The episode picks up where we left off last season with Carol after she got shot by the Savior and the guys from The Kingdom offered to help. Carol is being pulled along in a cart/wheel barrel. She can barely comprehend what’s going on around her; she catches bits of muted conversation, as she drifts in and out of consciousness. Morgan walks along next to her as they make progress along the path. She sees Morgan and members of The Kingdom kill a large batch of walkers. As she watches Morgan and his group dispatch the walkers, she sees the walkers as the people they once were. Those people fade back into the walkers that they currently are. She’s still disoriented from her gun shot wounds, but knows she has to get away from the battle. She makes her escape into the woods. She’s moving awfully fast for someone who’s been shot a few times and who’s barely conscious. Continue reading “85. The Well, Season Seven, Episode Two. Original Air Date = October 30, 2016”
Author: Deborah
84. The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be, Season Seven, Episode One. Original Air Date = October 23, 2016
The first thing we see is a focus on Rick with blood on the side his face, almost like he was gashed, but it doesn’t look like he was cut. Negan says “What? Was the joke that bad?” Rick says he’s going to kill Negan. Negan’s bat is bloody. Negan tells Rick to speak up, he didn’t quite catch what Rick said. Rick says he’s going to kill Negan, not today or tomorrow, but he’s going to kill him. Negan looks unimpressed by Rick. Negan calls for his right-hand man, Simon. You got to have one of those, says Negan. Then pretending to be sorry, Negan asks if Negan killed Rick’s right hand man. It’s awfully quiet in the background – Rick’s group is in shocked silence. Next, Negan wants the axe from Simon. Negan holds the axe up to Rick’s face, and then stands up. Rick is still on his knees. Negan drags him up and over to Rick’s RV. Continue reading “84. The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be, Season Seven, Episode One. Original Air Date = October 23, 2016”
21. North, Season Two, Episode Fifteen. Original Air Date = October 9, 2016
Someone crashes into the room with Travis and the bros – it’s Hector. Travis is shell shocked. Elena and her group escort the dazed Travis out of the room. Madison doesn’t want them to take Travis, but she has to live by her own rules – any violence and you’re out. And Travis just beat two people to death, not to mention his beat down of Oscar. And for much the same reason as Ilene – both were crazy with grief. Travis’ revenge on the bros was much more savage than Ilene’s attack on Strand, making him potentially more dangerous than Ilene.
Madison takes Alicia’s knife, walks into the café, and puts the knife into Derek’s head so that he doesn’t resurrect. Strand and Alicia observe Madison’s behavior. A severely beaten and broken Brandon resurrects, but before he can manage to get up, Madison puts a knife in his head too.
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They Are All Negan
That’s what I think Fear the Walking Dead is about: they’re all potential Negans in the making. At quick glance Fear could be a rehash of The Walking Dead, but it’s not. This group isn’t becoming a West Coast version of Rick’s group. This is a story about how a normal group of people turn into the bad guys – Negan, The Governor, the group at Terminus.
In season one of Fear the Walking Dead many commentators and bloggers (myself included) have stated that they have a difficult time caring for these people, and don’t connect with them. There’s a reason for that. Most of the characters are morally ambiguous.
- We watched Madison severely beat Nick when she realized that he lied to her about quitting drugs, and it seemed like this wasn’t the first time this has happened.
- Nick, a heroin addict, contributed to the overdose death of his girlfriend, Gloria. Then he killed his dealer, Calvin, in self-defense, but it was a situation of his own making. He also siphoned off morphine from a dying man’s IV drip.
- Daniel was a torturer before the apocalypse, and a torturer after. Daniel also released a couple thousand ‘infected’, and then led them Pied Piper-style to the National Guard look-out post, causing the deaths of everyone at that post.
- Strand refused to rescue people from their military cages, heartlessly stating there was no ‘value add’ in doing so.
They didn’t get any better in the second season.
- Madison’s preferred solution to threats is still violence. Celia was a threat, so when opportunity came knocking, Madison locked her in a wine cellar filled with ‘the infected’.
- Daniel went a little nuts and set a fire in the Flores/Abigail wine cellar, causing the whole compound to burn to the ground.
- Chris went way off the deep end: he killed Reed and then lied about the circumstances. He hovered over Madison and Alicia with a knife while they were sleeping. Who knows what he would have done if the gunshot hadn’t awakened everyone. He killed a farmer in cold blood. Finally, he enjoys killing infected maybe a little too much.
- Nick has been mostly benign during the second season, being only indirectly responsible for the deaths of two people, possibly three. Thanks to his discovery of the ‘power pills’, Willa, the little girl, was able to find and eat hers, and then die (they were poisoned pills). Willa’s death in turn caused the death of her mom, and possibly her dad.
- Strand cut the raft loose from the Abigail, leaving Jake and Alex adrift in the ocean, probably to die of starvation and dehydration.
- Alicia didn’t hesitate to kill Andrés as he was about to shoot Travis. We can argue about whether it was a form of self-defense, but Andrés only threatened Travis after Travis accidentally killed his brother Oscar in a fit of rage.
- Travis beat Brandon and Derek to death when he found out they killed his son, Chris. Oscar, trying to prevent the beating deaths, ended up being killed by Travis.
Of the original cast members, the only one who has not killed anyone is Ofelia, although she is developing a callousness to her when she’s forced to kill an ‘infected’. It’s reminiscent of Carol’s annoyance when confronting, and killing, walkers in the later episodes of the Walking Dead. We’ll see how Ofelia’s callousness translates into her interactions with humans in Season Three.
