What I’m Watching: Fear the Walking Dead (Season Premiere)

Fear the Walking Dead: Season 2, Episode 1 “Monster” (C+)

I struggled to finish this episode, but I figured that I at least owed it the whole hour. I feel like this is a show I should be watching because it’s popular and I don’t want to miss out on being part of it, but I also just don’t think it’s all that interesting. It got renewed for a third season already, which suggests that it might go on forever, but in the grand scheme of things, I watch twenty plus shows at a time and probably over fifty throughout the year, and if this show just doesn’t cut it, why should I stick around? I also feel like there’s something about the Georgia setting that gives the original series in this television franchise a particular appeal, whereas the suburban feel just doesn’t have the same effect. This whole episode being at sea reminded me too much of “The Last Ship,” another dystopian series about a few survivors against a harsh new world that never lived up to its potential. The characters here are not all that great, and separated from the rest of society, they’re becoming even weaker. Alicia did an impressive job of giving away as much information as possibly could about their whereabouts despite being explicitly warned not to, and anyone who thought that taking a swim in the treacherous waters even without knowing there was a walker hanging out in there is pretty dumb. Strand is becoming less appealing as a character by the minute with all his stringent rules, and I just don’t think he’s all that trustworthy despite all the things he’s done for everyone so far. Unfortunately, I just don’t care what’s going to happen, so that’s it for me and this show.

What I’m Watching: Fear the Walking Dead (Season Finale)

Fear the Walking Dead: Season 1, Episode 6 “The Good Man” (B)

It’s good to know that, even after the zombie apocalypse has hit, there will still be debates over which freeway is the best to take to avoid traffic (or zombies) in Los Angeles. This show’s short first season comes to an end with this decent hour which brings everything together and officially evacuates the metropolitan area. With that departure, this show comes much closer to being like the original for which it serves a prequel, finding its characters constantly in caravans permanently on the run. What I find most interesting is seeing how the characters respond to each situation, either holding or to or losing their humanity as the world around them becomes less and less human. To me, the best one to watch was Dr. Exner, who understood the reality of the situation and was still actively trying to help people, but didn’t want to leave with our merry band because she didn’t believe that there was anywhere to go. Andrew was smart to appeal to Travis for his release, arguing that Madison didn’t do anything to stop Daniel from torturing him, and obviously Travis regretted that decision when Andrew showed up and shot Ofelia as punishment. Strand is another magnetic figure, well equipped with a home on the water but not ready to stay there or let anyone else stay because he wants to stay in constant motion. Liza getting bitten and shot by Madison offscreen was a melancholy note on which to end the season, a finite reduction of the show’s cast that is surely going to leave a mark. I’m more enticed by the season premiere of the original show this Sunday than season two of this show, but I think I’ll return to watch it next year.

Season grade: B
Season MVP: Sandrine Holt as Dr. Exner

What I’m Watching: Fear the Walking Dead

Fear the Walking Dead: Season 1, Episode 5 “Cobalt” (C)

There’s just one episode left in this season, and I’m hoping that it will end on an intriguing note that will compel me to come back and watch the show when it returns for its second outing. While “The Walking Dead” shows how far people have come due to the nature of their circumstances, this show finds them already at a point of base humanity before they have any apocalypse to justify their behavior. Lieutenant Moyers handing his soldier a tissue when he raises a legitimate concern about 50 hours of being awake was cruel enough, but forcing Travis to shoot a walker as a test of his loyalty and sanity was excessive and unnecessary. Daniel was also way too ready to set up and torture the soldier that he and Ofelia kidnapped and had in the basement, and Madison didn’t object nearly as much as expected. That said, the information that they learned from Andrew is immensely troubling and shows how bad the situation has gotten. Evacuating the soldiers and not the people and humanely terminating the patients is a disturbing plan, and that has to lead to an explosive finale. Strand is an intriguing new addition who has Nick’s back, but I’m not sure how that’s going to play out. Chris and Alicia bonding by trying on rich people’s clothes and breaking their stuff is hardly a productive use of time, which makes just five hours so far already feel like too long to get to this point. Griselda didn’t last long, and it seems that Dr. Exner was well aware of the fact that this contagion affects anyone no matter how they die.

What I’m Watching: Fear the Walking Dead

Fear the Walking Dead: Season 1, Episode 4 “Not Fade Away” (C+)

I thought this show was starting out strong and I even praised the dialogue in the pilot episode, but now I’m starting to doubt that. We’re two-thirds of the way through the season, and while things are getting interesting, they’re progressing at a relatively slow pace throughout most of the hour and then amping up only towards the end in a way that doesn’t match the rest of the hour. Chris making a video about “day nine since the lights went out” and spotting a light in the distance gave the episode a very dated feel, but that quickly changed to Madison’s curiosity being piqued and her sneaking out to see what’s really out there. Nick just relaxing in the pool and claiming to be off drugs felt far too casual given the strong military presence surrounding them. Travis being called the mayor by Jamie McShane’s soldier cements his role in the town, even if he can’t hope to keep everything under control, and Ofelia making out with another soldier to get meds wasn’t exactly subtle, or effective, as it turns out. The arrival of Sandrine Holt's Dr. Exner and her use of Liza’s faux nurse seemed like a good thing, but yanking Griselda and Nick out of their home late at night for transportation to supposed medical care was not a promising or affirming sign of the good intent of the government and military, especially if the neighborhood they were in was supposedly one of only twelve safe zones in the area.

