Yeah, that whole part of the episode seemed to be a weird trip down a rabbit hole for the sake of some dark torture talk. Maybe would have been more realistic if the soldier had been all name-rank-serial number, but no, he said right off the bat I’ll tell you everything. So why the gratuitous torture scene? Too bad that Daniel, the one nonmilitary guy who seemed able to foresee the scope of the coming disaster and has the will to fight turns out to be a sadistic creep.
The comic book aspect to the writing is coming to the fore now ---- cartoonish soldiers and the smooth-talking black guy soon to be paired up with Nick in what I can only expect will be a ZA version of Batman and Robin. Could be an interesting development.
It did explain one aspect of how civilization breaks down, though, in that the soldiers begin to bail out of concern for their own families. I can see that happening.
I thought the episode was weirdly boring. Even the part where the dad gets taken on an outing by the soldiers and it all goes to he’ll was boring. Maybe I’m too jaded.
The best horror and suspense comes from what your own mind generates. You have to be thinking about all the things that could possibly go wrong with this little “outing”.
That’s why the best part was when the soldiers told him not to get out of the vehicle, no matter what. Typical contrary behavior. As soon as they told him that, that’s all he wanted to do.
8-X
You would think they could have found better actors considering they are in LA. At this point I was just hoping they would all be bitten. Maybe if we are lucky, there are “swimming dead” out in the ocean.
So season 2 they’re going to spend on a yacht? Sort of like season 2 of the parent show was spent on Hershel’s farm?
When they had that shot of the ocean at the end, I was definitely hoping for some swimming zombies to pop up.
I like Mr. Strand. He brings some much-needed energy to the show. I hope they don’t kill him off too soon.
I thought the old saying “she expressed the entire range of emotion from A to B” applied very well to Madison’s character. Maybe next season she can graduate at least to C or D.
I’m still not a fan of this spin-off - for a while, the only character I liked was Daniel until it was revealed that he’s a torturer. Great. I do like Strand, though. I might watch a few episodes of Season 2 just to see what happens to him.
Otherwise, I thought the actress playing Madison was terrible. And I was really hoping that her son would be bitten while they were running through the hospital, but no such luck.
The best thing about last night’s episode was that it marks the end of this series and now the “real” Walking Dead can start back up again. I’m looking forward to seeing Morgan, Darryl, and Michonne next Sunday night.
Ha - I just found Tom and Lorenzo’s take on “Fear the Walking Dead.” This review is of an earlier episode, but their comments are pretty much spot-on, especially when they talk about the characters’ irrationla behavior when faced with zombies:
I was dreaming about last night’s episode and it came to me - maybe Victor Strand is a mega church preacher who has been speaking about and preparing for the end of the world for years. That’s why he is calm and ready for it with his well-stocked yacht.
I was dismayed by the Strand character–he’s just a slight variation on the tired old “magical Negro” cliche–mysterious, remarkably capable, solves all the white folk’s problems, etc., etc. (Maybe he can even find junkie son some new clothes?) I suppose this is some kind of mea culpa for the original show’s having killed off so many black characters. Nonetheless, his character is ridiculous. But I guess the show is at least offering employment to a bunch of third rate writers who can’t get a job elsewhere–they’re penning the worst dialogue I’ve heard on TV in ages.
When the show was first announced, I got the impression the point was to show the progress of the zombie apocalypse, i.e., what happened in the world during the weeks Rick was in a coma in the original series. But a mere 6 episodes later, we’re basically at the same place as that show–the world has collapsed, zombies are everywhere, and life is nasty, brutal, and short. With the plotting, acting, dialogue and special effects exponentially worse than in the original show, I can’t find any reason to keep watching.
I think this is a better idea than simply having them head east and up wandering around in the desert encountering zombies and evil humans. That would be way too much like the parent show, except for being in the California desert rather than the Georgia backwoods.
A boat is a logical way to survive a zombie apocalypse. Read several zombie books with that premise.
I’m sure this family will find a way to mess it up somehow though. Heh.
It’s interesting that human beings have become what they are through cooperation, but in the Zombie Apocalypse, it would appear that cooperation isn’t valued any more.
These shows appear to depict short periods of cooperation interspersed with larger periods of self-interest and self-importance. They seem to do better when they cooperate.
I thought this show was going to be about the collapse of civilization while Rick slept, too, and am disappointed that part is over now.
In World War Z the zombies could swim. Just saying…
Anybody catching any of the old WD shows that are on now? I saw one last night and enjoyed seeing how different Daryl, Rick, and Carole are now from the way they were in season one.