hope of making his son, who is bullied , stronger and able to fight back. The situation grows out of control when a student gets bitten by a mouse with the virus, spreading it to other people by biting or contaminating their blood. The students of second grade class 5 struggle to survive as they watch their school turn into complete chaos. However, zombies aren't the things they should be scared of the most, as there are "hambies", half zombie, half human, who have full human consciousness but also the traits of a zombie-they are almost immortal, and have a lot more strength than their peers. Once the government find out about the existence of these creatures, they call for all rescues to be stopped, therefore leaving the survivors stranded and left to fend for themselves. They find a way to leave the school and meet up with another group of survivors. At the end, they were rescued by walking all the way to another town, where the military found them, but many were lost along the journey.Choi Nam-ra, the class president of class 5, was a hambie herself, and struggled with the temptation to just give it up and turn into a human eating beast, but ran away from her friends just in time. During the last scene where the survivors reunite on the rooftop of the school, she tells them about others of her kind, and jumps off the building, leaving an open ending for viewers to think about.

My review :

This isn't your average zombies-take-over-the-world drama. It covers so many topics, such as bullying, friendship, love, government issues and so much more. We can see the character growth in each person as they resolve conflicts and try to make it out alive. Nam-ra, the class president, didn't interact with people throughout most of her school years, but she learnt friendship and trust and started to open up more as time passed. It was touching to see her transform from a cold, isolated person, to one who would rush to her friends' help with no hesitation. I think she had the most character growth in the group of students. On-jo, the female lead, also started from many arguments with Nam-ra, but she gradually she learnt that she had held prejudice against Nam-ra because of Nam-ra's cold personality before, and maybe a bit because they both had the same love interest. I loved watching the scenes where the students work together to escape the zombie terror, because not only did it show how much each one of them cared for each other, it was also fun to listen to their basic teenage dialogues, making the show not so nerve-wrecking to watch. I am the same age as most of the main characters, and it really makes me wonder what I would do in their situation. Would I be leading the group forward to fight zombies? Or would I be the strategic one, planning out the route of our escape? My personality would probably be the latter, as I'm not at all courageous.  

Apart from the fun and heartwarming parts, there are many scenes which make the viewers think deeper into a certain topic. The only reason the science teacher invented the virus was because he wanted to save his son from the bullies, for they were ignored and pushed away after numerous cries for help. Bullying has always been a huge problem in schools. Even though they do anti-bullying campaigns every year, most schools tend to turn a blind eye when something serious comes up. It isn't until something tragic happens that they start going 'anti-bullying' again. It is only serious if the situation harms a school's reputation. The science teacher's son wasn't the only victim in this drama. Two other students,Min Eun-ji and Kim Chul-soo's stories were also told. Eun-ji was ready to commit suicide moments before the zombie apocalypse, but stayed on the rooftop after Chul-soo's convincing. She went down into the building after she remembered that a private video of her was going to be automatically posted online. Many wonder why she went down when she was completely safe--besides no one would see the video in the middle of the chaos. But for her, maybe she already felt dead inside. She didn't care if she was bitten, she just wanted to stop the last thing she could control from happening. Everything she did might have made her look like a villain, but at the same time, it was understandable after everything she went through. After living trough hell, it was the first time she could give them a taste of their own medicine. Chul-soo wasn't as daring,  but his resentment for the school was the same. When the first helicopter came, he pretended that he was the only survivor, even though he heard panicked shouts from the staircase. Everyone pretended he didn't exist before, so why should he pretend they did? The actions of these two characters may not be right, but they were justifiable. 

There are also many scenes which I think refer to the Sewol ferry incident back in 2014. The students were also told to stay put and wait for rescue, but rescue never came. Most student survivors in the ferry incident lived because they didn't listen to the rules. They saw no hope in waiting for grown-ups to scoop in and take them away. The students on All Of Us Are Dead also trusted the 'adults' at first, thinking someone would come after all those days, and when they finally did, they left them behind because they were scared that they were zombies with no symptoms. When they finally reached the quarantine shelter, On-jo said," I will never trust adults again after everything you've done," to one of the military, and the disappointment and heartbreak were written all over the student's faces. Another reference was when they were discussing whether to sacrifice the young or the old, as the first symbolizes hope, while the second symbolizes wisdom. During the Sewol ferry incident, the crew were saved first, and the youth were trapped in the cabins, waiting for the help that was promised to come. So many should have been saved but weren't. So many could have lived. So many did not.

The scene that left the most impression was when the remaining characters finally got to safety, and as they were walking with their hands raised, memories of the people who sacrificed themselves among the way played in between. Joon-young screaming " Let's go home" and pushing the zombies away from the group after getting bitten, Cheong-san leading the zombies away while the others made their escape, and so many who sacrificed themselves for the others. It was absolutely breaking to see. None of them wanted to die, and none of the ones who lived were joyful, as they wanted all of them to make it. They had grown on each other, yet couldn't stand to meet up after arriving to safety because nobody wanted to be reminded of the trauma they had been through, yet when On-jo saw a fire lit on the rooftop of their school's remains, they made the decision to go back together, finding Nam-ra there. The last scene leaves the audience on a cliff hanger, so I believe there will be a sequel to this story.

The storyline of this drama had me gripped all the way through, and the actors did a really good job on delivering the emotions. Apart from the adrenaline rush during intense scenes, the scriptwriters also threw in so many topics to think about. The main focus was still the zombies, so none of the topics were put into deep discussion, which was slightly unfortunate, but overall, the drama was still top tier and added to my list of favorites.