All of Us Are Dead
Television Series Review
Year: 2022
Rating: Informative 3/5 | Entertaining 4/5 | Inspiring 4/5
Content warning: This article contains mentions of violence and abuse.
Image credit: Netflix
The title of this Korean zombie survival series is a reflection of the show itself: brutal, simple, and dour. Yet, that is not all this show is.
All of Us Are Dead is about zombies, but it is also about humans. The plot tracks the outbreak of a strange illness, later found to be caused by a human-made virus, within a high school. While the epidemic, which turns those bitten into ‘zombies’, affects a multitude of people beyond the central high school, it is the fate of those bound within its walls that captures and holds our attention most.
“These ‘bad people’ are connected by an infectious cycle of violence and abuse, which causes them to turn into emotional zombies before physical ones”
Viewers follow a group of ‘good’ survivors, which dwindles over the series’ 12 episodes. While some are lost to the zombies, others fall victim to the acts of human ugliness we have come to expect from apocalypse dramas. From the very first episode, Na-Yeon is shown to be selfish, judgmental, and condescending, with these traits compounding upon themselves and resulting in her act of murder. However, All of Us Are Dead rises above this trope by refusing to designate characters as villains. After leaving the group and losing the teacher who was her one ally, Na-Yeon shows an illogical and yet human longing to return, searching for ways to earn their forgiveness for impulsive actions she regrets. These moments of internal turmoil are perfectly captured in a scene with her excitedly gathering food as an offering to the group and gingerly reaching for the handle to the door—the only barrier between her and the others. Ironically, it is when she finally overcomes her fear and shame and sets out to apologise that she is murdered by another, Yoon Gwi-Nam.
Even Gwi-Nam, who is arguably the show’s most heinous character, did not start out that way. More of a sidekick in the beginning, his horrified reaction in episode one when he thinks he inadvertently killed someone is juxtaposed neatly when he becomes an asymptomatic zombie (one who is infected but still retains cognitive control) and meets his old gang leader. We see him momentarily fall under the bully’s control until he explodes in a frightening display of extreme desensitisation. His insecurity and years of endured abuse contribute to his abusing others.
One of these victims is Min Eun-Ji, a quiet girl brutally bullied by Gwi-Nam’s group. Her desperation and inability to maintain her dignity as a human causes her, in ways that parallel Gwi-Nam, to become detached and violent once she turns into an asymptomatic zombie. While being asymptomatic seems to be the best of both worlds, it represents a manifestation of malignancy. The abuse and pain endured is so ingrained that some internalise it to the level of immunity—super spreaders in the deadliest sense.
Finally, the virus’ creator and sinister high school teacher, Lee Byung Chan, did not create the virus for fame or to watch the world burn. He did it for his only son, a victim of bullying by Gwi-Nam’s group. The virus was intended as an antidote to his son’s weakness, giving him the means to defend himself from a society that had refused him.
These ‘bad people’ are connected by an infectious cycle of violence and abuse, which causes them to turn into emotional zombies before physical ones. The domino effect of hurt and hurting that they progress neither starts nor ends with their behaviour. The show forces us to see these characters for what they are. In a beautiful and subtle way, All of Us Are Dead makes a claim that the ‘true disease’ is a culture of violence that was present in the school long before the first bite happened.