Why All Of Us Are Dead’s Critics Are Wrong About Its “Dumb” Characters

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All of Us Are Dead’s main cast has been criticized for acting dumb and making decisions that put themselves in harm’s way. Here’s why that’s unfair.

Warning: the following contains SPOILERS for All of Us Are Dead.

Critics of All of Us Are Dead’s characters have pointed out they make a lot of dumb and emotionally-driven decisions that put themselves and others in harm’s way; however, they’re wrong about it not making narrative sense. Netflix’s new zombie apocalypse drama is fronted by young teen characters who have to survive when the zombie apocalypse breaks out at their high school. While they shouldn’t be expected to know exactly what to do, their actions throughout All of Us Are Dead can sometimes be so foolish it’s occasionally frustrating to watch.

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Class 2-5 often manages to get out of bad situations only to trap themselves in another. Rather than isolating infected students, they tend to wait for victims to transform into full zombies before doing anything to remedy the situation. They also actively put themselves in harm’s way, most often as an emotional reaction to a horrible event or revelation. In fact, the way Class 2-5 handles the zombie crisis of Hyosan High School led to many of the preventable deaths in All of Us Are Dead season 1. Considering how All of Us Are Dead’s cast of characters are up against an unpredictable virus that turns their friends, loved ones, and classmates into aggressively violent monsters, however, the teenage survivors of Class 2-5 actually react to the situation in a very realistic manner.

Related: All Of Us Are Dead Zombie Virus & Different Versions Explained

All of Us Are Dead, apart from being about zombies, is also a coming-of-age tale, and it delivers on both fronts. While viewers have criticized All of Us Are Dead for the stupid and life-threatening decisions made by the students of Hyosan High School, Class 2-5’s reactions to an unpredictable and horrible crisis are actually consistent with how highly emotional teens would handle the situation. Apart from surviving the zombie apocalypse, Class 2-5’s teens are also dealing with their own raging hormones, feelings for each other, and repressed emotions, all of which surface as the Jonas Virus upends the social order in Hyosan High School. Realistically, this results in plenty of tragic and avoidable deaths. Congruent with how badly emotional teens would handle a zombie outbreak, only a handful of Hyosan High School students survive in All of Us Are Dead.

The criticisms regarding the “dumb” decisions of certain characters stem from an age-old problem in the zombie genre, in which main characters tend to act stupidly with no other motive except to move the plot along. However, this isn’t the case in All of Us Are Dead. In fact, the surviving members of Class 2-5 later wisen up and adapt better tactics for fighting and escaping from zombies, including covering themselves in armor and using melee weapons. Class 2-5 only adapts these tactics in later episodes, which shows that they’re learning from previous experiences – at a pace that’s consistent with teens facing a harrowing emergency.

All of Us Are Dead’s main characters aren’t dumb – they’re just emotional teenagers faced with the biggest crisis of their lives. Thankfully, those who survived All of Us Are Dead season 1 will have more chances to prove their wits. Considering how All of Us Are Dead season 1 ended, the foundations are already laid out for a stellar second season on Netflix.

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About The Author Peter Mutuc (186 Articles Published)

Peter is an elder millennial, cat-father, illustrator, and freelance writer for Screen Rant. Born, raised, and still based in Metro Manila, Philippines, Peter’s knowledge of geekdom was forged in the lagging fires of 56kbps Internet and dodgy forums, and now burns bright with the light of Netflix and downloads. When he’s not having visions about the end of the multiverse, he’s either bothering his cat or brewing ginger beer.

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