By Cindy Davis | The Walking Dead | October 5, 2015 |
By Cindy Davis | The Walking Dead | October 5, 2015 |
After a bland season marred by people who have very little common sense, last week’s penultimate Fear the Walking Dead episode gave us some hope for the future.
This week, that hope for a better series was dashed. With the “Cobalt” addition of Colman Domingo as Nick’s intriguing cellmate Strand, it felt like the series had marked a turnaround. His observations about Nick were spot on, and our young, would-be-hero seemed eager to prove Strand’s point about his usefulness with a two-bit magic trick? Turns out, it didn’t matter how clever either of them appeared to be — in one of the hour’s moments of drummed-up drama, our heroes found themselves trapped. Still, it’s hard to build tension when we know two of the most interesting characters aren’t about to be munched at the end of a hallway. The same goes for that scene with Madison, Travis and the gang dealing with the walkers in the medical/jail facility. I never once entertained the thought of either of the pair being in any danger, despite the “close call,” or Liza’s many card swipes before that locked door opened at the last possible second.
There were so many foolish decisions in “The Good Man” that it’s hard to know where to start. Let’s go with Travis setting Corporal Adams free. It’s not difficult to understand his sympathy for the soldier, but if Travis wanted to save his life, he could have secured him (away from Salazar) and released/left Adams if the situation allowed after the rescue. To do it when he did pretty much guaranteed Adams would pop up and cause some kind of trouble; they’re lucky he didn’t show up with more firepower.
Madison and company shot wistful looks toward their about-to-be-former neighbors, callously left behind for a) the military to “humanely terminate,” yet she and Travis immediately set free a bunch of complete strangers locked behind bars, and about whom they know absolutely nothing. Meanwhile, Daniel “led them [walkers] to the North gate, so all the soldiers are distracted”; oh, and by the way, all those walkers will be loose inside the place where the people you’re trying to rescue are. Brilliant.
Next in the stupidity round-up; the group leaves Chris and Alicia alone in the parking garage, (where despite Chris proclaiming he can’t drive, and Madison saying Alicia can, Chris is the one sitting in the driver’s seat). When will this group learn to stop splitting up, or at least, to stop leaving their precious children alone? It was a given the pair would be attacked by someone; they’re lucky it was only a few asshole soldiers who wanted their vehicle. Later at Strand’s gorgeous oceanside home, first Liza, then Madison also go off by themselves, without telling anyone. Of course, Liza had reasons for not caring what might happen — for her, it was already too late — but when is Madison going to wake the hell up and realize she can’t keep disappearing without a word, or going places by herself? Oh, and Dr. Exner inexplicably decides, after making sure all her patients won’t turn, she’d rather look death in the eye than to leave.
Before we talk about Liza, let’s take a step backward to when Andy shows up to get his revenge on Daniel, so he shoots the woman he was hot for? Yeah, I get it, it’s the worst way to hurt Daniel, but I still have a problem with Andy choosing to target Ofelia — especially since he didn’t shoot to kill. Are we supposed to be impressed that Travis finally found his cojones? As a result of his own stupidity, Travis finally let all his pent up anger out on Andy, when he should have just punched the shit out of himself.
It’s disappointing that we lost a character like Liza, who’s really one of the few we’ve gotten any insight into, whereas the one-dimensional Ofelia is inexplicably kept around. In fact, during their last scene together, Travis and Liza had more chemistry in those few short moments than Maddie and Travis have had the entire season.
Lucky for everyone Strand not only has a luxury house — he’s also got a hell of a boat. Though, he doesn’t say much about a plan to anyone but Nick, apparently his enigmatic, well-dressed (and possibly crazypants) benefactor thinks his mini-cruise ship is the way to safety. (Showrunner Dave Erickson confirmed on The Talking Dead that season two would move onto the boat).
In the interim, between now and 2016 (AMC gave Fear a two-season commitment), the first of 16 approximately one-minute long companion webisodes, Flight 462 debuted, and it’s as idiotic as Fear itself (though, it may explain what happened to that wobbly plane in episode four).
So yeah, “Zombies on a Plane” is coming, joining Zombies on a Ship in season two of Fear. How desperate for more Walking Dead are we? I’d like to think not desperate enough to continue on with this substandard content. Next Sunday, Rick, Daryl, Carol, Morgan, Maggie, Glenn and company return, and from what Dustin says, we’re in for a real treat.