You can finally say that the dead
are rising in the newest episode of Fear the Walking Dead and with it, tons
more excitement that was definitely needed in the last episode. Let me begin with this, last episode of FTWD
was not completely terrible in set up.
It gave us a simplistic understanding of what each character’s roles
will be for the remainder of the show.
This still does not excuse it for creating bland characters that failed
to capture attention as a whole, and repeating the same formula as its mother
show. As predicted, episode 2 of Fear
the Walking Dead explained how humanity poorly handled the outbreak leading the
apocalypse into fifth gear with no possible way of maintaining order.
Beginning
with the plot of the second episode, we see the main cast being separated
because of priorities (well damn, who would have thought a horror drama wasn’t
going to split the party in half).
Travis goes to his second family to make sure they are all safe, while
Madison tries to convince the annoyingly incompetent daughter to stay home
after seeing her loving boyfriend dying of this mysterious disease. Tension begins to build, but still, nothing
is being reported, all the while, LA is going up in turmoil for multiple
reasons. These lead into the most surprisingly satisfying parts of the
episode. We see the Travis’s son
crowding around with other people as they protest the death of a homeless man who
was shot in the head by LAPD. This is,
by far, the highlight of this episode; it finally showcases a true to life
scenario that could happen in situations such as this. Not defined, but shown through their
attitudes, these social justice warriors are one of the key reasons the
outbreak begins to take place.
Prevention of authority over social beliefs and rioting, leads the dad
and his second family to take shelter in a small shop with another encountered family
as they wait out the riots and future zombie infestation. The audience gets their first close up look
at a walker as the mom meets up with Thaddeus, the kid from the first episode
who, for some reason, knows more about this than others. It ends as expected,
yet with a feel of suspense with us almost losing a character. The episode ends with the main cast at home, witnessing
a walker attack a neighbor as the mom pushes the daughter away, keeping her
from seeing a tragic and bloody scene.
What
the last episode lacked in explanation was picked up by this episode, as
audiences finally get to see the disease progress into modern society. Even when we do get these moments of
explanation and action, Fear the Walking Dead fails to deliver satisfaction and
horror. As I watched this episode, I was led back to my old habits that I had
watching The Walking Dead; yelling at the screen as characters stupidly made
decisions or just ignored the fact that something was going on when it was
right in front of it. The continuous
problem that, for some reason, the show refuses to fix are the self-inflicting
problems that every character creates.
Even when I have to keep reminding myself that in this world, the
knowledge of zombies is non-existent, I kept getting frustrated that the
easiest solutions were always ignored.
This episode almost brought about the end of one character because of
ignorance and then had two people split for reasons that were confusing to say
the least. There is no reason for some
of these actions to happen, and I completely understand that suspense needs to
build up to progress the story. If this show’s purpose is to make me hate
humanity, then it is succeeding.
Overall,
episode two was an almost enjoyable experience.
Many of the supporting characters kill off the good nature of the main
cast, and even when given the chance to shine, the main cast fails to grab the
spot light. So far, Fear the Walking
Dead feels like a copy and paste of The Walking Dead with its characters,
expect that they are all different races.
Travis has been the only main character to take hold of smart
opportunities and seems to be the only one among the 4 main characters to
understand the gravity of the situation.
Fear the Walking Dead’s biggest concern isn’t the situation at hand, but
its failing cast of characters who don’t help one another out and much rather
hurt the development and chance of a hopeful resolution.
Fear the Walking Dead Episode 02
“So Close, Yet so Far” delivers the same atmosphere the show is known for and
properly explains the developing situation with close to life
explanations. It did not linger on
explaining the characters any further but made it clear that for the rest of
the episode, the main cast will suffer from avoidable problems created by
themselves or the people they trust, just like in The Walking Dead. Score:
5/10
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