I missed the last few episodes of Fear the Walking Dead because I was on vacation. It was my first time out of the country and I spent my time enjoying a leisurely tour of Rome and Tuscany. But, although I was enjoying the sights, wine and food, my imagination was still on full throttle as I wondered how my friends back at the hotel and La Colonia were surviving the apocalypse. Join me as I give my intake on why I think Fear the Walking Dead is just as pertinent as its big brother, The Walking Dead.
Travis
Because I love, breathe and write horror, I’m always asking myself, “What if?” Even while I visited the Vatican and the beautiful museums behind its walls, the apocalypse was always on my mind. At one point, while taking photos of the beautiful artwork inside the La Tribuna degli Uffizi, I wondered if I would know what to do if the zombie apocalypse began at that very moment? Remember that I love zombies and because I do, I know all about bugging in and bugging out, but I was in a strange country. This meant that I would most likely be as clumsy at surviving as our friends on Fear the Walking Dead.
Travis is reunited with Madison, Strand and Alicia, but he is a broken man because he was unable to fix Chris. I suspect that there were always problems with Chris as he was growing up, but maybe dad was too busy to notice. Even though Alicia assures him that there was nothing he could do to convince his son to stay with him, Travis knows that he had failed Chris. Every parent feels this pang of regret even if we did our best. Children don’t come with specific instructions, but even if they did, would we follow the rules?
While Travis heals, Madison is helping with the refugees who have made their way into the hotel. Her foolishness on turning on the Hotel’s billboard not only alerted Travis to the sanctuary but anyone looking for a place to hide from the infected. The hotel survivors are not happy with the influx of new immigrants, but unfortunately for Madison, her advertising the hotel’s location also attracted Brandon and Derek.
Madison is stronger without Travis. That’s my opinion and I’m sticking with it. But, when she realizes that Chris is dead and that the two punks that are asking for medical care might be responsible for his death, she stresses over telling Travis the news.
Nick
Of all the characters on this show, it is Nick who holds my interest the most. Nick is the golden child who can do no wrong. Nick will always be his mother’s favorite no matter how many times he’s screwed up in the past. He has a way of winning people over with his puppy dog personality while his poor sister must fight for every bit of recognition from their mother. Drug addicts are able to continually con people into helping them because of their winning personality, but Nick’s good luck may have run out on the season 2 finale.
Nick’s talk with Marco proves that the biggest threat in any apocalypse is the living. While the dead just want to snack on us, the living seem to lean towards enslaving or killing us. I wish we had more of Marco’s backstory to learn more about his character, but the bodies of the Colonia family that he executed revealed that he was not a man of mercy.
Nick does try to convince Alejandro to let his people go, but Alejandro is hiding a big secret and, he wants to be seen as a great man by his people. When politicians put their own misguided illusions before their people, we get disaster. What was puzzling was the fact that Luciana sided with Alejandro even when Nick warned of Marco’s impending attack on the town. I love Danay Garcia’s portrayal of the strong female survivor so why did she still listen to Alejandro? It isn’t until Alejandro is bitten that we hear the truth; he is not immune. Too bad. It would have been nice to go with that science theory.
Nick’s brutal and gory slaying of the man who bit Alejandro opens up a new path for Frank Dillane’s character. His Nick is no longer viewed as a youthful observer or a buddy to the infected. Nick’s killing of the man and his convincing Alejandro to set the people free, reveal a leader hiding inside the child. While the dying Alejandro waits for Marco and his men, Nick leads the townsfolk towards the border where a helicopter is spotted. Is this a refugee camp?
Conclusion
I know that fans of The Walking Dead have been disappointed in Fear the Walking Dead because the show lacks the tension of its big brother, but they are mistaken. We need to remember, and I keep stressing this point, that this is only the beginning and humanity has not come to terms with the truth of their dire situation. The infected have not begun to decay and they still look human. Give our team a chance to understand what and who the real enemy is and, they will not disappoint us.
Travis, who for most of the two seasons seemed to remain the calm and sensible school teacher, showed his rage as a father when he learns that his son was murdered by Brandon and Derek. There is a point when we have to turn our back on civilized methods in order to survive. Was his killing of the two men necessary for the story? Yes! As a mother and grandmother, I would have done the same if my babies were hurt. Travis’s revenge gets Team Madison kicked out of the hotel, except for Strand who has decided to stay behind. I wonder where this storyline will lead us.
Ofelia, who is wandering along the border fence looking for a way to enter the States, has proven to us that she is a survivor… but like I said before, it’s not the dead we need to worry about. That border fence may or may not have been a political comment on the wall that Trump wants to build, but it does prove that walls are completely useless to those who seek asylum from corrupt governments or the apocalypse. Walls are made to be climbed or torn down. Is the man (Dayton Callie) who captures Ofelia one of the good guys or something worse?
Nick, like the biblical Moses, leads La Colonia’s people to safety, or so he thinks. When civilization is circling the drain, we might be fooled into thinking the government or the military will set up refugee camps to keep us safe, but the living are much more malevolent than any zombie. We can only hope that Alejandro’s dying words will lead Team Madison to the rescue.
See you on October 23rd when The Walking Dead returns and remember to start planning your escape route for when the apocalypse does arrive. Keep asking yourself, “What if?”
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