Cops are attacking LA citizens at random and beating them senseless. What is the cause of this tougher effort to bring order to the city?

There's been one previous brush with zombies, in Buffy's Dead Man's Party and it was a disaster. This time, it works far, far better. With LA renowned for its riots, general unrest and vicious attitude of its police force, we get to see the concept taken to extremes when one police captain decides to reanimate some of his best officers to keep the streets safe. Naturally, they're going too far, taking down civilians out at night with no reason.

The thought of a cop keen to do his duty whatever the outcome is terrifying; zombies they may be, but when human figures of authority are used as a protagonist it hits much closer to home and invades the security we feel about our protection. It becomes particularly clear when Wesley rushes to plead Gunn's innocence, only for a cop to shoot him point blank in the stomach with no warning and no cause. Gunn's survival instincts are keenly felt here, as his 'hood' is the focus point for most of the problems, but his compassion is also generated in his attitude to Wesley. Once again Anne is involved, as her shelter comes under attack, also showing a new, caring side to Cordelia. The zombie attack is claustrophobic and scary, and Wesley's condition getting worse provides some expert tension.

For once Angel is sidelined to an extent, getting Lockley's help but not having to do much to put down the zombie revolt. The points raised at the end about cops who'd died on the beat and were good officers being resurrected, and the fact that crime rates had dropped dramatically since the arrival of the zombie force, are well made and blur the good and evil boundaries neatly.

The only real complaint is that there's really too much going on in here; Lockley doesn't get much screen time in the end, a shame as she has a couple of strong scenes, one where she realizes her father may have been raised again and another at the end when she questions her place on the force, and the girl with the eye in the back of her head is ignored by the time the episode wraps up. Otherwise, a strong and quite nasty episode.

****

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