Contrast that with the first two seasons of The Walking Dead. In that show the vast majority of characters started out positive, trying to do the right thing in a world where the old rules no longer applied. We rooted for them as they tried to ‘just survive somehow’. Yes, there were exceptions (Carol’s abusive husband, Ed, or Daryl’s brother, Merle) but Rick, Glenn, Dale, Hershel, Beth, Maggie, and the rest, were all ‘good’ people trying to do the right things – even if they didn’t truly apprehend the situation. I’m looking at you, Hershel – you and your barn.
It’s still the early days of the apocalypse in Fear the Walking Dead, and these characters are already making choices that cause the deaths of others who aren’t in their group. It’s easy to justify each individual choice and decision on its own, but each bad choice leads them further down the path toward Negan-hood. If they continue making ‘ends justify the means’ decisions, we’ll see how otherwise everyday people become the Negans or Governors in the Walking Dead universe.
20. Wrath, Season Two, Episode Fourteen. Original Air Date = October 2, 2016
Opens up with Ofelia driving Strand’s truck down an unpaved road – and the radiator blows up. She’s stuck. She opens the hood and it’s steaming hot in there. She can’t touch any of the engine parts. She takes off her t-shirt and uses it to protect her hand while she unscrews the cap. As she works, a walker comes up to her. She grapples with it and slams the car hood on its arm. It’s trapped under the hood – ha! Then a female walker comes up and she hammers her in the head. Then yet another walker comes and she hammers that guy too. Another old walker guy attacks and she fights that one, and wins. Good work, Ofelia! The bad news is that she’s stuck in the middle of nowhere and covered with blood. The one walker is still trapped in the hood of the car. She hammers that guy.
But now about 20 walkers shambling in her direction. She sees them, calmly grabs her jug of water out of the truck bed, and walks off up the road, by a nearby fence.
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19. Date of Death, Season Two, Episode Thirteen. Original Air Date = September 25, 2016
A shot of a group of people from the legs down. We’re supposed to think it’s a mass of walkers, but these people are cleaner – and they’re carrying belongings, which walkers don’t do. Sure enough, they’re all alive, and they want in to the resort. There’s a crush of them all pushing against the resort’s gate – will it hold? Madison and Elena apologize to them, but don’t let them in. The people scream that the inhabitants of the resort have power, and a castle, while those outside the gate have nothing. And let’s not forget it’s all Madison’s fault that they’re now being inundated by people who want to share the safety that the resort provides. And then Madison sees Travis in the group. He fights his way to the front of the gate. Chris is not with him.
18. Pillar of Salt, Season Two, Episode Twelve. Original Air Date = September 18, 2016
Inside La Colonia – a man is sneaking around. He has a woman and child with him – wife and daughter? The guard at the guard post isn’t watching – he’s literally asleep at his post. The family get to a section of the corrugated steel wall that they can pull back and sneak through, and leave La Colonia. When they get beyond that wall, the little girl wants to stay. Her parents say it’s not safe anymore. La Colonia isn’t safe? Well, they’re not so wrong about that, I don’t think. Continue reading “18. Pillar of Salt, Season Two, Episode Twelve. Original Air Date = September 18, 2016”
17. Pablo & Jessica, Season Two, Episode Eleven. Original Air Date = September 11, 2016
Madison and Strand kill walkers in the bar from a couple of weeks ago. We hear Alicia call ‘Mom!’, as we did before, but we now see it from Madison’s point of view. Strand is stabbing a walker as another one crawls over to them. They kill it. Madison breaks a bottle against the wall and calls to Strand. They both go into a little enclosure and stab a walker many many times, including in the head. Then they reach into its stomach and cover themselves with guts. I guess Madison remembered Nick doing that. Strand and Madison walk back into the bar, and the walkers ignore them. They look at Strand and Madison but are quiet and docile, and meander about. Strand jumps over the bar and makes a bit of noise, but it barely phases the walkers. Madison climbs over the bar, carefully watching the walkers as she does so. Strand and Madison walk slowly away. Strand gently closes the door behind them, barricading it behind them. Now we know how the walkers got barricaded inside the bar area. Continue reading “17. Pablo & Jessica, Season Two, Episode Eleven. Original Air Date = September 11, 2016”
16. Do Not Disturb, Season Two, Episode Ten. Original Air Date = September 4, 2016
The episode begins with a wedding reception in progress. The reception is taking place in the ballroom at the hotel where our group is currently fighting for their lives. We saw the sad aftermath of this reception a couple of episodes ago as Ofelia, Madison, Strand, and Alicia wandered through the blood-spattered ballroom. As our group wandered through the empty ballroom, they saw unopened presents, decorations, a lopsided wedding cake, and of course, blood. Continue reading “16. Do Not Disturb, Season Two, Episode Ten. Original Air Date = September 4, 2016”
15. Los Muertos, Season Two, Episode Nine. Original Air Date = August 28, 2016
The scene opens with a shot of blood on some bed sheets, and someone coughing. Nick’s asleep, again, but this time in a bed. He wakes up in the infirmary, due to the woman coughing. He looks over at the side of the bed and sees the blood. This is the third time we’ve seen Nick wake up during the series, including the very first episode. I wonder if it’s foreshadowing of some sort that he will eventually become a walker, or if he becomes special in some way.
Anyway, he gets up and goes outside into the camp. It’s empty. Like deserted empty. Nick wanders around to see what he can see. This camp also has a wall surrounding it, like other encampments we’ve seen on The Walking Dead. There’s even a guard posted on a platform on the wall, looking out for any approaching danger. Nick climbs to similar high vantage point and sees a little girl. She’s crying, and when Nick asks her what’s wrong, she says ‘my papa’. Continue reading “15. Los Muertos, Season Two, Episode Nine. Original Air Date = August 28, 2016”