Fear the Walking Dead continues to, very slowly, take shape with the second episode of the spin-off series, and it’s much of the same we got in the pilot only with a bit more punch behind it. There’s still that almost lethargic pace behind one splintered family’s perspective of a city unknowingly flung into chaos, indicating that the showrunners are either really confident with what’s coming in the next few episodes, or are running out of ideas. I’m going to go with the former, since The Walking Dead has shown us that this team almost always know how to hit those high notes so well; though, that still doesn’t mean that they should use these first two episodes as little more than set-up, especially given the hype that led up to the premiere.
Perhaps we, as viewers, are at a disadvantage because we know how bad things get and we know – to a degree – what the rise of the walkers does to humanity. These characters don’t know that, so their seemingly foolish choices are magnified by the low standard of idiocy we have come to expect from horror and disaster flicks. That could be a possible explanation for all the frustration felt when Nick, Madison, and Travis made the decision to be real vague with Alicia when trying to coax her away from a sick Matt.
That vagueness isn’t confined to Alicia either; throughout the episode we get moments where screaming at the screen “just fucking tell him/her what’s going on!” seems like a more sane approach to the budding apocalypse than what these characters, who witnessed a walker rising at the end of pilot, are taking. The cliche about not wanting to induce a panic isn’t even brought up as a topic between those in-the-know.
We’re also dealing with a lot of angsty teenagers this time around – Chris, Alicia, Nick – and for the sake of realism, this show is going to have a lot of moments like TWD’s disastrous season 2A when Sophia ran away. I’m hoping I’m wrong, but so far things aren’t looking very bright on that front; Travis’ reasonable plan to get out of the city as soon as possible is derailed by many a teen drama like Chris refusing to come home and Alicia focusing on Matt (though, to be fair to her, Madison should have just given her the full story). Nick’s another character who may prove to be more frustrating in future episodes; we’ve seen how much of a spanner-in-the-works a mental breakdown can be for a show like this (like Rick post-Lori’s death) and trying to ween an addict off his addiction while on the run may require a lot of patience.
Tiny tidbits of suspense were actually followed through and made somewhat effective here, unlike in “Pilot” with the church; case in point would be when Madison stalks through the empty hallways of the school with little sound but her heels hitting the floor (hopefully she learns to wear quieter footwear soon). Awkward kid Tobias shows up eventually to shout expository dialogue at Madison before being dropped back home without any sense of urgency, despite almost being chewed the death by a walker-fied principal.
Bludgeoning her friend and boss out of necessity seemingly helps trigger Madison’s survival instinct, and while she still doesn’t let her daughter in on what’s going on, the scene where she stops Alicia from helping a neighbor is one of the episode’s more interesting moments. It’s looking like we’re going to deal with a few moral issues similar to The Walking Dead but in a slightly different context here; the world hasn’t completely gone to shit yet, but that almost selfish survival instinct where self-preservation is paramount to humility is starting to kick in.
While Madison is at home with Nick and Alicia, Travis is out with his son and ex-wife hiding from anti-police-shooting-walkers street riots in a barbershop. Those who have read details on the show know that the Salazar family are more than just one-episode characters so introducing them in this fashion seems nice and unforced, bringing a sense of organic fear to Travis’ half of the episode. It also helps that Travis’ ex-wife, Liza, naturally caught up to the situation unlike naive and narrow-minded Alicia.
Fear the Walking Dead’s second outing still hasn’t shown us what this series is capable of, but there is enough there to justify sticking with the story. A quick mention to production and direction as well; L.A is, again, used beautifully with some really atmospheric shots of claustrophobic creepiness juxtaposed with wider shots of an increasingly panicked city.
The third episode, titled “The Dog” will be aired in two weeks. So we won’t be seeing any Fear the Walking Dead next week. From the trailer (below) things are looking like a huge leap forward in terms of pace.
Review Score: THREE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Fear the Walking Dead screens every Monday at 1:30pm on FX, Fotel.
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