As civil unrest grows, and the dead take over, Travis and Madison try to devise ways to protect their families.
When Fear the Walking Dead started, there was concern that the show would be nothing more than a West Coast edition of The Walking Dead. It's set in the same zombie apocalypse. Society has succumbed so far to the disease on the parent show that it felt like an inevitability for this show as well. Even though Fear starts with the early days of this apocalypse, it didn't feel adequately different because it was centered around a family reacting to the end of the world. The government's response to this plague was seen and gave the show a much stronger direction in the final three episodes of the season. But at the end of the day (as well as the season), this show is about this family united by circumstances just doing their best to survive in a new apocalyptic world - which is exactly like the original show.Fear the Walking Dead always insisted that it was a show about characters with human against human conflict and not a show about zombies or the infected. This is a changing world but the citizens of Los Angeles still wanted to maintain some sense of normalcy. Madison embraced the changing world much more so than her boyfriend, Travis. She did whatever had to be done in order to protect her family. That's what made her a more interesting character throughout the six episode season. The family knows that the military isn't being as forthcoming as everyone thinks. They don't have the training or the knowledge of how to best deal with this crisis. That's what led to the downfall as it happens in this episode. And yet, the show focused so much time on Madison, Travis, Daniel and their families that it seemed like the apocalypse went from a few infected people to the complete destruction of civilization overnight. A hoard of zombies has been locked inside a stadium by the military. The show never once made it out as things having gotten that bad.
The large number of zombies is what gives this episode its tension and purpose. "The Good Man" is very much an episode straight out of The Walking Dead. Daniel frees the zombies in the stadium in order to launch an attack on the military base holding all the sick. The families go there to rescue Nick, Liza and Griselda. The system is coming down and they all need to be together in order to deal with what's next. They can no longer avoid coming into contact with the infected. The various characters have learned the rules of this new world order. But it's not until this conflict where most of them have to put those skills into action. The family finds Nick and Liza while they learn the tragic news of Griselda's death. They also meet Strand who has a plan once they escape the facility. They just have to get out of there alive.
For the people who watch these shows for the zombie action sequences, this was probably the most successful episode of the show to date. It features a lot of human vs. zombie action. It produced horror moments that were genuinely interesting. The helicopters planning on transferring the sick to a different facility left as soon as the compound was compromised. One soldier was bitten and then decided to run into a moving helicopter bland. Those are all horrifying effects that make this situation tense even though it is largely just a broad and generic zombie attack on a facility. The franchise has done plenty of those over the years. It's still unfair to compare the two. But it doesn't feel like this show is doing anything original with the main concept or the world.
All of the freshness and originality have to come from the characters. However, only a few have really stood out over this first season - namely Madison, Daniel and Strand. The show didn't really know what it wanted to do with Nick, Alicia, Chris and Ofelia. Time was wasted on them throughout the abbreviated season. But they never had a purpose. They are literally just stand-ins to give Madison and Daniel people to care about. An effort was made to give Nick and Liza clear character arcs throughout the six episodes. Nick is an idealist who is the most reluctant to embrace the apocalypse happening around him and his family. He frees Andy because he doesn't want him or anyone else in this makeshift family to be a murderer. That plan backfires on him in a hilarious way. Once the family has been reunited, Andy shows up with a gun to point at Daniel for all the pain he inflicted on him in the last episode. Instead he shoots Ofelia. That's what ultimately pushes Nick over the edge. He trusted that this man would take his freedom and run with it. But instead, he took the opportunity to enact revenge on the man who harmed him. It was told completely to get Nick to break. The show was building up to it. But it wasn't effective because the character just isn't that strong or engaging.
Meanwhile, the final twist of the season finds the family having to put down one of its own. Liza was bitten during the big confrontation with the zombies. She made it to safety with everyone else but she knows what needs to be done. She doesn't want to harm any of them and wants things to be over with before they get worse. She made a promise to Madison to kill her if the situation were reverse. She hopes Madison can do the same for her. In the end, it's Travis who pulls the trigger. It's a solemn way to end the season. There is a glimmer of hope that Strand's boat will keep them safe. But things were still personally devastating for the characters. Or at least they would be if Liza ever felt more than a one-note character. She had a purpose. Her death has one now too. It will either make Chris a much worse or much better character in the second season. It will have an effect on the characters in the future even though it's largely without emotion or weight for the audience right now. Six episodes isn't a lot of time to spend with characters. The show didn't do enough things to connect them with the audience. That's what makes this death feel so formulaic and poorly executed. It happened solely to end the season with a major character death. It didn't feel earned. It was the show doing what it felt needed to happen in the final episode of the year. It wasn't something that natural came out of the narrative.
Some more thoughts:
- "The Good Man" was written by Robert Kirkman & Dave Erickson and directed by Stefan Schwartz.
- How in the world was Daniel able to release all of those zombies from the stadium without getting hurt himself? I know that they are slow but it still felt a little illogical. It happened solely to give him that very cool moment of walking up to the base telling the army they need the bullets for the more important enemy.
- Dr. Exner wasn't a completely nuanced character. She did her best to help the injured. She did that to the very end. But then, she just gave up. Choosing to stay and not escape with Liza and the rest of the gang. She could have made an interesting addition to the regular cast too. They are down one nurse after all.
- Alicia and Chris were incredibly useless during the attack on the military facility. They had to hide in the car and drive away in the first sight of danger. And yet, they lost the car to some military guys trying to escape.
- Strand and Madison already have such a stronger dynamic than Madison and Travis. That's weird given they only had a few brief scenes together. But then again, Strand is just a really cool character. Sure, he's mysterious and that could hurt everyone in the end. But he'll be enjoyable up until that point.
- Part of the problems the show had this season was only doing six episodes. That simply wasn't enough time to tell this story and get the audience to care about characters. Season 2 will feature 15 episodes. That will give the show some time to breathe which will either be a very good or very bad thing.
