On the last episode of “Fear the Walking Dead,” Travis finally made his way back to Maddy. The neighborhood is getting dangerous and the cavalry has just arrived, but the walkers might be the least of their problems.
Day Nine
I love our men and women in the military, but they function on a different mindset than your run-of-the-mill suburbanites. The military is a fine-tuned-working machine and, they’re not accustomed to dealing with civilians who ask too many questions.
The civilians are foolishly trying to live their normal lives, but the power grid is on the blink and food and water are rationed. Under military rule, your movements are closely supervised and that means no driving your car around town… and yet, life goes on. Maddy is on a quest to repaint the house, Nick is enjoying quiet time in the pool and Travis takes a morning jog… but you can only jog along the perimeter of the security fence that’s been erected for your protection.
I’ve always questioned the ideology of the security fence; the very description an oxymoron. Is the fence a method of security or imprisonment? The lieutenant in charge makes his speech to the civilians, but it’s all lies. The six miles of fenced in area is infection free, but no one is allowed inside the DZ area until biological materials are disposed of. When the authorities tell you that everything is peachy fine, you’re about to be royally screwed. A woman’s demand to know what biological materials the lieutenant is referring to is met with a snide remark, “Count your blessings so I don’t have to shoot you.”
Travis has been made the unofficial mayor and it’s gone to his head, especially when he’s asked to convince a neighbor to be checked out by the soldiers. The man is afraid and unable to bullshit his family into thinking that all is well. It isn’t. Travis should be paying more attention to his own family. His son, Chris has seen someone signaling from the DZ zone and believes they need help, but Travis ignores the boy. Why?
When things go horribly wrong, you’ll find yourself dealing with two types of people, the compliant and the rebels. The compliant people will follow blindly; believe even though they know it’s futile. The rebels ask questions; investigate the situation; understand that fear makes people do evil things and, they fight back. Travis is compliant. Daniel is not. He has seen the lies, the fear. When the soldiers came to Daniel’s village and took away some of the people, the captain told Daniel’s father not to worry saying, “They always come home.” That is exactly what Daniel is afraid of.
Maddy
Maddy believes Chris. She does what everyone in that town is afraid to do. She rebels. She sneaks out of the safe zone and heads to the DZ. What she finds there is shocking. The soldiers are killing healthy people along with the infected.
I love Maddy. She’s not a weak woman. She reminds me of one of my favorite characters on “The Walking Dead.” She reminds me of the ass-kicking, cooking, baking, Carol, Melissa McBride from that series. While Maddy’s daughter, Alicia, digs a tattoo into her skin, Nick is stealing the needed morphine his neighbor needs to breathe. Maddy is suspicious when her son refuses the pills to wean off the hard stuff, but she doesn’t fully understand just how low Nick has sunk in his need for that almighty high feeling.
I have no patience for drug addicts. Almost every family I know has had to deal with a drug addict and it ain’t a pretty sight. The need for that high will make an addict do despicable things… like rob his own mother. They will look you in the face and lie. Nothing but the high matters to them. Nothing! That is why it was so good to see Maddy beat the living shit out of Nick, but it might be too late.
Dr. Exner
We are introduced to a new character in this episode. Liza has been playing the town doctor and doing a wonderful job. If it wasn’t for her, Hector would have been dead and Griselda would have lost her foot, but a real doctor has been brought in by the military. Dr. Exner (Sandrine Holt) asks a lot of questions. She’s figured out that Liza is not what she claims to be. Exner also suspects that Nick is high on morphine. Exner makes arrangements to ship out the sick.
Conclusion
There are only two episodes remaining in this season of “Fear the Walking Dead.” The ratings for this show have been phenomenal and in just four episodes, and we understand why. The writing is impeccable; the cast is talented and believable. Robert Kirkman has honed the art of the apocalypse story. He’s an expert at showing us what the most frightening thing is for us humans to face when civilization takes that nose dive into the abyss. It’s not the walkers.
Daniel lived through a military takeover in his country. The captain had told his father that the people would be allowed to return home. The captain never specified if the people would be dead or alive. Daniel (Ruben Blades) is a smart man, a survivor, a rebel and, he reminds me of another favorite character from “The Walking Dead,” Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes.
The soldiers have taken Griselda, Hector and Nick away. Liza is with them, but we’re not sure how she can help them. The truth has been revealed. The fence is indeed a prison. Travis, who during the entire episode ignored Maddy’s and Chris’s concerns that there were people trying to contact them from the DZ, now knows the truth. Unfortunately for that lonely survivor over at the DZ, the soldiers have their orders… shoot to kill.
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