Directed by
Joe Dante and based on a short story by Dale Bailey. America is fighting an unpopular war as the next presidential election is nearing. When confronted by the mother of a fallen soldier on live TV, David Murch (John Tenney), a publicity agent for the current administration whose own brother was killed in
The Vietnam War, states his conviction that the fallen soldiers would support the war if given the chance to come back. Unfortunately for him, they're about to... and they don't.
Tropes:
- The Atoner: David becomes one after his own people cross too many lines trying to stop the zombie soldiers from having a say in the election and finding out the truth about his brother's death.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: It is unlikely anyone actually wanted the undead soldiers to rise, but they still asked for it.
- Black Dude Dies First: An interesting variation. The return of the first zombies is witnessed by a young black serviceman. The zombies slowly approach him, shrug off his bullets, corner him against a wall... and then he gets gunned down by the crossfire of another serviceman. The zombies leave without killing anyone.
- Blonde Republican Sex Kitten: Jane Cleaver, a parody of Ann Coulter played by Thea Gill.
- Casual Kink: David's phone rings while he is having a BDSM session with Jane. He answers the phone, but she keeps whipping him just to embarrass him in front of his boss.
- The Cavalry: When the incumbent president's campaign team pulls strings to annul the malcontent dead soldiers' votes (and, implicitly, use other shenanigans to turn the election back in their favor), not only do said soldiers come back to life again... but so does EVERY OTHER DEAD AMERICAN SOLDIER. (It's unclear whether only those who died violent deaths come back to life, but David's brother being one of the revenants means that even those who didn't die while fighting a war did come back; at the very least all the dead at Arlington rose back up.)
- Coconut Superpowers: At the end, every dead American soldier, even going back to the Revolution, comes back to life... but we still only see the more recently dead ones since there's no budget for a bunch of skeletons.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Obvious references to the Iraq War, Guantanamo, and the 2000 Florida voting controversy.
- Ghostly Goals: The undead soldiers only drop dead after being allowed to vote. They come back to life again when the government decides to not count their votes as valid.
- Neck Snap: Philip kills David this way, making him join the army of the dead.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: President Shelly is an obvious stand-in for George W. Bush, Kurt Rand is one for Karl Rove, and Jane is a parody of Ann Coulter.
- Our Zombies Are Different: Talking (though it hurts), fully conscious, can't be killed, and do not want brains.
- Post-Mortem Conversion: Deconstructed Trope. The Invisible President makes a wish in one of his speeches to the nation, that the dead American soldiers of the war come back and express how they feel, implying that they would all support him. Cue the zombies! The dead soldiers are coming back, but they are not here to eat brains. Instead, they are here to vote... for the other guy!
- Returning War Vet: With the twist that the vets are undead, but many aspects of the trope are otherwise ticket off - i.e. the government is happy to use the soldiers in the war and for sympathy points in speeches, but not to deal with them and the changes made on them by the war once they are back home.
- The Reveal: Philip didn't die in the war. He was accidentally killed at home by a very young David, who was playing with his gun.
- Revenant Zombie: Dead US soldiers rise from their graves to vote the Straw Conservatives out of office.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Philip and, arguably, several of the undead soldiers.
- Strawman Political: Several characters, with Jane being the most notable.
- War Is Hell: Invoked in the final line of the episode.
- Writer on Board: Duh. It's little wonder what side the makers themselves voted for, isn't it?
- Zombie Apocalypse: Double Subverted. The undead soldiers make it clear that they aren't mindless bodies come to eat people. They're civilized (though a little grumpy for obvious reasons) and the only people they are shown killing did something to deserve it. In a hilarious turn, they settle for occupying Washington D.C. and forcing the re-elected Shelley to flee as a way to show their continuing discontent.
