Do not pass go.
By Matt Fowler
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow…
“Fear the Walking Dead” improved on itself slightly this week with “The Dog,” in which all parties Clark and Manawa reunited and regrouped in order to finally start a caravan out of LA. This being the show that it is though, they never made it. Like last week, a plan was formulated but then a wrench got thrown into the mix and everyone wound up back at at the start, now surrounded by an intervening army. Which brings a whole new element and tone to the series going forward.
“The Dog” is the first episode where, I believe, it was appropriate for us to fully start assessing the characters based on their decision-making skills. I mean, good or bad, that’s what we do on zombie apocalypse shows, right? The stupid and/or uniformed infuriate us while the cold realists stand out as heroes. And everyone came together under one roof here. Travis, Liza, and Chris, along with the Salazars, had fled the barber shop and made it back to home base (while passing some truly scary LA chaos marked with a nice, notable score/soundscape). And once home, with everyone squished together in a panic, people’s true(er) personalities began showing.
Travis, the hero-type who seemed the most willing back in the pilot to believe Nick’s ramblings about monsters eating bodies, has now turned into the softest, most hesitant character, while Madison has continued her journey to becoming more closed-off and hardline. Yes, in spite of the fact that she’s the reason everyone circled back home (because she wanted to protect her neighbor, who was coming home to a zombie wife). Though if Madison had been allowed to “kill” that woman and not treat her like someone who could be helped by a possible cure, our heroes would be on the road right now. So I’m putting that one on Travis.
Okay, so no, our leads didn’t escape Los Angeles. I mentioned last week that we all know that skipping town isn’t going to do anyone any good in the long run. That’s our dramatic irony to bear. But it’s still frustrating to see them constantly not bring a plan to fruition. As it’s also frustrating to see them poorly deal with monsters that we know how to deal with. It’s basically an unavoidable aspect of this prequel series, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t note how much it bugs.
Within all of this though – this bubble of ignorance – comes forth characters. For example, as mad we were at Travis for trying to reason with, or get through to, his zombified neighbor Peter, we applauded Daniel for shooting the dude’s face off. And so in that one move, Daniel really popped. So much was said about him in that single moment. And then that moment informed the later scene when Daniel was teaching Chris about the shotgun and Travis got all miffed about it. It was ostensibly the move of a protective parent, but there were also some silent alpha male struggles going on
Daniel (despite his stubbornness to accept help, or admit that Griselda is a goner) is now a pack-leader. And Nick too. Yes, junkie Nick, who still hobbles like he’s a member of the undead himself, is often a refreshing voice of reason. Sure, by the end, he was searching for drugs, but he was also the only one in the house who actively wanted Alicia to know the truth about what was going on. And so underneath the selfishness brought about by his addiction is a smart, capable brother who seems to realize the seriousness of the situation a lot more than most. And trusts in his sister enough to know she can take the harsh truth.
And despite the soapiness of the situation (yes, Travis does make a snide remark about living with two wives now), there’s still suspense. Because outside of our four leads, I’m not sure who’s going to make it out of the season. Especially with everyone making such bonehead “new to zompocalypse” moves. Liza and Chris are Travis’ “old family,” so they can go. As can any member of the Salazars. We’re only a few days into the end of the world and some citizens don’t even know anything’s wrong. We’re still in a “Hey, let’s distract ourselves by playing Monopoly” phase. No one’s seen their loved ones get torn to shreds. And that kind of trauma is set to happen any moment now. Which is what made “The Dog” moments of tension work. Even if everyone came out of it un-eviscerated.
I’m curious to see what the military aspect brings to the final three episodes of the season. Naturally, you can’t study the fall of a major city without the army, but now, with all the soldiers swarming, things feel somewhat safe(r). Kind of like when Rick and the rest took shelter inside the CDC at the end of the first season of the original series. I do want to know, like, where everyone went. There’s three hundred and twenty million folks in this country and when you watch The Walking Dead, everyone can walk for days without seeing a soul. It feels like there should be more larger, communal clusters than are being portrayed. Not everyone can be a walker.
This week, we also learned that Madison’s a widow, along with the tidbit that her mom was an addict (it was briefly mentioned previously that Nick’s problems were hereditary). Also, while Chris seems to have no problem with Alicia (even risking his life to save her), she seems rather hostile toward him (a hard elbow to the nose!). You’d think the dynamic would be the opposite consider she comes from the “home-wrecking” family, so I’m curious to see what that’s all about. Perhaps Chris is in love with her or something.
And lastly, the cold-ish moment between Madison and Liza was great. Where Madison basically asked Liza to put her down if she ever got infected. And to not make Travis do it because it would destroy him. Which was a cool scene, but also sort of a passive aggressive dick move. Like, “don’t make Travis kill me because he loves me SO MUCH that he’ll be a shaken, soul-less husk if forced to do it.”
“The Dog” brought everyone back together so they could hash things out, brew up a little conflict, and form a new plan of escape. The military intervention right at the end felt like a huge tonal shift, so we’ll have to see how it plays out in the coming episodes. Despite the sprawling cityscape, this has been a somewhat intimate show and now it’s being opened up wide.
And yes, with everyone back under one roof and with zombies lurking about nearby, this was also definitely an episode where viewers were most likely starting to add and subtract points from characters based on their decisions. Some of which, due to the fact that we’re only days into an undead armageddon, were extra frustrating.
