Monday, October 5, 2015

Fear The Walking Dead, Finale Review: The Best and Worst...

           I'll just get right to it...the season 1 finale for Fear The Walking Dead was the best episode in the series thus far (which honestly isn't saying much). It had a faster pace and included a zombie horde that would make Rick proud. Here are the best and worst from episode 6...

(Best-ish) Daniel, Madison, and Travis Mount the Rescue:

It's about time these guys do something. This is easily the most interesting thing to occur on this show, despite the fact that...
1. I don't think even the best directions could have gotten them to the parking lot
2. I don't think Madison's group would've ever run into Nick in that base 
3. I don't think they could have successfully lured that many zombies to the base without being noticed from a lot farther away.
4. I don't think that...out of a list of possible rescue options...luring a legion of zombies makes any sense...at all... (by the way, thanks for leaving the gate open back at home guys)
That aside, the entire base sequence was more interesting than hanging out in the neighborhood. We
got to see soldiers shoot at the undead, our heroes got to play haunted house, and Dr. Exner, once again, payed homage to No Country For Old Men.

(Best) Strand is Easily My Favorite Guy On This Show:

I could write a whole damn post on why I could care less about the characters on this show. That post, however, would have little to say about Strand...why?

1. He clearly had no illusions about there being zombies, unlike Travis who kept trying to talk to them
2. He's a badass. He had no problem letting that soldier get eaten alive all because he stole his cufflinks...
3. He had the awareness to take that soldiers gun, unlike the other characters (Madison, episode 4)
4. He can handle the zombie apocalypse dressed like James Bond.
5. He had a plan. His house was a safe haven and he has intentions to get on an escape boat...looks like I've found Tobias' new best friend.

To be absolutely fair, Strand is also kind of incompetent...why?
1. He allowed for the key to his escape, this one all important item, to be stolen by Nick...who's super incompetent.
2. He doesn't let the other people out of their cages for apparently no reason at all.

(Worst) Andrew The Soldier Comes Back For Revenge?


There's no other way to say it... this scene made absolutely no sense...at all. Even if we were to buy that Andrew somehow made it all the way back to the base, why in the hell would he shoot Ofelia? He called out to Daniel specifically. This is exactly the type of dumb crap that makes it easy to hate this show. 
This entire scene was born out of the classic, "should we let the captive guy we don't trust go?" situation. While I could tell the show wanted us to favor Daniel's view over Travis', I never imagined that it would culminate in Andrew actually showing up at the base. If the show wanted us to treat Travis' decision as a mistake, it would have been enough for Andrew to have given them bad directions or something. The writers must have thought that this would be a huge moment of suspense, instead it single handedly went on my list of reasons why this show is totally off base. 

(Worst) Chris and Alicia are Damn Near Worthless:

I've been saying it...the writers have nothing for these two to do except exemplify the fine art of being a goddamned liability. As soon as the group arrived at the base parking lot and Travis told them to stay there, I did a full eye roll. Sure enough, trouble found these two because the screenplay demanded it. Why in the world would they hide in the car like that? Why did Chris get in the driver's seat after making it clear he couldn't drive? I would have traded Liza for both of these two. Speaking of which...

(Worst) This Show Killed Off One Of The Least Annoying/ Most Useful Characters:

If you ask me, this was a fail. Not only was Liza not annoying, and not only was she medically valuable,... but She added a potentially unique dynamic to the group. Her presence created a sort of tension between Travis and his relationship with both families. I could easily have seen the plot bring Travis and Liza closer together which would have created hella interesting character tension with Madison. With Liza gone, the most interesting (though at times annoying) relationship dynamic is gone too. This is almost the equivalent of killing Shane off one season too early. Way to go...

(Worst) The Most Annoying Character of the Finale is...




While not quite as annoying as that time that Andrea basically played hide and go seek with the Governor for an hour...Andrew still managed to annoy by having a sense of revenge that cost the show credibility and me precious minutes of my life (and Ofelia an arm?)...

           Well thats it for season one. Was this enough to hold you over while you wait for Rick to beat the crap out of people? Did you like this finale? 

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