It feels like zombies have become scarier over time, especially since, through the decades, the idea of the undead rising to attack the living has evolved from people literally rising from the grave, to a highly contagious virus infecting people and turning them into mindless monsters. When it comes to TV, there's no better show that combines the gore and thrills of a zombie movie with the political plotting and intrigue of Game of Thrones than Netflix's Kingdom, which just returned with a second season.

Picking up right where we left off last season, Kingdom Season 2 throws us into the middle of an epic battle as the Crown Prince of the Joseon Kingdom, Lee Chang (Ji-Hoon Ju), his chief guard Muyeong (Sang-ho Kim), physician Seo-bi (Doona Bae), Chang's former mentor Lord Ahn Hyeon (Jun-ho Heo), and vengeful tiger hunter Yeong-shin (Kim Sung-kyu) find themselves facing down a zombie horde right outside the Sangju Citadel. And while the disease threatens to ravage the land, those with political power only try to keep themselves safe while shutting out those who actually need help, leaving them to suffer. (Of course, any parallels to reality are merely coincidental.)

In many ways, Kingdom resembles HBO's Game of Thrones, both thematically and structurally. Kingdom spent its 6-episode first season cutting back and forth between the Crown Prince fighting to take back his throne and unravel the horrible things the Haewon Cho clan have done, and Seo-bi slowly discovering the truth behind the zombie outbreak. A big part of the series that carries over to Season 2 is the idea that corruption and official incompetence can lead to catastrophe. In the first season we saw how officials and ministers allowed the disease to spread because they focused on saving themselves rather than helping everyone, and Season 2 pulls back the curtain to show how there are always those who profit off tragedy.