Fear The Walking Dead
The seas aren’t as safe as we all thought after last week’s Fear the Walking Dead premiere. The group looks for a safe place to hide from a boat that is faster than theirs with no idea of what their intentions are. ‘They All Fall Down’ opens with the dead crawling out of the water while two kids play and collect sea shells. It looks like they are about to become dinner when the camera pulls back and reveals a fence. Looks like a place the group could lay low for a few days.
A Place to Regroup
Nick’s find at the end of last episode ends up be the over turned boats log book. Bad news for the group as they find that San Diego is not a place to head for safety. Despite Strand’s efforts to lose his tail, it isn’t working. Apparently though there are two island coves that will hide them and Travis and Madison overrule Strand by choosing the one with a ranger station for wild animals. Strand is kept company by Ofelia and Daniel who doesn’t trust him while Travis and Madison lead their family to a house whose light flashed twice. After a few minutes of waiting, the door opens to reveal the young boy from earlier and a man and his wife. George the man, and Travis have a talk over books where Travis is informed that almost every city on the west coast was bombed and that Mexico locked down their border. The news gets worse for Travis as George knows that at least half the country have fallen. George’s wife Melissa is asking Madison some strange questions giving the impression that she wants off that island.
Children in the New World
Harry and Willa, George’s youngest children are entertaining Nick and Alicia just happy to see new faces when something Harry says catches Nick’s attention. What are power pills? Travis and George are continuing their conversation from earlier where it seems to me at least that George intends for his family to die on that island. This would make sense as Madison informs Travis of her conversation with Melissa and how she thinks she turned the lights on, on purpose. Travis goes in search of Chris where he finds him bonding with George’s eldest son who reveals that he was prepared for this type of situation well before it happened. Chris takes to putting an ax in the brain of the dead pretty rigorously when Travis finally finds him. Chris is still being childish in his actions towards Travis and Travis doesn’t know how to act when he compares this version of his son to what he once knew.
Alicia is off in her own world listening to her iPod (enjoy that while you can) while seeming to still be mourning her boyfriend from last season who had been infected. Nick is searching through the Geary’s, which at first look is because of his addiction issues but turns out rather to be in search of these power pills that Harry had mentioned. Good news back on the boat when Strand notices their tail has gone off the radar (I think it’s a trap). It’s funny to watch Daniel around Strand as it is quite clear he doesn’t trust him and won’t leave him alone.
Family Squabbles
Madison goes to help Melissa with the gardening when Madison just asks her outright about the night before. What is revealed is that Madison has MS and George and her eldest son Seth want to die on that island. What Melissa wants though is for Harry and Willa to go with the group. Things take an interesting turn when after Strand leaves the boat and Daniel goes snooping. We then find Strand somehow talking with someone on the phone and Nick reveals to Madison and Travis that he thinks that George is planning to drug his family. We find Melissa giving Travis and Madison the luggage for her two youngest when George walks in. Things quickly go wrong when Harry walks into the room announcing that something is wrong with Willa. Everyone races upstairs to find that she got into the power pills. Melissa weeps over her child only for her to be bitten by a now zombified Willa. This instalment of Fear The Walking Dead ends with Seth taking Harry off the boat and forcing him to wave goodbye while he takes care of their mother.
An interesting episode that took a different turn than last week’s Fear The Walking implied. No battles at sea, but a glimpse at a family that has managed to survive this far without leaving home compared to Travis and Madison who had to abandon their city. Finding out the situation in the world is a good move for the show, but the characters aren’t quite connecting like I hoped they would. Perhaps it is in the way the story is being unfolded or perhaps it’s my bias from liking most of The Walking Dead cast immediately, but I hope the next few episodes of Fear The Walking Dead have an increase in action and events that shape the character allowing the viewer to connect to them making their eventual deaths more meaningful.