BUNKHEADS: SEASON ONE (2018)

Bunkheads is a six-episode situation comedy available on Amazon Prime. That’s not so unusual. The unusual part is the show’s setting. It’s a year after the zombie apocalypse and the show follows Cash (Khalif Boyd), Matt (Josh Covitt), Kip (Chris O’Brien, Found Footage 3D) and Dani (Carly Turro), four random strangers who’ve ended up sharing a bunker in the middle of the desert.

All six episodes of Bunkheads first season were directed by Lauren Klixbull from scripts written by the show’s creator Will Gong. It gives us four fairly standard sitcom characters. Dani was an aspiring actress, Kip an Eminem wannabe, Cash the brainy nerd and Matt the smart ass former teacher. It then places them in a not so standard setting, sort of.

Despite the show’s setting, the zombies are barely seen and most of the humor revolves around the characters dealing with each other. Granted that is influenced by their isolation, boredom and an uncertain future, but it’s not a Shaun Of The Dead or even Shed Of The Dead situation where the zombies are an active part of the plot. Whether this is a good or bad thing is a matter of taste I suppose.

Personally, I was hoping for a darker style of humor, with more zombies and a feeling of impending doom. Bunkheads, however, is more of a standard character-driven, ensemble comedy with some “edgy” moments. Moments such as Kip telling Cash that Dani will end up with him because they’re both white. This is still funny in 2019? I thought jokes like this became cliché by the 80s.

Now if you like standard sitcoms centred around an odd group of individuals coming together for some reason, you’ll probably like Bunkheads. The episodes are short, between 10 and 15 minutes so they don’t drag. And the plots are all variations of the same ones that are popular in show after show.

Ultimately this comes down to your taste in humor. But since Bunkheads is available by the episode you can see if you like it. And if you’re watching series on Amazon you probably have a Prime membership so you can check it out free.