Take Three: Fear the Walking Dead

Fear the Walking Dead: Season 1, Episode 3 “The Dog” (B-)

This show premiering when it did and taking a week off for Labor Day stilted its start so we didn’t really have the chance to get into the groove of it. Now, episode three doesn’t necessarily feel forced, but there is a sense that not much is happening and that, in order to keep its premise as it is, things have to occur at a slow pace that doesn’t give any of the characters certain knowledge of both what exactly is going on and how it’s going to affect them in the future. There is plenty of conflict, namely Travis and his band of tagalongs having to wade through a sea of rioters to get to their miraculously untouched vehicle and drive home, arriving coincidentally just moments after Madison and her children inexplicably left the house, allowing an undead neighbor to waltz right into their living room. This show is supposed to be about people not realizing that the world as they know it is coming to an end, and therefore Madison, Alicia, and Nick sitting down to play Monopoly is far from thrilling but does get that point across. This Salazar family doesn’t seem to have ulterior motives, but lying about cousins coming to get them and Daniel proclaiming that it’s already too late is definitely foreboding. It seemed like our heroes would be on the run for good as of a few minutes before the end of this episode, but now a certain disconcerting tranquility awaits them, one which hopefully won’t dictate the pacing of this show too much.

Round Two: Fear the Walking Dead

Fear the Walking Dead: Season 1, Episode 2 “So Close, Yet So Far” (B)

I don’t think there’s any cause for alarm just yet, but it’s hard to know how this show is going to function like this on a regular basis for the foreseeable future. That’s the definition of post-apocalypse, of course, but now we’re full on in the middle of the apocalypse as it’s unfolding. I liked the franticness of Nick’s experience contrasted with the calm around him in episode one, and now we’re looking at chaos on all fronts. I found Madison’s visit back to school the most effective of the plotlines, as she tried to grab some pills for her son and first encountered Tobias, eternally obsessed with nothing but getting his knife back, and then her former colleague Art, whose excessive time within the school’s walls listening to teachers made him more than a bit stir crazy and caused him to turn into a zombie. Travis’ attempt to convey the urgency of locating his son was lost completely on his uncooperative wife, but she changed her tune as soon as he emphasized its seriousness. Leave it to bright young Chris to decide that being at the center of a police protest was the best place for him, and it’s a shame that no one keeps their cameras rolling when the victims of alleged police brutality turn into full-on zombies and necessitate being shot for the safety of all around them. I’m sure that will start happening soon, and for now we’ll have to contend with the knowledge that only our main characters know what’s really going on.

Pilot Review: Fear the Walking Dead

Fear the Walking Dead (AMC)
Premiered August 23 at 9pm

It’s relatively uncommon for a show that’s neither a comedy nor a procedural drama to get a spinoff these days, and there are a few important questions that need to be answered in order to determine whether a show can hold its own and distinguish itself from its original series in order to prove legitimate. In this case, the opening scene was stark and deserted and ended on an emphatic note, showing just how many people were actually around and that normal life is still occurring in these pre-zombie times. It’s interesting to see how this show is structured, with a police shooting that seems like it has to have been faked serving as the initial impetus for the spread of panic on the streets. This show takes a gritty approach from the very start, with Nick being a drug addict and Travis and Madison working at a school equipped with metal detectors. More than that, Nick nearly got himself executed by a drug dealer who thought he was spreading untruths about his product and who Nick’s parents knew well enough to stop by his house looking for him even if they didn’t know what he actually did. The zombies on this show are a bit slower and less deliberate, but I think that’s all about the slow mutation and the beginning of something that people can’t quite recognize yet. I’m pleased to see that these characters are strongly defined and the dialogue is considerably improved from the show that spawned this one. I watch the original; something would really have to go wrong for me not to watch this show after this promising start.

How will it work as a series? The only real worry here is catching up to the present, since the more people there are that know about zombies, the easier it is for this to start looking like a post-apocalyptic world. That said, the most fascinating part of any transition to that future is what happens in the interim, with societies and governments transforming, falling, and adjusting, and that’s what I’m extremely excited to see.
How long will it last? Forever? Probably. The show has already been renewed for a second season, jumping from six episodes this round to fifteen then, and the original series, which shows no signs of losing steam, is heading into its sixth season. Expect this one to stick around for a long, long time.

Pilot grade: B+