By After Fear the Walking Dead‘s first episode set its slow burning tone for the rest of the season, and thus set it further apart of The Walking Dead‘s current craziness, it left a lot of folks wanting. Opinions were divided as most folks were turned off by the lack of zombies, and don’t really think it compares to the main show.
Taking all of that into consideration this week, I think I’m enjoying Fear a lot more than I’ve enjoyed the last few seasons of TWD. It’s more grounded and less caught up in all of the fantastical comic book stuff, but if it doesn’t get a handle on its black characters we’re in for a problem.
After the fallout from last week in which Madison, Travis, and Nick witness a zombified Calvin fail to stay down, the three part ways and try and figure out what to do next. The general consensus being that they plan to escape to the desert. The funny thing is, they only seem to care about their own safety. Keeping the secret from the neighbors (who were throwing a little girl’s birthday party, just to rub salt in the wound) and keeping quiet in general as folks are caught in protests over “police brutality” in an effort to shoe horn in current events. I’d see people reacting that way if we were caught in the situation, but it’s still a little weird that the dead rising up would be a secret even after numerous videos and stuff leaked online as this episode leads us to believe. Anyway, this episode shifts the focus to Madison, Nick’s mother, who goes out in search of some kind of fix for Nick now that he’s going through withdrawal.
I figured something like this would’ve happened, but kudos to Fear for getting it out of the way early while there’s only lingering tension rather than use it as a way to force more immediacy into some terrible scene later. We also get a better grip on Travis’ family, his ex-wife Liza (the fantastic Elizabeth Rodriguez) and his terrible son Chris (Lorenzo James Henrie) as Travis tries to convince them to safety without exactly telling them what’s going on. It’s pretty stupid since Chris eventually gets rapped up in a protest of one of the “shootings” and Travis and Liza end up in a terrible part of town during a riot instead of somewhere way better. But that sets them up for the rest of the season as they take refuge in a barber shop owned by the Salazar family. Thanks to Fear’s LA setting (though it shouldn’t be the only reason), there’s already way more Latin representation, and that’s a pretty big deal for me. Although apparently neither Walking Dead likes African American characters (despite the showrunner’s insistence that it’s merely a coincidence of casting) thanks to three Black characters dying in two episodes, it’s great to see focus on a non-White family for once.
Speaking of, Madison and Alycia (the daughter who’s still kept out of the loop for some stupid reason) both deal with African American death in their own way. Alycia’s boyfriend Matt was attacked and is slowly becoming a zombie (off screen for both of those things, thankfully) and Madison come across a zombified version of her former boss as she combs her school for her son’s drugs. Although it’s a weird idea, the show tells us it’s smart by having the audience speak through some kid whose name I forgot. Honestly, he was the only kid clued into the whole thing and it’s a shame he won’t be around for the other episodes. Anyhoo, Nick and Alycia end up sharing some good character moments when Nick seizures. It’s a little too on the nose given the moment, but I’ll take it.
Final Thoughts:
- This episode is one of transitions and sets the pace for the rest of the season. It’ll be interesting to see where it goes, but waiting two more weeks is f**king ridiculous. Just should’ve waited another week to premiere it. Get your head out of your butt, AMC.
- Seriously, it’s a little suspicious given all of these black character deaths are just “casting coincidences.” Someone’s got to keep a better eye on that.
- During Walking Dead season six, there’ll be a 30 minute short, taking place on an airplane headed for LA, that’ll introduce a character for season 2. Who knows what the character’ll be like, but I don’t really care. They should really focus on developing clashing familial ideologies.
- I’m putting a lot of faith in the show representing these Latin character properly. They’re Catholic, since one was already praying, so hey it might be good.
- One last thing, love the constant alarms and sirens in the background. Always reminds the audience that stuff is going down.