The end of “The Walking Dead” is upon us and as we wait for the premiere of the show’s final episodes, anthology series “Tales of the Walking Dead” is here to quench our thirst for the undead. Continuing the trend of double-character narratives from last week, “Blair/Gina” follows insurance company boss Blair (Parker Posey) and receptionist Gina (Jillian Bell) as they encounter the beginnings of the walker infestation in Atlanta. 

While last week’s episode attempted to tonally stay within the reins of “The Walking Dead’s” established gritty world, “Blair/Gina” takes a big swing by incorporating not only dark comedy but a twisted time loop a la Happy Death Day. Each time Blair and Gina encounter the chaotic start of the apocalypse, they soon perish in the blazing fire of an exploding oil tanker. As the fire engulfs them in a screaming blaze, they suddenly awaken at the end of the work day with full knowledge of the events that transpired in their past experience.

They are doomed to repeat the beginning of the apocalypse over and over again. 

The episode doesn’t waste time before introducing the wild time loop, evading a disorienting tonal shift such as the one that occurred in the prior episode’s third act. From its beginning, “Blair/Gina” makes it very clear that this is an experimental take on the tone and world of “The Walking Dead.” It’s the kind of storytelling that an anthology like “Tales” should be encouraging as it enables creatives to use the tried and true toys of “The Walking Dead” sandbox in a refreshing, unique way. 

That’s not to say “Blair/Gina” is the most compelling zombie survival ever told, but it makes strides to evolve its characters and mess around with the warped logistics of its time loop concept. Each “loop” is shown throughout an appropriate amount of runtime, never lingering too long in the repetitiveness of the situation. As the episode progresses, the time staying alive in the loop greatly lengthens, resulting in a wide variety of loop-resetting main character deaths ranging from zombie attacks, explosions, and suicidal neck bites. 

The famous gore and bloodshed “The Walking Dead” is known for is on full display during this episode. A grisly zombie attack sequence is replayed constantly during the loop, giving viewers more than enough time to notice every putrid detail of the gruesome exchange between the living and the dead. A twisted sequence later in the episode involves one of the characters wanting to restart their loop, so they willing expose their neck to a shambling, and hungry, walker. 

It’s interesting for the series to take quite possibly the most traumatic event (the onset of the apocalypse) and force two fresh characters to relive it over and over again with different approaches to survival. What starts as a typical, feuding relationship between a controlling boss and a receptionist, slowly builds into a compelling partnership between two people who must rely on each other for survival. Posey’s Blair must sacrifice her superiority to see Gina as a valuable ally in their plight for survival. By the episode’s end all that they have learned throughout their terrifying loops results in a clever series of events that benefits their survival. The two actors play off of each other beautifully and effectively sell the growing dynamic throughout the episode. 

“Blair/Gina” is a great improvement over the pilot episode of “Tales of the Walking Dead.” While its storyline and supposed science fiction elements don’t seem to have any real bearing on the world of the original show, it’s nice to see such a large franchise take a risk on an idea that doesn’t exactly line up with its established genre.