AMC: Fear The Walking Dead

[Vee]

That was easily one of the best episodes the show's had while also being hilariously frustrating as the kids all began instantly wandering off onshore. But it led to an incredibly tense series of sequences, and the direction and cutting to and from shore and the Abigail showing a sense of place, distance and relation to each other (with Madison watching through the binoculars) was very well done.

 

They instantly added Michelle Ang (Alex) to the regular cast credits so I assume she'll be back. I felt bad for Jake, the poor kid from The Guest. I had thought he would be the regular, as Alex seemed too much like Cliche Zombie Apocalypse Heroine in the webseries. She came off much more real (and heartbreaking) here.

 

Madison and Nick's slow transformations are fascinating to watch.

[Juliajms]

So Strand Is gay. I did not see that coming. This was a really good episode. The show has been improving with each episode. I'm glad. I had almost written it off.

[slick jones]

I wondered about that when Strand and Nick were in jail.  Glad to see it pick up the action. As for Jack, did anyone not see that coming besides the idiot daughter?

[Cheap21]

has this show improved bc it was boring last season and I havent bothered this year

[Juliajms]

I would say that if the last two episodes are any indication it has majorly improved.

[Cheap21]

thanks. Do you know how many episodes this will be?

[Juliajms]

Well, the season started getting better at episode 3 of this season. Look like their will be 15 episodes in this season, although I imagine they'll split it up again.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3743822/episodes?season=2&ref_=tt_eps_sn_2

[Vee]

I have at least five or six years on Jesse McCartney. How does he look older (and far rougher) than me? I hope most of that was for the show.

[Vee]

 

I did. Colman Domingo comes off very arch, and I think Strand's always been eyeing Nick (along with apparently every director on the show).

 

I liked that they humanized Strand a bit, or at least fleshed him out without sanitizing his amorality. I agree the show has come a long way quickly. Nick's descent into warriorhood is especially gripping.

 

They may or may not have faked us out on Michelle Ang/Alex last week - her name was out of the regular credits this time. I don't believe she's done for after all that build-up, so I suspect she may turn up as one of Connor's prisoners.

 

I don't watch Talking Dead, but I did see Yvette Nicole Brown's reaction to Nick's nude scene. We're of like minds!

[Juliajms]

I guess when Strand was eying Nick I thought something strange was going on, mostly because of the way Strand talked that first guy over the edge. Than he seemed to gravitate to Nick and made a big deal of him being an H addict.   I figured Strand was a sadist planning to destroy Nick in some way as well. It really never occurred to me that he might be attracted to someone as far gone as Nick was at that point.  So now it seems like Strand is a dark hat, but maybe not just evil because it's fun.

 

Speaking of addiction I wonder if Nick picked up some opiates on that beach. I'm guessing yes.

 

I like MA, so hopefully that wasn't a fake out. I would be disappointed if that's the end of her. It did show how ruthless Strand is, I'll give them that. He did not even think twice about cutting those two loose. It kind of reminded me of that time Rick, Michonne and Carl drove by that guy with the nap sack who was begging for help. They didn't even talk about it they just all knew they weren't going to help.  Then this last episode showed that Strand was right (sort of).

 

Anyway, the show is vastly improved almost over night.

[Vee]

Frank Dillane was sadly not naked or mostly naked this week, an outlier to be sure, but the show continues steady improvement while still having some issues. I think the sea/yacht setting is ingenious and has worked out well to make the show episodic and provide a steady stream of unique environments and challenges TWD audiences aren't used to, and I like the cast a great deal with the exception of Ofelia, who's deeply boring and from time to time Alicia, who occasionally behaves like a complete fool.

 

I knew Michelle Ang would be back as Alex and sure enough, she's back in the regular cast credits so she's likely here to stay. She looked beautiful with her hair down and her scene with Cliff Curtis was exquisitely performed and written. They have a bit too much chemistry. Also good was the growing respect between Madison and Strand, who does have something of a jagged kernel of a heart.

 

Lorenzo James Henrie is great as is Chris' slow collapse, but it does get tiring to see certain character beats and conflicts recur from TWD; yes, FTWD is set early in the outbreak and everything is thus new again to these people, but it's a bit of a sigh watching Madison worry over Nick becoming too adept in the zombie apocalypse, or seeing Daniel make stupid mistakes like leaving the volatile young teenager with a gun to watch over the !@#$%^&*] who helped abduct his father. They could've accomplished the same thing with the rough-looking Jesse McCartney without everyone being dumb about Chris - just have him succumb to his injuries.

 

The action at the end was great though, and beautifully staged in a great locale. It was nice to see Daniel Zovatto from It Follows as Alicia's would-be paramour, but I could never tell how much Alicia was playing him vs. how much she was buying his line, and I have no patience for her making any more dumb, moony choices. His poor-me schtick complaining about her terrible, mean family on the boat was laughable - Connor's raiders are targeting, thieving from and killing people on the high seas, and our main characters have in no way earned that kind of potential dubious rep in the way that Rick and his crew could have on TWD. It's just an easy, pat line that's been used a couple too many times on the mothership show and it's being recycled here for no good reason, unless Zovatto's character is the most naive and clueless dude left on the planet.

 

Also not very intriguing to me: Daniel potentially losing it and hearing voices from the past. This show doesn't need a hallucinating looney - that didn't work on TWD and it doesn't here.

 

These gripes aside, they're all relatively minor. The show is really improving exponentially as this crew finds its groove in the new world.

[DRW50]

I'm still on episode 2 of the new season, but I enjoy your reviews. 

 

I really think they would have been better off not going back to the "the world makes you a monster" well, realistic or not. I also think having Travis get this arc, instead of Madison (or no one at all), is a bit of a cliche. 

 

The show does look gorgeous, and I like a lot of the cast, even as I know many claim they stink. It's kind of ironic because when I said I thought Kim Dickens was wooden, someone got upset, but now I see a lot of people who say that, even as her acting doesn't bother me much at this point. 

[Vee]

I don't think she's wooden at all, but hey. And I'm not sure which of them is getting that arc.

[Vee]

This show went from the sublime to the bizarre very, very quickly. The actress playing Celia is excellent, but the whole storyline we've just been swiftly shoved into is weird - did Celia kill that church congregation because they knew she was keeping the dead? How did Daniel figure this out?

 

Furthermore, the whole Psycho Chris plot is way too rushed and almost out of nowhere. We've seen him show signs of losing it, but nothing that suggested to me he was homicidal on the regular. Lorenzo Henrie does a great job, but it's just too sudden.

 

On the bright side, the actors are all still solid and the scenes with Colman Domingo and Dougray Scott were beautifully done. They've managed to quickly flesh out Strand and make him much more sympathetic - he may have a longer future on the show, whereas earlier this season I thought Madison would eventually have to kill him.

[Juliajms]

I'll admit I don't understand what Celia is about. It seems like some kind of bizarre death cult. Why on earth would Strand agree to become a zombie? By all means, commit suicide with the person you love. Why not when the world has ended?  However,  this idea that being a zombie is "the next thing" and Celia is going to take care of them.  What? Tell me Nick isn't going to fall for this insanity too. 

 

I don't care for the developments with Chris. I'm hoping there is more to the story and he's not just a bad seed now.