Max and his mother take a trip to Haiti where they discover that all in not well in a small village. Suddenly finding themselves surrounded by zombies that used to be the village inhabitants, they free the village priest from the effects of the loa which causes the living to become zombies. After hunting down the source and freeing the villagers, Max's mother takes an ancient statue from the temple spawning grounds of the Loa. Little does she realise the horror that will soon be unleashed upon the world.
tropes
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Max's mom doesn't believe zombies are real until she gets attacked by some, despite somehow already knowing about Max being The Chosen One.
- Hoist Hero over Head: A zombie lifts Max's mom above his head.
- Hollywood Voodoo: The episode uses a very loose depiction of voodoo that primarily focuses on zombies. Also, "loa" is the term applied to the gods of Vodou.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: For a given value of mundane. While the loa parasites attach themselves to people to put them in the zombie state, it's never quite clear if the connection is biological or metaphysical as the moment the loa are removed, the people return to normal with no ill effects and unlike traditional parasites, there is no sign of burrowing into the skin or physical damage to the host. Further deepening this mystery is the fact that the zombies seem impervious to damage as when Max bashed the village priest upside the head with a log, there was no effect, the zombie wasn't harmed, and there was no injury to the priest after the loa was removed which makes these zombies very similar to Skull Master's zombies which also couldn't be hurt, were inhumanly strong, and also the result of having their soul removed.
- Our Zombies Are Different: A squishy parasite attaches itself to the victim's neck and connects them to the hivemind.
- Parasite Zombie: The zombies in this episode are created when a small slug creature called a loa attaches itself to the neck of a human. While attached, the human acts under the control of the loa and if the loa is destroyed, the person returns to normal. Normal even refers to the loa as parasites.
- Technically-Living Zombie: While the full mechanics of the zombie state inflicted by the loa isn't clear (the zombies are capable of things a living person isn't like going days without sleep, food, and seem unharmed by physical force) once the loa are removed, the victims are returned to normal with no ill effect other than no recollection of what happened during their time as zombies.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: possibly. Zombies in this instance are referred to as soulless. The village pries explains the the loa take the souls from the bodies of their victims and control the body. While soul may simply refer to the sense of self and consciousness a person possesses, the zombies created by the loa are very similar to the ones created by Skullmaster. In both cases the zombies are referred to as soulless, seem impervious to harm, seem to survive without food, sleep, or visible sustenance, seem to be able to locate their targets with unerring accuracy. The village priest even refers to the loa zombies as the undead.
- Zombie Gait: While not exactly shuffling and clumsy, those that are zombified by the loa move slowly and in a way that seems to pay little heed to their surroundings.
