Fear The Walking Dead EP.03 Review By Bryan Quevedo
Fear the Walking Dead has no fear
at all in following the same formula, and it doesn’t show that it cares that
people have figured it out. The show has
given us character development in the first episode and outbreak cause in the
second, so it would follow that they would deliver some aftermath of the
outbreak within the third to start moving the plot forward right? Fortunately
this was the case which gave the show a much needed plot boost but with it came
the loss of much of the character development that the first episode helped
establish.
The episode begins with Travis and
his family trapped in the barber shop they were left off in the last
episode. An escape must be made when his
son finds out that the room next door catches on fire and for the first time,
viewers get a clear view of the mayhem going on in the streets of LA, walkers
and all. Problems develop as the
barber’s wife gets her leg smashed on a building scaffold that causes the rest
of the gang to find a hospital. This
only makes them realize that even a place of health has been overrun as
military begin to shoot at a walker exiting the building. Cue Madison and her family’s scene, as we see
that they try and take their mind off the situation by playing Monopoly only to
be interrupted by a stray dog. Blackout
occurs and they see that their neighbor begins to drag himself to their house
which prompts Nick to suggest getting a shot gun. The situation gets worse as soon as Travis
gets home and sees his neighbor eating the stray dog on his carpet. He is convinced for some odd reason that he
is only sick and tries to talk him out of his “sickness” only to be saved by
the barber who shoots him twice in the face.
Their other neighbor Susan who has become a walker herself becomes the
next center piece of the plot as Travis and Madison argue over the fact that
this isn’t a sickness but rather reanimated dead humans. As they awake the next morning and leave,
Madison sees Susan’s husband walk into his house, unaware that his wife
becoming a walker. Within the last
minute military come in to save him after shooting Susan in the head and it is
quickly assumed by the viewers that they also killed him for being exposed to
the blood. The episode ends with Travis
claiming it only gets better from here now that the military has arrived but
then denied by the barber who claims that the help came to late.
Credit should be given to the show
since the wait for some action came as expected and it came with some
satisfaction. It was pleasant to see a
couple walkers instead of a whole horde, helping the characters develop their
personalities within the situation and helping viewers see it rather than
giving people buckets of gore and blood to enjoy. Unfortunately, this character development
ruined what the first episode did by increasing negative aspects of certain
characters or completely overwriting some aspects and ignoring aspects that
made viewers support them. The most
obvious person to have his characteristics overwritten is Travis, who made us
believe he had the common knowledge to handle the situation. His failed attempts to snap his neighbor out
of the “sickness” created a problem that was not necessarily needed at all and
a fight that seemed almost childish when looked at a second time. Nick, who needs the narcotics to apparently
survive, somehow became the character with the “know hows” but developed a more
arrogant personality that helps no one in the group. Aside from downgrading character
personalities, the show has created an unpleasant atmosphere. Like The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead
have made humanity look completely stupid.
None of the decisions or actions look like something that would happen
in these sorts of situations. Assuming
that this world is unaware of zombies in pop culture and somehow has
undeveloped CDC (which we all know isn’t the case because of the first season of
The Walking Dead), it is almost confusing to accept the fact such an outbreak
would occur this quickly. Needless to
say, none of these events can actually happen in real life, but when a show
tries to grasp its viewers into its made up world and making them think of what
they would do in these situations, it is impossible to not be frustrating.
EP03 “The Dog” did a great job at
delivering what the audience wanted, action in a slowly deteriorating
world. It is not as much dramatic as it
is humorous seeing what seems to be the entire population of LA rioting the
streets all while ignoring the fact that the dead are eating others alive on
the same streets. The conflicting
personalities of characters is still seen and much of what was built in the
first episode is quickly ruined within a few scenes of this episode. Score:
5/10
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