Hiding In Plane Sight
Fear The Walking Dead is one of those strange shows that swings like a pendulum, with differing levels of quality throughout each episode. While parts of this episode are enjoyable, other moments feel unnecessarily slow and worse, just plain bad. There is a nice twist toward the end involving the kids though but the story feels like it’s moving toward a much more predictable outcome, falling into the pitfalls the show was cursed with last year. We begin this week’s episode with Daniel, out scavenging with Skidmark the cat. They take a car and load it up with resources before heading home to the warehouse. From here, we cut back to the group giving Dylan hot food and naively believing everything he says about the group’s whereabouts, reminding him they can trust them in a cruel sense of irony. Back at the warehouse, Victor sneaks in when Daniel is out scavenging again with the intent of stealing the plane. However, it’s missing parts and won’t fly. On the radio, Daniel tells him if he’s still there when he gets back he’ll make good on his promise and kill him. However, with Charlie hiding out on the backseat, Daniel spots her in the back and tells Victor. In turn, Victor decides to hold tight in the hope of talking Daniel around to giving him the plane. Mwanwhile, Luciana tries to fix the broken radio tower and after lifting it, asks Dylan to ger her some electrical tape. As the boy heads inside, he uses his walkie to fill the other kids in on what’s happening, promising them that the group aren’t hostile. Daniel and Charlie then try to break in and steal a machine gun while Skidmark distracts the walkers at the entrance. Unfortunately the gun turns and shoots the place up, shattering the window and letting them all run free. Charlie and Daniel drive off, leading the zombies into the warehouse with the intent of picking them off, one by one. However, as Sarah has driven the truck carrying the plane through the gates, he can’t lead the zombies there anymore. Instead, he heads off on foot with a boombox while Charlie drives back with the missing instruments to fix the plane. Back with the other group, Dylan admits to lying which prompts Alicia and Morgan to save the day and the two kids on their own out in the wilderness. However, they’re not actually alone and quickly become outnumbered as more kids show up with guns. While Daniel leads the herd off down a road, Victor apologises for lying and heads there with the group to save the day. They arrive with the fixed plane and use the propellor blades to kill all the walkers, predictably breaking the plane in the process. As Daniel and Victor appear to have patched things up for now, the rest of the group settle down at the warehouse while Morgan and Alicia watch as a helicopter flies over their location and out of view. Despite a strong opening episode, Fear The Walking Dead feels like a show that’s getting back into bad habits. The inconsistent writing around the zombies is a big problem here, with some of the walkers running after humans while with Daniel, they seem quite content to have a stroll several feet behind him. This, coupled with some of the illogical character decisions, make Fear a shadow of the show it once was. Charlie’s acting is something I’ve commented on before and seeing her look directly at the camera whilst delivering a line feels uncharacteristically amateur. The Walking Dead series has never been good with logic but after seeing the first episode and the group working together in an effective way, the rest of the episodes have really thrown this out the window in favour of deus ex machina and cheap tension driven by questionable character decisions. Having said all of that, there’s just enough here to keep you coming back for more but with no Dwight or John this week, their charismatic presence is ultimately what could have improved this episode. Still, there’s enough here to enjoy, even if the show is a shadow of what it once was back in the earlier seasons.
