It took the show awhile, but in the season finale, FEAR THE WALKING DEAD finally hit a home run, giving the TWD fans what they crave: herds of Walkers and plenty of action. There has been a lot of gripping over the course of the five previous episodes about the pace being too slow with way too few zombies, not to mention problems with character development. This episode, titled The Good Man, put those issues to rest as far as I'm concerned, when for the first time, all of the principle characters came face to face with the Zombie Apocalypse.
The previous episode, Cobalt, established that things had gone so bad in Los Angeles that the military was pulling out and "cleansing" the city of all civilians, who evidently were now considered infected. This knowledge forces Travis and Madison, along with the Salazars, to come up with a plan to retrieve Nick and Liza from the hospital/detention center, along with Mrs. Salazar, who they have yet to learn is now deceased. So right off the bat this episode has what many of the others lacked: built in suspense. The action shifts back and forth from Travis and the others infiltrating the government facility to Liza and Dr. Exner as they wait for extraction by the military to Nick and his new "friend," Stand, in the holding pens as they await their chance to make a move. Throw in the thousand or so Walkers imprisoned in the coliseum-released by Daniel Salazar as a diversion for the guards-and things get dicey very fast. This part of the episode literally crackled with tension and suspense as our principles got up to speed on dispatching Walkers quickly. There was gore: the soldier who takes a propeller to the face; narrow escapes: Nick and Strand run up against an electronic door with part of the Walker herd charging down the hall behind them; characters being a#$holes: Chris and Alisha are menaced by desperate soldiers in the parking garage; sad moments: Daniel and Orfelia learn the fate of Mama Salazar; Didn't-see-that-coming moments: the sudden appearance of Corporal Adams and the revenge he takes on Daniel; a beat down: Travis forgets about being a Pacifist and instead, puts a fist through Adams's face repeatedly. All things us TWD fans have come to expect and love.
The final scenes finds the principles reunited in a temporary safe haven, but not before a devastating revelation and a major character exits from the show. Things are set up nicely for the second season where the major characters must grapple with the end of civilization and the coming of the Walkers.
Cliff Curtis's Travis is the character who changes the most in this episode; by the end he is no longer a man who believes things will work out because they always have in the past. By the final scene, Travis has learned that compassion in this dark new world will not be returned in kind and that it will demand heinous sacrifices from those attempting to survive.
Nick is still in the same tan jacket and pants he stole from the hospital in the pilot; Frank Dillane has made this heroin addict/screw up one of the show's most compelling characters. His words to Maddie after they reach safety lead us to believe he may fare far better in the Zombie Apocalypse than we would have believed at the start. Rueben Blades's Daniel Salazar has become the show's breakout badass, the former torturer turned barber is a man who will do whatever it takes to protect his own. Colmen Domingo's slick Victor Strand was the man was who was there when they needed him, but he's clearly a character to watch since it is obvious he does nothing out of the goodness of his heart.
Where does FEAR go from here: Do they all sail away on the Abigail and live happily ever after? With America's drug problem permanently solved, where will Nick get his fix now? Will he ever shampoo his hair and get some new clothes? Is there really anything between Chris and Alisha? What about Adams, Moyers and Dr. Exner? No one saw them die on screen. Is Strand a villain? What happened to Cobalt? Is Maddie Rick Grimes's sister? Lot of people online think that is who she is. Is that how the two shows link up? One thing for sure, if the producers want to make the fans happy in season 2: bring back Tobias.
It was apparent from the pilot of FEAR THE WALKING DEAD that it was not going to be a rehash of the original series, if for no other reason than the people in FEAR still had much to loose-jobs, careers, family-while the characters in TWD had lost absolutely everything except their lives and the shirts on their backs with horrific death a constant threat. People like Travis keep holding onto their faith in humanity and morality, but by the end of The Good Man, I think he and Rick Grimes would find they have a lot in common to talk about.
The previous episode, Cobalt, established that things had gone so bad in Los Angeles that the military was pulling out and "cleansing" the city of all civilians, who evidently were now considered infected. This knowledge forces Travis and Madison, along with the Salazars, to come up with a plan to retrieve Nick and Liza from the hospital/detention center, along with Mrs. Salazar, who they have yet to learn is now deceased. So right off the bat this episode has what many of the others lacked: built in suspense. The action shifts back and forth from Travis and the others infiltrating the government facility to Liza and Dr. Exner as they wait for extraction by the military to Nick and his new "friend," Stand, in the holding pens as they await their chance to make a move. Throw in the thousand or so Walkers imprisoned in the coliseum-released by Daniel Salazar as a diversion for the guards-and things get dicey very fast. This part of the episode literally crackled with tension and suspense as our principles got up to speed on dispatching Walkers quickly. There was gore: the soldier who takes a propeller to the face; narrow escapes: Nick and Strand run up against an electronic door with part of the Walker herd charging down the hall behind them; characters being a#$holes: Chris and Alisha are menaced by desperate soldiers in the parking garage; sad moments: Daniel and Orfelia learn the fate of Mama Salazar; Didn't-see-that-coming moments: the sudden appearance of Corporal Adams and the revenge he takes on Daniel; a beat down: Travis forgets about being a Pacifist and instead, puts a fist through Adams's face repeatedly. All things us TWD fans have come to expect and love.
The final scenes finds the principles reunited in a temporary safe haven, but not before a devastating revelation and a major character exits from the show. Things are set up nicely for the second season where the major characters must grapple with the end of civilization and the coming of the Walkers.
Cliff Curtis's Travis is the character who changes the most in this episode; by the end he is no longer a man who believes things will work out because they always have in the past. By the final scene, Travis has learned that compassion in this dark new world will not be returned in kind and that it will demand heinous sacrifices from those attempting to survive.
Nick is still in the same tan jacket and pants he stole from the hospital in the pilot; Frank Dillane has made this heroin addict/screw up one of the show's most compelling characters. His words to Maddie after they reach safety lead us to believe he may fare far better in the Zombie Apocalypse than we would have believed at the start. Rueben Blades's Daniel Salazar has become the show's breakout badass, the former torturer turned barber is a man who will do whatever it takes to protect his own. Colmen Domingo's slick Victor Strand was the man was who was there when they needed him, but he's clearly a character to watch since it is obvious he does nothing out of the goodness of his heart.
Where does FEAR go from here: Do they all sail away on the Abigail and live happily ever after? With America's drug problem permanently solved, where will Nick get his fix now? Will he ever shampoo his hair and get some new clothes? Is there really anything between Chris and Alisha? What about Adams, Moyers and Dr. Exner? No one saw them die on screen. Is Strand a villain? What happened to Cobalt? Is Maddie Rick Grimes's sister? Lot of people online think that is who she is. Is that how the two shows link up? One thing for sure, if the producers want to make the fans happy in season 2: bring back Tobias.
It was apparent from the pilot of FEAR THE WALKING DEAD that it was not going to be a rehash of the original series, if for no other reason than the people in FEAR still had much to loose-jobs, careers, family-while the characters in TWD had lost absolutely everything except their lives and the shirts on their backs with horrific death a constant threat. People like Travis keep holding onto their faith in humanity and morality, but by the end of The Good Man, I think he and Rick Grimes would find they have a lot in common to talk about.