Dimitris KonstantakosENG-300Z11/3/14

The fear of losing something or someone in particular often results in people

making irrational decisions they ordinarily wouldn’t make. People’s personalities and

their perspectives change while they are under the influence of an emotional stress, which

creates a lack in judgment and often leads to regret at a later time. Amber and Jacob not

only betrayed the trust that Alex and Kate had in them; they outright murdered Alex

when other actions could have taken place, which might have saved the lives of both

parties involved.

When Amber and Jacob originally found out that Alex was part of the

“Returned”, they accepted him without any hesitation while the majority of the

population was still afraid or unaware of those who were infected as evidenced by the

seminar that Kate presented. Were they accepting of his state because they had been

friends for so many years? Were they curious to learn more about the infection and what

side affects it might have? What we find out is the reasoning behind the sudden interest

had nothing to do with Kate and Alex, but rather to benefit Amber who was also part of

the “returned’ but kept secret form Alex and Kate. With the shortage in medication, and

the inability to return back to human once the infection has spread past thirty six hours,

Amber and Jacob devised a plan in ensure Amber’s life would not be in jeopardy. They

invited Kate and Alex to stay at their house knowing that Kate had been getting small

doses of the cure that was unavailable to others. What Kate and Alex were unaware of

was that Amber and Jacob deceived them and stole the remaining doses of medication

and left Alex with one dose. They essentially left Alex to die, as the alternate cure that

they had been working on was ineffective at that point.

Taking into account the point of view of Kate’s character, she clearly thinks that

the actions that took place were an act of murder. At the end of the movie, you see

pictures of Amber and Jacob on a bulletin board, which implies she is targeting them and

wants revenge for the events that have transpired. Throughout the movie, Kate’s only

desire was to help people that had been infected, as evidenced by her workplace. If it was

known by Kate that Amber had been infected, I believe she would have created a plan to

help both Alex and her. Amber acted based on her own needs and selfish ways, which in

the end altered Kate’s mentality and had her set on revenge for the murder of Alex.

How can anyone argue that what Jacob and Amber did was not considered

murder? Well, there could be a disagreement between viewers based on the fact that

killing Alex isn’t necessarily murder because without the medication, the virus would

spread and turn them back into zombies. This in essence creates the thought process that

their actions were justified because Alex was fundamentally still not human. However,

Amber was in the same situation as Alex, so they are basically killing a non-human to

save the life of another non-human making this argument invalid.

Amber and Jacob’s punishment should be equivalent to the one they provided,

which is for Amber to be killed by not receiving any medication and for her to ultimately

turn back into a zombie. They essentially killed Alex by stealing all of the dosages of

medication that Kate had acquired so why should there be any other option besides

death? They had the audacity to do the unthinkable and kill not only their friend, but also

a person who was under the same circumstances as one of them. They could have

revealed to Kate and Alex that Amber was also part of the “returned” and shared the

medication until they worked on a new cure. While Jacob showed remorse for Alex as

shown when they were talking on the phone and he was crying about taking all of the

medication, his actions offered a different perspective. Jacob was so in love and

infatuated with Amber that he betrayed his friend in order to save her.

When Amber and Jacob stole Alex's medication, they sentenced him to certain death. It was a premeditated act, with no mercy. Is what they did murder? Something else? What should their punishment be?