After last week's very much less than satisfying finale to Season 6 of THE WALKING DEAD, I was actually looking forward to this week's premiere of FEAR THE WALKING DEAD, if for no other reason than expectations were not that particularly high. Although I was a big fan of FEAR's first six episode season; the show was no TWD in that it was often a very slow burn. Now FEAR is back and what was good about that first season is still strong, but what was irksome about the show is still very much in evidence.
If any DEAD fans tuned into the Season 2 premiere of FEAR expecting the pace of the show to pick up and that the gore and action content might have been upped, and then they were surely disappointed. The actual encounters with the Walkers came only in the opening scene and the last, where do learn that the Dead do float. There is neat shot of a Walker getting a propeller to the face in the opening and it would have been nice to have had a few more moments like that in this episode. There is lots of time given over to character development as sulky Chris deals with the fact that Travis put his infected mother down; Alicia finds a boyfriend on the CB; Daniel catches an eel (which some viewers might find scarier than the Walkers), and everyone sets down to dinner as if civilization hasn't just gone down the toilet. If these characters are not to your liking, then you might as well bail, because it looks like we're stuck with them.
And I do question the choice to set a Zombie Apocalypse story on the open seas, where you can't exactly have a Walker herd attack.
But if you like the show and the pace, this episode has a lot to like, starting off with the opening scene where Operation Cobalt lays waste to Los Angeles and the city goes up in flames as our group of survivors watch it burn as they head out to sea on Strand's yacht, the Abigail. It's like something out of APOCALYPSE NOW and it does kick the show off on a high note. The writers do believe in showing instead of telling, as when Travis agrees with Strand's decision not to stop and help an overloaded boat of fellow survivors, it's clear he is no longer the "Mayor," who was always ready to help a neighbor. It's obvious he is starting to wake up to the new realities of this new world. My favorite character, Nick, proves himself the be quite capable: managing a motor boat, diving in when he thinks Travis's son, Chris, has fallen overboard, and then swimming underneath the capsized wreck without a second thought. Carmen Domingo's Victor Strand remains mysterious and compelling, making it clear that the Abigail is "My Goddamn Boat."
The episode left us with a couple of good plot threads: that capsized boat at the end was riddled with bullets, it appears as if the military is not letting any survivors escape from the Los Angeles basin and a fast boat is closing quickly on the Abigail. And is the boy Alicia's been talking to on the CB friend or foe? Get real; this is The Walking Dead universe.
Oh, and that preview of PREACHER was awesome, and looks a hell of a lot better than INTO THE BADLANDS.
If any DEAD fans tuned into the Season 2 premiere of FEAR expecting the pace of the show to pick up and that the gore and action content might have been upped, and then they were surely disappointed. The actual encounters with the Walkers came only in the opening scene and the last, where do learn that the Dead do float. There is neat shot of a Walker getting a propeller to the face in the opening and it would have been nice to have had a few more moments like that in this episode. There is lots of time given over to character development as sulky Chris deals with the fact that Travis put his infected mother down; Alicia finds a boyfriend on the CB; Daniel catches an eel (which some viewers might find scarier than the Walkers), and everyone sets down to dinner as if civilization hasn't just gone down the toilet. If these characters are not to your liking, then you might as well bail, because it looks like we're stuck with them.
And I do question the choice to set a Zombie Apocalypse story on the open seas, where you can't exactly have a Walker herd attack.
But if you like the show and the pace, this episode has a lot to like, starting off with the opening scene where Operation Cobalt lays waste to Los Angeles and the city goes up in flames as our group of survivors watch it burn as they head out to sea on Strand's yacht, the Abigail. It's like something out of APOCALYPSE NOW and it does kick the show off on a high note. The writers do believe in showing instead of telling, as when Travis agrees with Strand's decision not to stop and help an overloaded boat of fellow survivors, it's clear he is no longer the "Mayor," who was always ready to help a neighbor. It's obvious he is starting to wake up to the new realities of this new world. My favorite character, Nick, proves himself the be quite capable: managing a motor boat, diving in when he thinks Travis's son, Chris, has fallen overboard, and then swimming underneath the capsized wreck without a second thought. Carmen Domingo's Victor Strand remains mysterious and compelling, making it clear that the Abigail is "My Goddamn Boat."
The episode left us with a couple of good plot threads: that capsized boat at the end was riddled with bullets, it appears as if the military is not letting any survivors escape from the Los Angeles basin and a fast boat is closing quickly on the Abigail. And is the boy Alicia's been talking to on the CB friend or foe? Get real; this is The Walking Dead universe.
Oh, and that preview of PREACHER was awesome, and looks a hell of a lot better than INTO THE BADLANDS.